Three Delightful Dishes From The Master of Greens: Yotam Ottolenghi 🌞

Last edited Sat Sep 20, 2025, 12:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Baked Minty Rice With Feta and Pomegranate Relish
By Yotam Ottolenghi

Cooking rice perfectly is one of those things that shouldn’t be complicated but can be surprisingly difficult, for some, to get right. Baking it in the oven, on the other hand, as I do here, is a completely foolproof method (and one that worked, incidentally, when feeding 700 people over two sittings at Wilderness festival in 2017!). This is such a great side to all sorts of dishes: roasted root vegetables, slow-cooked lamb or pork. To get ahead, the salsa can be made a few hours in advance and kept in the fridge.

Ingredients

400g (15 oz) basmati rice
50g (2 oz) unsalted butter, melted
800ml (3 cups + 2 2/2/3 oz) boiling water
50g (2 oz) mint (40g left on the sprigs; leaves shredded for the remaining 10g, to use in the salsa)
150g (5 oz) feta, crumbled into 1–2cm pieces
salt and black pepper

SALSA

40g (1 1/3 oz) pitted green olives, thinly sliced
seeds from 1 small pomegranate (90g)
50g (2 oz) walnut halves, lightly roasted and roughly broken
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 small garlic clove, crushed

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 230°C fan, (450° F) or as high as your oven will go.

2. Place the rice in a high-sided ovenproof dish, measuring 20 x 30cm.
Season with ¾ teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper, then pour over the
butter and boiling water.

3. Top with the sprigs of mint and cover the dish tightly with tin foil so
that the rice is well sealed. Bake for 25 minutes, until the rice is light and
fluffy and all the liquid has been absorbed.

4. Meanwhile, place all the ingredients for the salsa, minus the 10g
shredded mint, in a medium bowl with ¼ teaspoon of salt. Mix well and
set aside.

5.Take the rice out of the oven, and remove and discard the foil. Pull
the leaves off the mint sprigs – the stalks can be discarded – then place
these back on the rice and sprinkle with the feta. Just before serving,
stir the shredded mint into the salsa and spoon evenly over the rice.
Serve hot.

https://ottolenghi.co.uk/pages/recipes/baked-mint-rice-pomegranate-olive-salsa

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STUFFED ZUCCHINI

SERVES SIX

It is not by mere coincidence that this recipe doesn’t come with a picture.
These zucchini, once cooked for a good two hours, are just not that
handsome any more: the vibrant green turns dull gray, the firm flesh
becomes limp and tired. Still, this is one of my favorite recipes, so I put
zucchini vanity aside and forgive my green heroes their unfortunate
transformation (with the help of some yogurt foundation and some mint
paste mascara).

These zucchini—stuffed with rice and cooked in a sweet and slightly sour
liquor that reduces to an unctuous sauce—only get better with time. You
can serve them as soon as they cool down, but I prefer to refrigerate them
and have them the next day, slightly above fridge temperature. The flesh
you scoop when preparing the zucchini can be shallow-fried with garlic,
diced red pepper, chile, and fresh herbs and then spooned over
pasta or rice.

6 medium zucchini (scant 3 lb/1.3 kg)
1 cup/30 g mint leaves
¼ cup/60 ml olive oil
scant ½ cup/90 g Greek yogurt
salt
Filling
1½ tbsp sunflower oil
1 small onion, finely chopped (⅔ cup/100 g)
1½ cups/300 g short-grain white rice
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground allspice
1 tbsp dried mint
1 small tomato, finely chopped (½ cup/80 g)
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 cup/15 g cilantro leaves, chopped
salt and black pepper
Cooking liquid about 2 cups/450 ml vegetable stock
1 tsp ground allspice
1½ tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp superfine sugar
1 tbsp dried mint
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and black pepper

Start with the filling.

