Because we’re quite busy in the evenings and at weekends renovating the little house that used to be our holiday home, we’re glad that some of the recipes in Yotam Ottolenghi’s and Sami Tamimi’s wonderful Jerusalem book don’t take too long to prepare. Everyone who likes good food should have a copy of this book and every recipe from it that we’ve tried has turned out even better than we expected. Their dishes always seem to be more than the sum of their ingredients. Some of their ingredients are not so easy for us to find here but we’ve been helped by the arrival of our son bearing spices and other delights from London, as well as willingness to work on the house!
The Jerusalem braised quail with apricots, currants and tamarind made a delicious late lunch and reward for demolishing an old chimney today.
The quail had been halved and marinaded overnight with ground cumin and fennel seeds before being simmered in white wine, water and lemon juice with dried apricots and currants. We ate them with plain rice and toasted pine nuts and drank a bottle of La Grange des Combes, a tasty red from the cave cooperative at Roquebrun. All very restoring after a hard morning’s work!
(I’m sure I’ve raved about this book before, but I think it merits being recommended again, and again, for its recipes, its approach to food and its photography: Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, Jerusalem, Ebury Press, 2012.)
Excellent! Interestingly there’s a picture of quail in a bowl, a little bit similar, on the cover of Catalan Cuisine by Colman Andrews
I haven’t seen that book. I must look out for it!
One of my favorite recipes for this time of year is from Yotam Ottolenghi – spicy leek fritters. Delicious for lunch with a green salad or a Moroccan carrot salad.
They sound delicious. There’s something very warming and comforting about fritters.
You need a bigger hammer! A masse not a massette …. I find the older I get the larger and more powerful my tools need to be.
You know I’m already a fully fledged member of the Ottolenhi fan club and this one also caught my eye..am going to have to make it now! Renovations? Have I missed something…what are you up to?!
I don’t think you’ve missed anything – I think it’s the first time I’ve mentioned it here. We’re renovating the little house we bought 12 years ago as a holiday home, then let to tenants after we moved here permanently and bought a bigger house. Now our son plans to live there and it needs some major work….well, as we realise what we can do it becomes more and more major! It’s fun, but a bit daunting (as you know) and a lot of work, but at least no one has to live in it while it’s going on!
So many are recommending Jerusalem that I may have to end my cookbook buying moratorium and get a copy. Every single recipe I’ve read about looks delicious and is heavily praised by the preparer. Good luck with the renovations and I’m sure you look forward to the day the project is complete and your Son has moved in. Now that will be a day for celebration!
We love quail, we have a few in the freezer. They have been delicious as I am sure your were. Diane