Ottolenghi reveals his must-have items in the kitchen
Yotam Ottolenghi is easily one of the worlds most famous chefs. He's known for his delicious restaurants in the UK and his beautifully written and photographed cookbooks. But perhaps he is most famous for the "Ottolenghi Effect", giving us the inspiration to make vegetables something we used to boil into oblivion, to something we now char, grill, spice and garnish. In short, food we want to eat and share in plentiful platters.
The chef recently spoke on the podcast called The Enoughness with Melanie Rickey, which is inspired by the Goldilocks fable - asking guests when things were not enough, too much or just right, and inspiring listeners with the good things that can happen once they do find their equilibrium.
The quick-fire section of the show focuses on each guests’ 'Brilliant Benchmark', their perfect amount of something, taken from their area of expertise. Which is where Yotam Ottolenghi comes in – with his surprisingly minimalist kitchen essentials.
He finds living in such a consumerist world makes it all too easy to want that 'beautiful new pan in the new colour', but needing something new can be endless. He said finds he something very satisfying about an uncluttered kitchen.
"I don't have too many utensils and I have two or three really good Japanese knives. But I don't have a knife fetish. I don't have any kitchen fetishes, really", Ottolenghi said on the podcast.
"I don't have an air fryer, I don't have a slow cooker, I don't have a rice cooker. And in some ways, I'm almost proud of that, because certain things are timeless. The oven is timeless and the stove is timeless.
"Don’t get me wrong, a slow cooker is a wonderful thing to have because it saves energy and you cook one dish. I'm not for a second undermining them, but I know my kitchen, I know what I need, and I know what I use."
Ottolenghi's kitchen essentials
Ottolenghi reveals that he uses two cast iron casserole pots (one is 22cm and one 26cm), two cast iron shallow casserole pots (again, 22cm and 26cm), and two saute pans which he uses on rotation.
"I have one that would fit almost the whole chicken, and another one that I would use for a medium sized stews." he says. "I can make Shakshuka in the flat ones, and sweet potato stews, and that's just what I need. It's really good to cherish the things that you have that you use all the time, and look after them and appreciate them."
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