Yotam Ottolenghi (right) and Flour Bakery + Cafe Owner Joanne Chang sit together in the green room at the Emerson Colonial Theatre. Daniel Sarch for The Boston Globe
Last month, the genial restaurateur and author was in Boston to promote “Ottolenghi Simple Too,” his 12th volume, written with chef Verena Lochmuller, his colleague in the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, and others. On the stage of the Emerson Colonial Theatre, in a conversation with Flour Bakery + Cafe owner Joanne Chang, he said that he knew it was time to pare down his famously lengthy and complex recipes because everyone is over-extended and pulled in many directions. The idea was to do it without sacrificing all the exciting tastes that are his hallmark.
In 2018, in an earlier volume, “Ottolenghi Simple,” recipes were easier than his typical dishes, but not what you’d call quick.
“People like what I cook, all the flavors and contrasts,” he told Chang. “My sister told me, ‘I love you dearly, but it’s not going to work.’ Her life was too busy to make her own brother’s recipes.”
What he came up with, he says, “wasn’t simple simple, it was Ottolenghi simple, which isn’t really simple.”
Maybe not, but these streamlined recipes are surprisingly doable. Where a typical Ottolenghi dish might contain a dozen ingredients and many components, “Simple Too” has 10 ingredients with instructions that often begin: “Put the first 9 ingredients into a medium bowl.”
Cookbook author Yotam Ottolenghi sits in the green room at the Emerson Colonial Theatre. Daniel Sarch for The Boston Globe
In wire-rimmed glasses, a close-cropped beard, jeans jacket, khakis, and orange and yellow Adidas sneakers, Ottolenghi’s relaxed manner is charming. He’s quick to poke fun at himself.
In the new book, the chef, who has nearly 4 million followers on social media, describes himself as “a father, a son, a friend, a colleague.” When dinner time comes around, he says, sometimes you just have to get food on the table. “We don’t want cooking to become another thing we’re failing at,” he writes in the book, “another source of low-grade guilt about not being the person we thought we’d be by now.”
The authors suggest making condiments and sauces that keep for weeks so you can pull them from the fridge at a moment’s notice. These include Sweet and Sour Barberry Sauce (or use currants) with lime juice and hot chile; Sumac Sour Cream mixed with Greek yogurt, lemon, and the dried ground red berries that have a distinct lemony-y taste; and Green Mayo, homemade mayonnaise with cilantro and fresh mint.
“I want to cook from my pantry,” Ottolenghi told Chang. “I don’t want to shop.”
Does anyone outside the famous Ottolenghi Test Kitchen have a pantry that’s up to the job?
When I cooked from “Simple Too,” even without jars of the fundamental condiments to draw on, I had great success. Baked Chicken Meatballs with Pomegranate Molasses was one of those recipes where almost everything goes into the bowl at once, then you shape meatballs, bake them, drizzle with pomegranate molasses, return to the oven to glaze, and you’ve got really juicy, delicious rounds scented with cumin and coriander and mixed with a lot of fresh cilantro and a grated parsnip (carrot did the trick).
A vegetarian dish of Halloumi with Tomatoes and Beans was an all-in-one-pan baked dinner topped with a kind of Middle Eastern gremolata of crushed garlic, thyme leaves, grated lemon rind, and za’atar.
It’s a book of recipes that makes you want to cook to see what you’re going to get. Butter Bean Dip with Kalamata Oil is a puree of canned beans topped with a sauteed mixture of olives, canned roasted red peppers, fennel seeds, smoked paprika, and sherry vinegar. Wedges of squash in Butternut “Parmigiana” are baked in a quick tomato sauce under a layer of taleggio cheese. Canned tuna, anchovies, and cherry tomatoes go into Spicy Tuna Pasta with Parmesan Cream, which is served right from the skillet in which the dish is broiled to brown creamy, cheesy crumbs.
Ottolenghi writes on Substack and contributes to The Guardian and The New York Times. This year he opened Ottolenghi Edinburgh.
There are many projects going at once. “But I have overall responsibility,” he said onstage. “I have my name on the door.”
The chef who began as a brand has become a whole industry.
Sheryl Julian can be reached at sheryl.julian@globe.com.
Dining and Cooking