Recipes <\/p>\n
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Yotam Ottolenghi<\/a> is a household name for many. Certainly in London, where has cultivated an influential culinary empire, beginning with his first Ottolenghi Deli in Notting Hill. But at this point he\u2019s probably most widely known for his many best-selling cookbooks, Flavor, Jerusalem,<\/em> and Plenty<\/em> that champion vegetable-forward cooking, accented by flavors and ingredients from the varied food cultures that fall beneath the umbrella of Mediterranean cuisine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ottolenghi and his team are known for celebrating vegetables as stars in their own right. In a given Ottolenghi cookbook, you\u2019ll find recipes that are simple, and others that will test and expand your skills as a home cook, but what remains consistent throughout is an emphasis on communal, elevated cooking that\u2019s held to an exacting and vetted standard.<\/p>\n If your copies of Ottolenghi\u2019s books are all dog-eared and sauce spattered, or if you just want to expand your cookbook library with more veg-forward recipes, below you\u2019ll find a selection, picked by our own exacting staff. Besides a common focus on the ability of vegetables to play a starring role, these are cookbooks that have roots in Mediterranean food cultures and emphasize food as something to be shared.<\/p>\n Falastin<\/em> by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Both Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley are longtime Ottolenghi collaborators. Tamimi is Ottolenghi\u2019s business partner and cofounder of the eponymous restaurants, while Wigley coauthored several of his cookbooks and is a key figure in the Ottolenghi test kitchen. Needless to say they share a similar ethos and approach to food. Falastin<\/em> is Tamimi\u2019s celebration of Palestinian cooking, containing roughly 110 recipes that cover contemporary renditions of traditional Palestinian dishes and flavors. Preserved lemon, za\u2019atar, and fresh herbs make frequent appearances, and there are several spectacular fish dishes\u2014a fish kofta flecked with sumac and chile, and spiced salmon skewers\u2014that are worth bringing into your regular rotation.<\/p>\n Moro East<\/em> by Sam and Sam Clark<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This cookbook, penned by the owners of famed Moro restaurant, is partly grounded by the foods of Moorish Spain and Morocco that they are known for, but it\u2019s more so an homage to their multicultural community in their East London garden allotment. The recipes are simple and practical, many requiring just a few ingredients, yet they maintain a creativity that exalts the joys of cooking from the garden. These are unfussy soups, bountiful salads, and one-pot vegetable dishes meant to be shared with neighbors and friends after a long day toiling in the dirt, and they\u2019re somehow all simultaneously unpretentious and spectacular.<\/p>\n London-based Helou has authored many cookbooks exploring the food of the Middle East and North Africa, and Levant<\/em> is perhaps her most personal. In it she focuses on recipes from Syria and Lebanon, where she grew up, and interspersed between traditional and comforting dishes are memories from her life and childhood. In place of photos, Helou\u2019s beautiful prose brings these dishes, and the stories surrounding them, to life with striking detail.<\/p>\n Six Seasons<\/em> by Joshua McFadden<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cookbook authors have been using seasonality as a guiding principle (and a bit of a thematic clich\u00e9) in their books for a while now, but McFadden, who hung up his fine dining apron to help manage an organic farm in Maine, comes to the subject from the perspective of someone for whom growing food and cooking food are inextricably linked. Six Seasons,<\/em> as you can probably guess, is divided up by six seasons\u2014spring, early summer, midsummer, late summer, fall, winter\u2014with each containing recipes employing vegetables at their peak. Meat makes an occasional appearance, but platters of jewel-toned produce are really the stars here.<\/p>\n Keep It Zesty<\/em> by Edy Massih<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Keep It Zesty: A Celebration of Lebanese Flavors & Culture from Edy’s Grocer<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tucked away on a quiet Greenpoint, Brooklyn, side street is Edy\u2019s Grocer, a small, sugar pink market stocked with Lebanese pantry staples and prepared foods. Inside you\u2019ll find abundant mounds of fresh-made mezze, jars of capers the size of your head, and a Barbie television playing old reruns of Oprah.<\/em> Massih\u2019s strength is in foods for big crowds or special gatherings, and his cookbook reflects that through its party-friendly recipes for dips, salads, and festive bakes. Lebanese flavors are the foundation here, but Massih loves a remix. His recipes are more Lebanese-by-way-of-a-Brooklyn-revival diner. That means dishes like Tahini Caesar salad, a rosewater Dutch baby, and Aleppo garlic shrimp cocktail are on the menu.<\/p>\n Tenderheart<\/em> by Hetty Lui McKinnon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We\u2019re partial toward McKinnon, who\u2019s a regular BA contributor responsible for gems like Sesame Tofu With Broccoli<\/a> and \u200b\u200bCreamy Cashew Udon With Crispy Mushrooms<\/a>, but it\u2019s only because her recipes are really, really good. This cookbook showcases her knack for simple, unfussy vegetarian recipes grounded in bold and savory flavors. Nearly all the dishes are weeknight-friendly, and most utilize pantry staples like Dijon mustard, chili oil, tahini, and soy sauce. There\u2019s definitely a bent toward Chinese cooking methods, though not strictly so, as her cooking style embodies the eclectic palette of a contemporary home kitchen. Also, be sure to read the front matter of the book, especially if you\u2019re looking for a good cry (no spoilers).<\/p>\n Claudia Roden\u2019s Mediterranean<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Claudia Roden’s Mediterranean: Treasured Recipes from a Lifetime of Travel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A major influence on Ottolenghi himself, Claudia Roden is a name to know for anybody interested the vast landscape of Mediterranean cuisine. She published her first cookbook, A Book of Middle Eastern Food,<\/em> in 1968, and has written over a dozen since covering the food from just about every corner of the region. This particular collection includes Mediterranean recipes accented by classic French cooking techniques. Dishes like a roast chicken presented over a spiced bulgar pilaf with raisins and chestnuts, or eggplants broiled tender with pomegranate and yogurt sauce demonstrate Roden\u2019s expert mixing of traditional and modern.<\/p>\n The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone<\/em> by Deborah Madison<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since its initial release in 1997, Deborah Madison\u2019s New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone<\/em> has become certified classic in the library of vegetarian cookbooks. It\u2019s a particular fave of former BA staffer Carla Lalli Music<\/a>, who loves it for its abundance of practical advice. Beyond merely being a collection of vegetarian recipes, Madison\u2019s book is a thorough and instructive course on vegetarian cooking techniques, which she guides you through in fine detail, vegetable by vegetable. She provides insights on how to pick out good produce, proper storage methods, and ingredient pairing to riff on beyond the supplied recipes. When you don\u2019t know what to do with all those parsnips in your CSA, or if you feel like you always cook squash in the same exact way, this is the book to reach for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n