Who would have ever thought that I’d start writing an article voluntarily?! Well, Ottolenghi’s SIMPLE cookbook sparked this moment (or maybe it were the concussions). Cause why do finish fiction books but not cooking bookings? I asked myself this question two years ago and set myself the challenge: to make all the (vegetarian) dishes from the book and rate them (but on that later move)
Let’s first begin how it all started.
At the end of my internship at Upfield (the company behind Flora and Blue Band), the team gave me a farewell present: Ottolenghi’s SIMPLE. Back then, it was fairly new and Ottolenghi wasn’t nearly as well-known—at least, I hadn’t heard of him at the time. I wasn’t really sure what to make of the cookbook, but it looked cool. I liked the big lemon on the front, and as a student, I was always happy with free gifts.
This book has travelled with me from my first flat with Puck and Lonneke to living with Daniëlle (who also had the book), and eventually to my flats in London. Though the copy I have now isn’t the original I started with—that one’s with my mum. Since Daniëlle also had the book, I left mine at my parents’ so Mum could use it as well. And she did! She loved it so much that when I moved to London, she decided to buy me a new (second-hand) copy for my London flat.
A few years ago, I had a random thought: why do we finish fiction and non-fiction books but never really complete cookbooks? So I started a challenge to make all the vegetarian recipes from the book and rank them. To mark the recipes I hadn’t made yet, I used either green or pink labels. Green meant “I’d be up for making this” and pink meant “doesn’t float my boat.” After making each recipe, I’d rate it from 0 (never making it again) to 10 (definitely making it again). The ranking is off course the most objective ever and has a balance of how difficult it was to make it, the taste, how unique the flavours are, and probably my mood of that day.
Six years later, the moment has arrived—I’ve finally finished the book!! Since many of you got to enjoy (or endure) the recipes, share my love of cooking, and most importantly, also own this cookbook, I thought it would be fun to write about the journey of me and Otto. Expect some, I hope, brilliant stories about absolute my favourites, greatest hits, special moments, but also my biggest fails.
Review and rating on the recipe will follow soon, and please let me know which topics, recipes or questions I should definitely cover!!
But first, let me watch Julie & Julia, as so many of you recommended this film.
The last recipe I cooked from the book; Gnocchi a la Roma for my friends (Raya and Kely) of the Table of Love (name of our dinner group, lol very cringy).
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