Ottolenghi Flavor: A Cookbook

Here’s another splendid vegetable-centric cookbook from the two-time James Beard Award winning chef-owner of Ottolenghi restaurants. This time, he helps home cooks understand what makes a vegetable distinct and how to ramp-up its flavor or taste it afresh. The author defines flavor and uses easy-to-understand examples to explain how layering, contrast, and balance accentuate flavor. Recipes fall within sections devoted to his three P’s for increasing flavor: process (browning, charring, infusing, and aging), pairings (with sweetness, fat, acidity, and chile-heat) and produce (adding umami-rich mushrooms, alliums, nuts & seeds, or sugar-fruit & booze). Featuring a widely appealing flexitarian approach, this collection sometimes uses items like fish sauce or Parmesan in clearly written recipes with helpful visual cues.