Quotes from Yotam Ottolenghi

One man's trash is another man's treasure, and the by-product from one food can be perfect for making another.

A food processor, or even one of those small bowls that fit on a stick blender, is a real treasure. No, that's not an overstatement.

Good asparagus needs minimal treatment and is best eaten with few other ingredients.

Barberries, or zereshk, are tiny dried red fruit with a tremendously sharp flavour. They come from Iran, where they're used to add freshness to rice and chicken dishes.

The emotive power of hummus all over the Middle East cannot be overstated, being the focus of some serious tribal rivalries.

Take your average couscous salad, and it's almost always a sloppy mush, no matter how much attention has gone into getting flavours in there.

Scamorza, an Italian curd cheese often labelled 'smoked mozzarella,' melts fantastically well.

I keep returning to the combination of artichoke, broad beans and lemon. The freshness of young beans and the lemon juice 'lifts' the artichoke and balances its hearty nature.

Even in the busiest kitchen, there's always a point at the end of the day when you go home.

The kitchen is tough. It's one of the last bastions in civilized culture that sets out to crush the spirit.

One of the troubles with food is that people take themselves too seriously. This is why I'm very happy for people to change my recipes, alter them, replace one ingredient for another.

Forget mung beans' reputation as healthy yet bland - used right, they soak up loads of flavour.

I love the way soft white cheese such as ricotta or the creamier mascarpone reflect the milieu in which an animal has been raised.

Hardly any of my most memorable meals have been eaten in a restaurant, and definitely none in one of those fancy marble-floored, polished-silver establishments.

Having grown up in the Middle East, eating beans for breakfast always seemed like a bizarre British eccentricity.

Tiny quails may not seem as impressive as a mammoth turkey, but there is something refreshing about a spread of individual birds on the Christmas table.

Turkish cuisine is, to my mind, one of the most exciting and accomplished in the world.

Rice and vermicelli is a common combination in Arab and Turkish cooking - it has a lighter texture than rice on its own.

Barley and mushroom is a soothing combination. It's mainly a textural thing, with the barley both gently breaking and enhancing the mushroomy gloopiness.

Buttermilk's palate-cleansing tartness is one reason it's used a lot in southern India, where meals often end with a small bowl of the stuff served with plain rice and pickles.

Celery leaves are an underused ingredient, most likely because supermarkets sell mostly leafless stalks.

I have had to come to terms with the fact that I am hooked on Twitter. Not good.

Speaking as someone who didn't go through the U.K. school system, with all the culinary baggage that entails, I am inordinately fond of custard in any shape or form.

Some heat, some spice and plenty of citrus are the building blocks of many North African fish dishes.