Quotes from Yotam Ottolenghi

I just don't tend to cook eggplant at home.

On many occasions, an informal buffet and casual seating offer a little more intimacy than a loud gathering around a big table.

Food that's served at the table in a paper parcel always creates a remarkable culinary moment when opened, because the package is full of aromatic steam from the lightly cooked ingredients inside.

Buckwheat, like Marmite and durian, is a seriously divisive foodstuff, so it needs a seriously capable defence team if it's ever going to make it on to most people's dinner tables.

These days, meals are more open to personal preferences. People like to serve themselves.

The way to entice people into cooking is to cook delicious things.

Gooseberries aren't just for creamy desserts and pies.

Long-, medium- and short-grain rices differ in the amount and type of starch they have.

The differences between a tart, a pie and a quiche are a blur.

On some subconscious level, I've been prejudiced against turnips, parsnips, swedes and other roots. Do they taste of much? Are they really special? How wrong I was.

You can really taste the difference between a shop-bought and a good homemade mayo.

If you can't taste an ingredient, you have to ask yourself why it is there.

The teaching thing, the one where I have to impart my knowledge, is probably what comes the least naturally to me because I'm an absorber of things.

A great fig should look like it's just about to burst its skin. When squeezed lightly it should give a little and not spring back. It must be almost unctuously sweet, soft and wet.

I love my garlic press; in fact, it is probably my one true desert island gadget. But I'm happy to put it aside whenever the smell and sweet taste of slow-cooked garlic is called for.

Fresh egg pasta is traditionally served in the north of Italy with butter, cream and rich meat sauces, whereas dried pasta is more at home with the tomato- and olive oil-based ones of the south.

Middle Eastern cuisine has the same depth of ingredients and processes as other cuisines. They just haven't had as much exposure.

I have an intense dislike of doctrines, because you will always end up eating your words.

Healthy is in the eye of the beholder.

Pizza was made for television in so many ways: it is easy to heat up, easy to divide and easy to eat in a group. It is easy to enjoy, easy to digest and easy-going. It is so Italian!

Many people struggle to make hummus that lives up to their expectations at home, and recreating a favourite brand or the stuff from your local deli is almost impossible.

Chefs don't use white pepper just to avoid spoiling the whiteness of pommes puree or bechamel. It has a more peppery aroma, with sharpness and sweetness, too.

I rarely cook traditional risotto, but I love other grains cooked similarly - barley, spelt or split wheat. I find they have more character than rice and absorb other flavours more wholeheartedly.

Chinese sausage, which is widely available from Asian grocers and online, is sweet, rich, and enticingly smoky. I add it to steamed rice with strips of omelette and a few baby veg stir-fried with soy.