Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh On Comfort Food

Ahead of the release of their latest cookbook, Comfort, Ellie Smith meets chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh

Interview: Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh

Are you partial to a dollop of rose harissa on your pasta? Always keep a jar of sumac in the cupboard? And do your dinner parties tend to consist of a spread of colourful family-style plates? Looks like you’ve been hit by the Ottolenghi effect, which has swept the nation over the past two decades. 

It all began in 2002 when Israel-born chef Yotam Ottolenghi opened a tiny deli in Notting Hill, along with co-founders Noam Bar and Sami Tamimi. The locals were quickly sold on the vibrant, vegetable-centric dishes, with queues regularly forming around the corner. A string of further cafés and restaurants followed, but it was the release of cookbook Simple in 2018 that really brought Ottolenghi to the masses. Before long, tahini, pomegranate molasses and preserved lemon were staples in households across the UK.

Now Yotam is back with another, Comfort, created alongside co-authors Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley. Collaboration has always been pivotal to the Ottolenghi brand, and many of the team have been involved since the early days, including Helen, who met Yotam in 2006 after discovering his Notting Hill café. They have worked together ever since and have become close friends, often meeting up for meals with their families (both have two boys). 

The book has been in the works for a few years, the pair tell me. ‘We realised that the idea of comfort is a very powerful one,’ says a cheery Yotam. ‘It’s about things that you relate to emotionally, that spark joy and ease. That’s why it’s quite a diverse set of comfort recipes – they really reflect our own personal histories.’

Both Yotam and Helen’s recipes draw on their childhoods and heritages. Yotam was born in Jerusalem to a German-Jewish mother and an Italian-Jewish father, and spent summers in Italy, so was exposed to a wealth of cuisine from a young age. ‘I grew up in between European culture and Middle Eastern culture, so obviously pasta resonates with me because my dad made pasta almost every single day. And also things that are quite traditional Jewish in their heritage: meatballs, schnitzel, matzo ball soup.’

Helen, meanwhile, was born in Malaysia but moved to Melbourne aged ten. For her, comfort food is ‘inextricably tied to rituals and traditions’, and being ‘associated with certainty and predictability in an uncertain world’. In Comfort, for instance, she presents her take on cucur udang: prawn fritters that are sold streetside in Malaysia, which Helen loved as a child.

The book also spotlights dishes learnt from friends and travels. ‘Over the years, my notion of comfort really expanded,’ notes Yotam. ‘You’ve lived in different places, you’ve absorbed different things.’ They include, too, dishes they cook for their children (Helen’s love the gingery  fish and rice, Yotam’s the one-pot chicken with orzo).

Recipe ideas are conjured up in the brand’s test kitchen in north London, a hub of culinary wizardry and creativity. The chefs try not to be too diplomatic or precious about their ideas – but, of course, it’s not always smooth sailing. ‘I don’t want to portray an idolised image,’ admits Yotam. ‘It’s quite painful sometimes when you work on something and then people say, well actually, it doesn’t do it for me. But over time there is a deeper understanding that it’s really not about that. Everybody is extremely capable. There is a dish that they develop, but there’s going to be another one tomorrow. So it doesn’t matter that much. And how can we make the best version of roasted cauliflower or the best version of beetroot salad? That’s all it is.’

There’s no doubt the book will be another bestseller – so what’s the secret? Of course there’s the food itself. Comfort is filled with over 100 exciting, elevated twists on familiar classics: a jacket potato is jazzed up with aubergine and green tahini, pancakes are made with semolina and shepherd’s pie is given a ‘bohemian’ spin. 

But there’s also that signature Ottolenghi look, which people have come to know and love. ‘I remember I was having trouble plating up the silken tofu,’ recalls Helen. ‘My sense was to just lay it down very symmetrically, and Yotam came and pushed it a bit, and it suddenly felt very modern. It took it from something you might find in a little Chinese restaurant to something you  find in Ottolenghi. Sometimes it could just be a slight tweak.’ 

And while Ottolenghi recipes aren’t renowned for being easy, the team is set on making them approachable – and it’s certainly working, with over five million copies of his books sold worldwide, translated into 23 languages. ‘When you say, how big is Ottolenghi? I say, well, it’s as big as the people that are cooking from it,’ says Yotam of his global popularity. ‘And this is what we’re constantly working on. One of the questions I constantly ask myself is: will someone cook this?’ 

Ultimately, Comfort is a book about sharing: mealtimes and memories, and the recipes that we pass on through generations. As Helen puts it, ‘something which may be nostalgic for me, how do I bring it forward so that it connects with other people?’ In a world that can feel so divided, food is one of the things that can unite us – and there’s nothing like an Ottolenghi feast to bring people together.

Comfort is out on 5 September 2024