1 hour ago, Anna N said:For reasons I cannot explain, @blue_dolphin's name and face kept flashing between the lines as I read this book. I think it was the way tiny bits of dishes were given in a way that they could be adapted to something tasty but doable by ordinary humans. Like she picks out parts of a menu from one book and combines it so well with parts of a menu from another book!
Before I go to read the Björn Frantzén book I was just enabled to download, I'm going to use @Anna N's comment as a very appropriate segue to share my thoughts on Extra Good Things (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), the lastest cookbook churned out by the Ottolenghi machine. It's not at all fine dining like the Frantzén book but it's a great little idea book to choose parts of a dish to adapt into something else.
This is the second Ottolenghi Test Kitchen (OTK) book and like the first one, Shelf Love, lists Noor Murad as the first author. Both books are slim paperbacks rather than almost oversized hardback tomes. I really love the earlier books, Ottolenghi, Jerusalem, NOPI, Plenty and Plenty More. Not as crazy about the next two, Simple and Flavour, though both have some good recipes. After those two, I boycotted Shelf Love because it seemed like the books were being pushed out too fast and duplicating recipes already in Ottolenghi's columns in The Guardian or NYT. I was going to skip Extra Good Things as well but saw a few dishes mentioned in an online cooking group that sounded interesting so I decided to look into it. Having spent some time with it, it think the recipes are good but it really shines in calling out the "Extra Good Things," that give the book its name.
Each recipe in the book highlights an Extra Good Thing (a pickle, sauce, crispy topping, infused oil, or basic dessert techniques), uses it in the recipe and offers a few suggestions for other applications or uses. What really sells me on the concept though, are the pull-outs in the front and back of the book. Amazon's "Look Inside" feature has a sampling of recipes but doesn't show the pull-outs and I think they make the book so I'm showing them below. The one in front, lists the Extra Good Things that can turn toast or rice or baked potatoes or roasted vegetables into a meal. I don't know if these photos are going to be readable but they'll at least give you the general idea.
Looks like everything goes with Roast Veggies 🙃
The pull-out in the back is the sort of "recipe type" listing that has become quite common in recent cookbooks.
Not quite as interesting to me as the first pull-out but I think it will still be handy as I find the similar listing in I Dream of Dinner useful as well. In fact, I consider both of these to be good "idea" books. I may not cook the exact recipe but browsing through these listings can give me ideas and help me figure what I'm in the mood for.
So far, I made the sweet potato wedges with goma dare and crispy tofu (posted here in the lunch topic) and plan to use some of the leftover sesame-based goma dare sauce, the crispy tofu bits and the Aleppo pepper-infused olive oil to top a soup as they worked together very well.
I also made the broccolini with peanut gochujang dressing but turned it into a meal by adding noodles and shrimp (posted here in the breakfast topic) and I've got a few others marked to try. There's a black lime focaccia with smoky chipotle oil that I have to make because I really can't imagine the flavors.
