Yotam Ottolenghi Archives - Good Food St. Louis

Looking for something a little “different” for your New Year’s Eve gathering? Something tasty, but unique to welcome 2017? I asked family and friends to suggest some treats they’ve served that went over well. Below are a few of the recipes they passed on.

Alligator Sausage and Shrimp Cheesecake

Russ and Deb put the finishing cheese touches on an Alligator Sausage and Shrimp Cheesecake from the Broadway Oyster Bar.

As a Christmas appetizer, Deb got a big chunk of Broadway Oyster Bar’s “cheesecake.” It sounds like a dessert, but it’s actually an incredible creamy, cheesy spread for pita or crackers. It’s one of the best sellers at the little downtown seafood shack, that has the decor and ambiance of a NOLA diner. The spread is described on the menu as the ultimate savory “cheesecake” of shrimp, alligator sausage from Poche’s in Louisiana and a blend of cream cheese and warm Gouda.

If you insist on making this yourself and have access to alligator sausage, here’s a recipe.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s Roasted Eggplant Dip

You’re not likely to have many of the items on hand needed for this elegant dish: pomegranates, za’atar, lemon thyme, long eggplant, and buttermilk—all key ingredients to this unique recipe of the famed Israeli chef.

The internationally famous Israeli chef works out of his restaurant in London. His ingenuous Mediterranean recipes can be found in his cookbooks: Jerusalem; Plenty; and Plenty More. Yotam encourages you to play with new spices and healthy foods. I took a class at Kitchen Conservatory, where we cooked a half dozen of his recipes—all flavorful and unique. For Christmas Day this year, Robin and JC made this Roasted Eggplant Dip from the Plenty cookbook. I later noticed that it called for a sprinkle of za’atar, which I don’t see in the photo. Wish I had known. I still have some of the blend of thyme, sesame seeds, sumac and salt that I bought for a recipe I tried last year.

Cyndy’s Lemon Berry Tartlets

These little rounds are cut from puff pasty dough, filled with a lemon curd sauce, and topped with a blackberry, though most any colorful fruit would do.

Cyndy suggested these great little Lemon Berry Tartlets made with puff pastry dough. Chocolate mousse also makes a great filling topped with whipped cream. They’re no trouble to make and sooooo tasty! This quick video shows just how easy they are to assemble.

Tina’s Apple Honey Brie Spread

Tina with the Apple Honey Brie Spread fresh from the oven.

There’s a number of variation to this cheese spread, but I especially like the mix of cheese, apples and honey in this one that Tina makes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap the wheel of Brie cheese and crescent rolls. Unroll the dough and place Brie atop. Cover the cheese round with a pinwheel of very thin apple slices. Drizzle with honey and a few chopped pecans, if desired. Place in a 9″ round baking dish. Sprinkle more nuts on top and drizzle honey over the whole thing. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and cheese is soft. Serve with more apple slices or crackers.

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Charred Corn and Zucchini

Sometimes upon reading a recipe, I realize I have all the ingredients on hand. Why not make it? Such was my thinking as I thumbed through a new cookbook I got for Christmas, a hefty volume entitled The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. The writer, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, might be considered the Bill Nye of the American kitchen for his scientific, sometime geeky, approach to food preparation.

The 35-year-old Kenji—as he’s known in the culinary world—studied biology and architecture at M.I.T. before taking up with Cook’s Illustrated and more recently the Serious Eats website. The nearly 1000-page cookbook costs about $27 and has 300 recipes—most of them brand new. No desserts, thank you. That’s because Kenji is a meat and pasta kind of guy.

Word from the Food Nerd

The “food nerd” of the Internet, (as Kenji calls himself), is big into technique and best practices. He applies the scientific method to the kitchen (a.k.a. the food lab) and reveals his findings for the perfect pancake, the best burger and fries, and a juicier, crunchier fried chicken.

You’ll learn why to add vodka to pie crusts; buttermilk to meatloaf; and an egg to boiling water, not cold. He explains that searing a steak after cooking makes it juicier and that adding more baking soda to pancake batter makes the flapjacks browner and tastier. All is done with great humor and authority.

Kenji in the Kitchen

For my test recipe, I picked one of his few vegetable offerings: Charred Corn and Zucchini, because—as I mentioned earlier—I had all the ingredients on hand. Or so I thought. It was an easy skillet dish, though it would have benefited by including the jalapeno, that I misplaced somewhere in the refrigerator. I fixed that with a jolt of hot sauce. I later learned that Kenji makes a Charred Corn and Zucchini Taco by inserting the vegetable mix into a tortilla along with his homemade salsa verde. Hmm. . . that looked promising.

Kenji’s Charred Corn and Zucchini Tacos from Serious Eats.com

It’s surprising how a new, colorful cookbook can draw you into the kitchen and awaken your interest in trying new dishes. I’m hoping to reap some benefit from a cookbook I gave my grandson, Austin, for Christmas. It was one that he’s wanted for a long time: Plenty More by Israeli chef, Yotam Ottolenghi. Austin has a knack for cooking Mid-eastern and Mediterranean foods, so I’m looking forward to some splendid repast in the near future.