yotam ottolenghi loves strawberry daiquiris
 Today’s post is sponsored by Macmillan Audio! Little did they know, sponsorship or not, I’ve been recommending their audiobooks here for years! A good narrator with perfect cadence, a non-annoying voice, and zero weird mouth noises (IYKYK ha) can completely make or break a book, and Macmillan nails it every time. A few of my favorite Macmillan-published audiobooks are: The Wedding People, which is a romantic book, yes, but also explores depression and what can be on the other side of it in such a beautiful way. It was one of my top three books of 2025. Jilted — a fun, sexy romance with realistic, flawed, lovable characters and a fantastic narrator. And Sunny Side Up, a romcom that follows a smart and successful divorcee as she gets her dating groove back — it gives modern day Bridget Jones and Sex in the City vibes, but with body positivity as a main theme. And at the top of my listen-next list is Savor It, which I’ve heard is equal parts spicy and hilarious. PS, if you’ve never listened to an audiobook, they will change your life! You will “read” so many more books! Your drives and walks and workouts will be so much more rewarding! My life got richer when I became an audiobook devotee about 5 years ago. Hi, everyone! Whether or not the baby is born by the time this post gets published, this is my official maternity leave kickoff! If you were here when I had Cashel in 2022, you might remember my maternity leave guest series, in which Mark Bittman brought us the tortilla scramble, taught us how to make honey chipotle salmon tacos, shared her beloved pasta e ceci, and many other recipe developers I adore shared delicious keepers with us. For the next eight weeks, you’ll be receiving recipes and insights from guest chefs, recipe developers, restaurant owners, and content creators from around the world. Every single one of these guests inspires me and my recipes, and I can’t wait to either introduce you to their work, or put one more of their delicious recipes into your repertoire. I asked each guest to share a recipe that they cook when they don’t feel like cooking and WOW — they delivered. Every recipe developer writes recipes a little bit differently so we’ve re-edited them in our signature What To Cook style (all ingredients are written in full, and bolded, in the directions list, and there are notes and subs following each recipe). So, while you’ll be introduced to new flavors and techniques, you’ll still be receiving the simple, easy-to-follow recipes that you expect here. Each week in Wednesday’s So Into That newsletter we will introduce you to the week’s guest, and on Saturday morning, you’ll receive the delicious seasonal recipe they chose to share with What To Cookers. It’s going to be SO MUCH FUN! I can’t wait to beg my friends/mother/George to cook me these recipes while I bask in newborn snuggles. I am trying not to completely freak out here, guys. Ottolenghi. Guest posting on my newsletter. What. HOW?! If you’re not familiar with Yotam Ottolenghi, you must be new here, because look how many times I’ve talked about him: I’ve loved Ottolenghi’s recipes since my friend Sarah — of Coronado Cookie fame — gave me a copy of Jerusalem for my 25th birthday. I was just getting my start in the food world, and I pored over each page of that book, which artfully shares both Palestinian and Israeli recipes and stories (Ottolenghi is a native of Israel). So many of the flavors and ingredients I learned about there have become pillars of the way I cook today. I’ve continued to collect his new cookbooks as they come out, every time I’m in London (where he has lived for many years) I visit at least two of his delis and restaurants (I adore NOPI but the classic Ottolenghi delis are my favorite — just look how they display their food!), and in extremely exciting news: he recently joined Substack and is cranking out absolutely beautiful recipes and essays here. OK, enough from me. Let’s hear it from Yotam. Ottolenghi. Who I got to interview. For MY maternity leave series. OK, deep breaths, here he is! YOTAM: I'm a bit of everything, really — cookbook author, restaurant owner, writer. I run Ottolenghi alongside a small but mighty team. We all share a love for bold flavours and giving people an amazing time. I spend a lot of time in our test kitchen with our development chefs, and I write a Substack newsletter where I get to ramble about salads and life in equal measure. YOTAM: Something I never talked about — I was a waiter for a couple of months in a cafe in Tel Aviv. It was a disaster, really. I didn’t get the food out on time, I messed up orders. The only advantage, I suppose, is that this was when I first tried strawberry daiquiri. An eye opener. YOTAM: The fact that we've managed to create something at Ottolenghi that feels genuinely collaborative. It's not just my vision — it's this constant exchange between all of us, drawing from our different backgrounds and experiences. That openness to new flavours and ideas, which I think reflects what makes London's food culture so special, is something I'm quite proud we've maintained as we've grown. YOTAM: My kids, ages 10 and 12, are finally old enough to watch some of the films I’ve been dying to show them for years. Boyhood was the latest. It actually kept their attention — I didn’t catch either of them watching YouTube shorts the entire time (result1). YOTAM: Tahini, without question. It goes in everything — salad dressings, marinades, desserts. I can pretty much go on auto-pilot and drizzle it over roasted cauliflower, which is probably my most reliable dinner move. YOTAM: A small serrated knife and a mandoline are probably my most used. But a really good perforated spoon is essential for my salad plating style. You can read more about it here. YOTAM: I should probably say my kids (I do enjoy it, but it’s messier than I like). But probably my colleagues — seeing their inspiration, their creativity. That collaborative spirit is what started everything, and it's still what drives our best ideas. Here’s what we cooked this week over the last four years on What To Cook. Summer ingredients are showing off — juicy peaches, tiny tomatoes, fresh herbs, sweet corn. Add one (or all!) to your meal plan this week! These bowls hit all the right notes: juicy peaches, crunchy veggies, a quick-cooking protein, and a lemony herb sauce you’ll want to drizzle on everything. Couscous makes this meal light but filling, and the whole thing comes together fast — perfect for summer. Serve the components separately so everyone can build their own bowl — easy, kid-friendly, and great for a crowd. Tomato season is peaking — make this while the tiny ones are at their sweetest! Cherry tomatoes melt into a silky, garlicky sauce that clings perfectly to any pasta shape. No chopping required if you don’t want to: tear your basil by hand or snip it with kitchen shears, and reach for pre-minced or frozen garlic. If you haven’t done a Lowcountry boil yet this summer, the time has come! Top your table with some newspaper or kraft paper, boil your dinner (shrimp, sausage, potatoes, corn), and then let everyone go at it! This is such a fun way to feed a crowd — or just your family on any weeknight, no special occasion needed. We couldn’t say it any better than Sara H.! I want to send one of you a pair of Yotam’s cookbooks that have inspired me so much over the years: Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Plenty. Comment with something you’re into this week — or just to share in my excitement over having Ottolenghi here on What To Cook! — to enter to win. The winner will be randomly selected and notified via Substack DM next Tuesday, 7/22, so comment before then to enter. Leave a comment We use affiliate links when sharing product recs, which means we may earn a small commission off of purchases you make through those links. This does not cost you anything extra and is a way to support the production of and team behind What to Cook. Sponsorships — which also help support the production of this newsletter — are another way we partner with brands that I authentically love and can personally vouch for. 1 “Result” = ”win”/”success” for those of us in the U.S.! No posts