‘It’s the food of the gods’: Chef Yotam Ottolenghi on his favourite ingredient, and meat

Don’t confuse Yotam Ottolenghi with a vegetarian.

The betselling author of Ottolenghi, Plenty, Jerusalem and the new Simple has made his fame by popularing vegetarian dishes.

But Ross and John discovered there’s plenty of protein in Simple.

“Some of my best recipes, I think, are vegetarian dishes, but I’ve never really been a vegetarian person,” he said.

The other feature of the new release is several dishes featuring yoghurt.

“There’s certain ingredients that you find coming back all the time,” he said.

“Yoghurt is one of them.

“Yoghurt is part of a group of ingredients that has quite a bit happening to them before you have anything to do with it.

“It’s cooling, it’s fresh, it’s good with savoury food, with sweet food.

“It’s the food of the gods, seriously.”

Yoghurt plays a key role in Kate Stevenson’s favourite Ottolenghi recipe, the roasted eggplant with curried yoghurt (pictured below).