Yotam Ottolenghi: Chef and food writer deserts vegetables for sweet treats

YOTAM ­Ottolenghi has risen to fame as a guest judge on this year’s season of MasterChef. In his sixth book, Sweet , he is peeling away from his passion for veg and baking up a storm with cakes, biscuits and desserts.

Chef and popular author Yotam Ottolenghi.

YOTAM OTTOLENGHI, 48

CHEF/RESTAURATEUR/AUTHOR

The chef-patron of four Ottolenghi delis and NOPI ­restaurant in London, ­Ottolenghi is well-known here for his best-selling cookbooks and his ­appearance as a guest judge on this year’s season of MasterChef. He was born in Jerusalem but often spent his summers with his Italian grandparents outside Florence. He completed a master’s degree from Tel Aviv University while living in Amsterdam ­before moving to London in 1997 to train at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school. He then worked as a pastry chef before going on to open his delicatessens and restaurant and write ­several cookbooks. He is known for ­emphasising the use of vege­tables in his cooking, although he eats and works with meat. His sixth book, Sweet , is all about cakes, biscuits and desserts.

An early childhood memory is … being hosed down by Mum after eating a pomegranate.

When I was at primary school I thought I would be … a scientist or a writer or, more likely, I probably thought I’d be a kid ­forever.

My first job was ... as a runner on the newsdesk of an Israeli daily newspaper.

My career in food began when ... I realised I was spending more time cooking meals for my friends in Amsterdam than I was ­studying.

My most treasured possession is … my ­family.

The word that best describes me is … ­hungry.

My favourite smell is … cheese melting, fresh coffee, freshly picked lemons, a soft herb like basil.

The type of places I like to go out to eat are … the opposite of formal: I like sharing plates, tapas-style food. I go out as much for a glass of wine and chats as I do for the food.

On a weeknight, a dish I cook often is … pasta alla Norma (a Sicilian dish incorporating tomatoes, eggplant, basil and ricotta).

My favourite sweets and desserts are … I’m a sucker for anything booze-drenched and fruit-filled. Trifle is the holy grail.

A book that resonated with me was … The Hare with Amber Eyes by potter ­Edmund de Waal. It’s a hugely ambitious memoir – about how he came to inherit a collection of 264 netsuke (Japanese mini-sculptures) from his great-uncle – but also, like all powerful books, about what it means to be human. He doesn’t really talk about his life as a ­potter but, since reading it, I’ve started (very slowly) to dip my foot into the world of ceramics. I wonder if there’s a link?

The question I’m most often asked is … what are the three ingredients I could not live without in the kitchen?

My favourite word is … very delicious. It’s two words and doesn’t really make sense, grammatically – something is either ­delicious or not – but I say it so much (if I think something is very delicious) that I’ve made it my own.

I relax by … pilates, sleeping, watching a good box set with a glass of wine.

My worst habit is … slurping my tea. But I’m sure this is linked (I tell myself) to wanting heightened tastebuds for all the tasting I do all day.

My guilty pleasure is … Love Hearts (sherbet sweets).

My greatest fear is … losing my tastebuds.

My next challenge is … writing a book called Simple – to prove to my readers that ­“Simple Ottolenghi” is not a contradiction in terms.

The point of life is … to be present enough to know when the going is good, thoughtful enough to be true to the past, and have enough energy to scheme for the future.

Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (Ebury Press, $55), out now