I am always on the hunt for a good salad – preferably one that’s inventive and full of vegetables, because there’s nothing that leaves me hungrier than a bowlful of lettuce. So I made Yotam Ottolenghi’s Sprouting Broccoli with Sweet Tahini from his newest book, Plenty More. Make no mistake: this salad is delicious, a hearty combination of broccolini, haricot vert and snow peas with a dressing of tahini, honey, garlic and soy. There’s a heaping 1½ cups of cilantro too, which Ottolenghi says is one of his favorite ingredients (sorry, cilantro haters). The dish – especially the dressing – offers a multitude of flavors, from sweet to salty to spicy, the last thanks to raw garlic.
What I love about this book, though, is that it’s composed of vegetarian dishes for any audience. There’s something for everyone, from his tagliatelle with walnuts and lemon – an updated version of your fettuccine alfredo – to his fried upma with poached egg, a dressed-up version of the South Indian breakfast staple. (I’ll be making that next!)
Sprouting Broccoli with Sweet Tahini Serves 4
10½ oz./300 g. purple sprouting broccoli or 9 oz./250 g. broccolini
4 oz./120 g. haricot vert, trimmed
6½ oz./180 g. snow peas, trimmed
1 Tbsp. peanut oil
1½ cups/20 g. cilantro leaves
2½ Tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted
1 tsp. nigella seeds
For the sauce:
About 3½ Tbsp./50 g. tahini paste
About 2 Tbsp. water
1 small clove garlic, crushed
½ tsp. tamari soy sauce
1½ tsp. honey
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
½ tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce along with the salt. You want the consistency to be smooth and thick but pourable, a bit like honey; add a tiny bit of extra water or tahini paste if needed and whisk well.
Trim off the broccoli leaves. If the stems are thick, cut them lengthwise in half or in quarters so you are left with long, thinner stems, similar in proportion to the haricot vert.
Bring a pot filled with plenty of unsalted water to a boil. Blanch the haricot vert for about 4 minutes, until just cooked but still retaining a bite. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the haricot vert to a colander, run under plenty of cold water, and then dry well with a tea towel. In the same water, blanch the snow peas for 2 minutes. Use the slotted spoon to remove them from the water, then refresh and dry as before. Repeat the same process with the broccoli, blanching it for 2 to 3 minutes.
Once all the vegetables are cooked and dry, mix them together in a bowl with the oil. You can now serve the salad in two ways. Mix most of the cilantro and seeds with the vegetables and pile up on a serving dish. Pour the sauce on top and finish with the remaining cilantro and seeds. Alternatively, pile the vegetables on a serving plate, dotting them with cilantro leaves and sprinkling with seeds as you go, and serve the sauce in a bowl on the side.
What’s your most creative vegetarian dish? Tell us about it in the comments section below for a chance to win a copy of Plenty More. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s By the Book column.
This article appears in November 2014.