In 2019 I got a new cookbook, Simple by Ottolenghi. Love this cookbook so much! I found it much easier to cook from compared to Plenty and Plenty more, the other two cookbooks I had at that time. Learned to cook the Ottolenghi way. And how to update my cupboard with Ottolenghi necessities 😉!
After posting one of my pictures on Instagram I noticed the #rainydaybitescookbookclub. This is the cookbookclub from @rainydaybites aka Deborah 😉. They cook from a different cookbook every month and in March 2019 they were cooking from Simple. I made a lot of foodie friends around the world through this cooking community!
In May 2020 I decided to start my own #ottolenghicookalong. Ottolenghi made me change my way of cooking, and I still had so many recipes to make from all of his books! And I wanted others to cook with me, and many did, because they felt the same, so 🙏 all very much for that!
With my #ottolenghicookalong I found even more new foodie friends! When Flavour arrived, a few of you thought it would be fun to cook the same recipe, and we decided to make the chickpea pancakes with pickled yoghurt for November. And because Flavour was Deborah’s pick for November, we also made the asparagus pancakes with gochujang. Both very nice! As a lot of other recipes from the book😋!
We had so much fun cooking together we decided to make one other recipe together. We made the Max’ and Flynn’s lemonsorbet and during this month we started to use the #greatmindscookottolenghi!
For December 2020 I picked Nopi for my #ottolenghicookalong, and the other ladies from the #GMCO decided to make a recipe from Nopi too. I made a whole meal, and was busy for a few days in my kitchen. I made the ricotta fritters with a blackberry sauce and chocolate soil for dessert, never made anything like that before! Talking about next level cooking for me😉. We made different recipes this time, all delicious!
Ricotta fritters with blackberry sauce and chocolate soil.
In January 2021 we all cooked something from Jerusalem for my cookalong and the #GMCO started talking about another challenge, picking a different Ottolenghi cookbook every month, and asking people to join us on the last weekend of the month. So different to my #ottolenghicookalong where you could choose whatever cookbook or recipe from Ottolenghi you’d fancy.
For our first #GMCO party in January somebody in our group thought that Sweet by Ottolenghi and Helen Goh was a great pick to start our challenge. No clue why, because we all are not really into baking a lot of sweets😂. But it was so much fun! And a lot of non-bakers joined us too that weekend! And I made my very first chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Definitely need to make them again…..
I still had my own #ottolenghicookalong in February, and many of you joined me. The Cookbook by Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi was the #GMCO pick for the last weekend of February. Slowly more people were cooking now for both challenges 😉. The Cookbook weekend was a great success. Two days of cooking, commenting on your posts, talking about food, having fun the whole weekend. But the weekend after the #GMCO I would have my own #ottolenghicookalong again. Maybe that would be a bit to much, two Ottolenghi challenges in a row. I decided to stop with my cookalong because with our #GMCO I still would cook Ottolenghi recipes every month. But thanks again to all of you who joined my #ottolenghicookalong!
of buffalo mozzarella from The Cookbook.
For March we had Falastin, by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley because it was their first anniversary. A lot of great recipes, and they both joined our #GMCO! That was really fun! Still hoping that Ottolenghi himself will join too some day……
We cooked from Plenty in April, so many great vegetarian recipes. This time I wasn’t intimidated by the recipes anymore. But I was surprised again, by how some flavors just become great flavors together in a dish. I would love to spent some time in the #OTK😉! I made the saffron cauliflower, a really easy traybake recipe. But great flavors!
And we picked Simple for May. And the Fab 5, as some of you call us (thank you Sebastian😉) , made the Pizza Bianca from Simple together. There were over 200 participants in May! We were overwhelmed by it❤️! We couldn’t repost every single post, basically because Instagram wouldn’t allow it, and our fingers didn’t like it either😂. So we started to make group reposts, to say thank you for joining our Ottolenghi Party !
In June we cooked from Plenty more, and I loved how people went back to this cookbook, sitting on that bookshelf, waiting patiently to be picked up again. And because many of you really couldn’t wait till our weekend, we got a lot of tags during the month. Because you were all gearing up to the #GMCO weekend😉. This was also our 6 month’s anniversary. And on an anniversary weekend you need cake, and so the apricot walnut and lavender cake was on our tables. Definitely not my favorite from Plenty more😜.
Our next pick is Nopi, for July. A bit more fancy than the other cookbooks. This is a restaurant cookbook by Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully. I can’t wait to see what you all make!
I really love our #greatmindscookottlenghi community. How we inspire each other. Having fun together. Helping each other in the kitchen. Sharing recipes and ideas. Talking about food. And more food😂.
We wouldn’t be here without Ottolenghi and all his coworkers from the #OTK. And definitely not without you all, Ottotarians (love that name Margo and Mrs. L.🙏) .
So thank you all very much and cheers to more great cooking weekends!
rinaschoof 