Photo credit: Jonathan Lovekin
There are all sorts of ways to get a meal on the table, depending on the sort of cook you are. One person’s idea of cooking simply is the next person’s culinary nightmare. For me, for example, it’s about being able to stop at my grocery store on the way home, pick up a couple of things that look good, and make something within 20 or 30 minutes of getting home. My husband, Karl, on the other hand, has a completely different idea of what “simple cooking” is. If we’re having friends over on the weekend, he’ll want to spend a good amount of time beforehand prepping and cooking as much as he can so that very little needs to be done when our guests are around.
There are other ways, too. Esme, who led the recipe testing for this book, prefers to be in the garden on the weekend rather than kitchen-bound. Her idea of simple cooking is to put something in the oven on a Saturday morning and leave it simmering away, ready to be eaten four or five hours later. On the other hand, Tara, who led the writing, can’t really relax without knowing that a meal is basically ready a full day before it’s due to be eaten. Sauces are in the fridge, stews are in the freezer, veggies are blanched or roasted and ready.
Whatever our approach, it all looks effortless and easy when friends and family come to eat in our respective kitchens. This is only because we’ve worked out the way that suits us to make cooking simple, relaxing, and therefore fun. It’s different for everyone. This idea, then — that there’s more than one way to get a meal on the table, and that everyone has a different idea of which way is simple — is what
Ottolenghi Simple is all about.
And, no, for anyone wondering,
Ottolenghi Simple is not a contradiction in terms! I know, I know: I’ve seen the raised eyebrows, I’ve heard the jokes. The one about the reader who thought there was part of a recipe missing as they already had all the ingredients they needed in their cupboard. Or the one that goes, “Just popping out to the local shop to buy the papers, milk, black garlic, and sumac!”
I hold up my hands, absolutely. There have been lists to make and ingredients to find, but truthfully, there’s not a recipe to my name that I feel sheepish about. Cooking, for me, has always been about abundance, bounty, freshness, and surprise. Four big words to expect from a plate of food, so a single sprig of parsley was never, really, going to cut the mustard. The reason I’m so excited about
Ottolenghi Simple is that it’s full of recipes that are still distinctly “Ottolenghi” but are simple in at least one (but very often in more than one) way.
Slow-Cooked Chicken With a Crisp Corn Crust
Serves six
This is a wonderful meal on an autumn day, served with a crisp green salad. The slow-cooked chicken is packed full of flavor and the crust — gluten-free, rich, and corny — makes for a welcome (and lighter) change to a heavier mash.
You can make the chicken well in advance if you want to get ahead. It keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days or can be frozen for 1 month. You want it to go into the oven defrosted, though, so it will need thawing before baking. The batter needs to be made fresh and spooned on top of the chicken just before the dish gets baked. It can also be baked a few hours in advance — just warm through for 10 minutes, covered in foil, before serving. I love the combination of the chicken and the corn, but the chicken also works well as it is, served on top of rice, in a wrap, or with a buttery baked potato.
CHICKEN FILLING
3 tbsp olive oil
2 medium-large red onions, thinly sliced (5 cups/500g)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsp rose harissa (or 50 percent more or less, depending on variety)
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1 lb 14 oz/850g boneless, skinless chicken thighs (9 or 10 thighs)
Salt and black pepper
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp/200ml passata (tomato puree)
5 large tomatoes, quartered (14 oz/400g)
1½ cups/350ml water
1 cup/200g jarred roasted red peppers, drained and cut into ¾-inch/2cm thick rounds
½ oz/15g dark chocolate (70% cacao)
1 cup/20g cilantro, roughly chopped
CORN BATTER
5 tbsp/70g unsalted butter, melted
Scant 4 cups/500g corn kernels, fresh or frozen and defrosted (from 4 large ears corn)
3 tbsp whole milk
3 eggs, yolks and whites separated
Salt
1. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan with a lid over medium-high heat. Add the onions and fry for 8–9 minutes, stirring a few times, until caramelized and soft. Decrease the heat to medium and add the garlic, harissa, paprika, chicken, 1 tsp salt, and a good grind of black pepper. Cook for 5 minutes longer, stirring frequently, then add the tomato puree and tomatoes. Add the water, bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring every once in a while.
2. Add the peppers and chocolate and continue to simmer for 35–40 minutes, with the pan now uncovered, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens and the chicken is falling apart. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro. If you are serving the chicken as it is (as a stew without the batter), it’s ready to serve (or freeze, once it has come to room temperature) at this stage. If you are making the corn crust, spoon the chicken into a ceramic baking dish — one with high sides that measures about 8 x 12 inches/ 20 x 30cm — and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
4. To make the batter, pour the butter into a blender with the corn, milk, egg yolks, and ¾ tsp salt. Blitz for a few seconds, to form a rough paste, then spoon into a large bowl. Place the egg whites in a separate clean bowl and whisk to form firm peaks. Fold these gently into the runny corn mixture until just combined, then pour the mix evenly over the chicken.
5. Bake for 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Keep an eye on it after 25 minutes to make sure the top is not taking on too much color; you might need to cover it with foil for the final 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes before serving.
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Yotam Ottolenghi owns an eponymous group of four restaurants, plus the high-end restaurant, NOPI, in London. His previous cookbooks —
Plenty,
Jerusalem, and
Ottolenghi — have all been on
The New York Times bestseller list. Yotam writes for
The Guardian and appears on BBC. He lives in London.
Ottolenghi Simple is his most recent book.