Select a large sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid and heat the oil over
medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally,
before adding the rice, ground spices, and dried mint. Continue to cook
and stir for another 8 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the tomato, lemon zest, cilantro, 1½
teaspoons salt, and some black pepper.Cut the zucchini in half
lengthwise and use a teaspoon to scoop out the flesh (see the headnote,
above). Fill one half of each generously with the rice mixture. Place the
other halves back on top and tie tightly with string in a few places to secure
the filling inside.

Wipe the sauté pan clean and place the zucchini inside, sitting snugly side
by side. For the cooking liquid, put all the ingredients in a medium saucepan,
adding 1 teaspoon salt and some black pepper. Bring to a boil and then pour
over the zucchini. The juices need to rise roughly ¾-inch/1-cm up the sides
of the pan; add more stock if needed.

Place the pan over medium heat and, as soon as the liquid comes to a
simmer, press the zucchini down with a heatproof plate so they won’t float
when cooking. Cover the pan with the lid and simmer gently for 1½ to 2
hours. At this point, both the zucchini and the rice should be completely
soft and about 3 tablespoons liquid should remain in the pan.

Remove from the heat, uncover, and allow the zucchini to cool to room
temperature. If serving these the next day, refrigerate overnight but leave
at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Put the fresh mint, oil, and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a small food
processor and blitz until smooth. Place a zucchini on each plate and
spoon some yogurt on top. Drizzle with the mint sauce and serve at once.

From "Plenty More" By Yotam Ottolenghi
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52255430-plenty-more

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Butter beans with roasted cherry tomatoes

Source the larger butter beans, or judiones, for this, if you can. They’re softer, more buttery and much creamier than the smaller ones (which come in a tin). This dish works well as part of a mezze spread, or can be eaten as it is, with something like crumbled feta or olives on top.

Keeping notes: Once made, the beans keep for up to 3 days in the fridge: just bring them back to room temperature before serving. The crispy tomato skins are a great thing to have around as well, to add to salads and pasta dishes. The recipe comes from a restaurant called Bar Rochford in Canberra, Australia, where they’re served with fresh green beans. They keep for a week in a sealed jar.

Ingredients

500g (17.5 oz) cherry tomatoes
85ml (2 3/4 oz) olive oil
1 onion, finely diced (150g)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp thyme leaves, roughly chopped, plus a few whole thyme leaves to garnish
1 tsp fennel seeds, toasted and lightly crushed
1 fresh bay leaf
80ml (2 2/3 oz) dry white wine
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 x 700g jar of good-quality butter bean, drained and rinsed
salt and black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 210°C fan. (410° F)

2. Toss the tomatoes with 2 teaspoons of the oil and spread them on
a parchment-lined baking tray. Roast for 20 minutes, until the skins have
loosened and the tomatoes are soft and have shrunk a little. Remove
from the oven and transfer the tomatoes, along with all their juices, to
a shallow bowl to cool.

3. Re-line the baking tray with a fresh sheet of baking parchment and
reduce the oven temperature to 100°C fan. (225° F)

4.Once cool enough to handle, pinch the skins off the tomatoes and place
the skins on the lined baking tray. Return the tray to the oven for about 45
minutes, until the skins are dry and crisp, giving them a good stir a couple
of times during baking. Set the skinless tomatoes aside.

5. Put the remaining 75ml of oil into a medium saucepan and place on a
medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, oregano, thyme, fennel seeds and bay
leaf and cook for 10–12 minutes, until the onion has softened but has not
taken on too much colour. Add the wine, simmer for 2 minutes to reduce,
then add the paprika. Cook for another minute, then add the reserved tomato
flesh, along with 1 teaspoon of salt. Simmer gently for about 15 minutes,
stirring often so that the tomatoes break down. Add the beans and a good
grind of pepper and stir to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes, just to
warm through, then remove from the heat. Spread the yoghurt over a serving
plate and then pile the beans on top. Crumble over the dried tomato skins,
finish with a sprinkling of thyme leaves and serve.


https://ottolenghi.co.uk/pages/recipes/butter-beans-roasted-cherry-tomatoes


Yotam, the King Kong of vegetable entrees always makes my mouth water!