“I Just Want to Be Present” – Yotam Ottolenghi’s 8 Hosting Rules Aren’t Just About What to Cook, They’re About How You Want to Feel
Speaking to Livingetc at this year's Unlocked event, the chef gave some insight into how to host like a pro, from the right plates to dishes that work best to allow you to attend to your guests
The chef and award-winning cookbook writer Yotam Ottolenghi has changed how we all cook today. It’s thanks to him that ingredients like harissa and preserved lemons are common on grocery store shelves, and that we all know the difference a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds makes.
But his best hosting advice is surprisingly little about culinary pyrotechnics. For him, a great dinner is about giving yourself time, lowering the pressure, and creating a table where both you and your guests can relax.
These are the hosting rules he actually lives by.
Yotam Ottolenghi was one of the speakers at this year's Livingetc Unlocked. You can now sign up for notifications about future Unlocked events.
Ottolenghi's newest book Simple Too is now available to buy.
1. "I Just Want To Be Present"
This kitchen of one of this year's Unlocked houses has undoubtedly seen a few island parties in its time.
"I always make sure that, first of all, everything is prepared in advance," Ottolenghi says. "Really, as much as possible. It’s not that I can’t multitask. I just want to be present. You know, I can cook and chat, but it’s not real chat."
He says that good hosting needs to involve a little prep, but that some forethought goes a long way on the night. "I try to do everything I can beforehand," he adds. "So when you sit down, I maybe warm up something, or I finish it off with a drizzle of dressing or a scattering of nuts. But essentially everything is prepared."
He is equally firm about leaving himself enough time.
"I never want to be in a situation where I’m coming back from work at 4:30 or 5 pm and have people coming at 7. That is the nightmare. I don’t want that. I want to give myself time."
2. "I Like To Prepare Lots of Food That Is Really Good to Eat at Room Temperature"
At another Unlocked house, entertaining is part of the home's DNA.
Ottolenghi describes the abundant food displays you find in his delis as a useful way to think about hosting.
"I like to prepare lots of food that is really good to eat at room temperature, that I can prepare in advance and just finish off before I bring it to the table," he says. "I always try to keep to a maximum of one or two things that I have to cook last minute."
Fish is a favorite because the sauce can be made beforehand, and one he returns to again and again is what he calls "The One Sauce," a new recipe from his brand-new book Simple Too.
"It’s been serving me really well all summer for formal and informal events," he says.
The method is deliberately simple: tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and herbs are roasted together until soft. "After forty-five minutes, you take it out, and the garlic has got all soft and squishy. You squeeze it out, and you whisk it so it emulsifies as the sauce. That’s it. You don’t do anything. It’s the easiest thing in the world. It’s a great pasta sauce, but it’s a sauce for everything."
For dinner, he will often put fillets of fish straight into it, return the tray to the oven and finish with tahini.
"That’s dinner. And it’s beautiful. It feels very impressive."
3. "I Like to Make An Effort With A Nibble"
A good pantry is always stocked with nibbles for guests.
Sometimes that is simply roasted nuts. Other times it might be crostini or the fennel tarte Tatin from his new book, made with fennel, grapes and fennel seed, plus a layer of puff.
"It’s a really lovely recipe. It’s very easy because you just put it all in. You let it all do the cooking."
And he is entirely happy to rely on bought puff pastry. "We live in a world where there’s so many great things that you can buy in the supermarket," he says. "Give yourself a break and use supermarket ingredients. As soon as people come over, you flip it over, and it looks absolutely great. And it’s a really nice nibble."
4. "You Need To Love What You Serve Your Food In"
Serveware with a story is preferable over something newly bought for the occasion.
"I think whatever serving bowls you have to hand are fine. But I also think you need to love what you serve your food in. The dishes that have had a bit of a history at home are actually the nicest things to serve in," Ottolenghi says.
"If you’ve got an old Le Creuset or an old roasting tin that you want to present at the table, then I’d rather do that than necessarily decant the food into a very fancy new ceramic pot or dish that you bought."
He also collects pieces from friends and on his travels.
"I do have some beautiful things that I collect, a nice salad bowl or ceramics that maybe a friend has made or bought for me," he says. "Or if I travel, I tend to come back with a beautiful platter. It doesn’t need to be expensive. It can be just something beautiful with a bit of patina on it."
5. "I Want to See the Food"
Leave those deep salad bowls on the shelf, Ottolenghi suggests.
There is one piece of tableware Ottolenghi feels rather more strongly about.
"This is important," he says. "The typical deep salad bowl I find really useless because you don’t really see the food. I want to see the food."
He prefers something wide and shallow, with enough of a rim to catch any sauce or dressing.
"Even a lettuce salad is really nice on a platter as long as you’ve got a little bit of lip. You can spread all the lettuce there and then drizzle it. So you can see the dressing. You can see the leaves. You can see their shape, and it makes a whole lot of difference."
6. "The Things That Are Practical And Beautiful Really, Really Help"
Ottolenghi prefers a dramatic floral arrangement over a small one.
Ottolenghi prefers table decor that feels considered without becoming overly formal or fussy.
"If you have made a lot of effort and you do one of these pick-and-mix situations, and you have lovely platters to serve on, you almost don’t need anything else."
He likes useful objects to do some of the decorating. A beautiful pitcher might hold still or sparkling water, while his glassware is deliberately mixed.
"I have a collection of things that I like to mix. I’ve got a bunch of Moroccan glasses that I use, sometimes for wine, sometimes for water. I’m not strict about those things. I think it’s quite nice to have different coloured glasses. All these things just make it a richer experience. Even my cutlery is a bunch of mismatched silverware, and they’re not really a set, but it looks nice on the table."
"Flowers can be in the way," he adds. "And I don’t love small pots of flowers. I love bigger gestures.
What I often do is, if I want to make it a little bit more formal, I put something beautiful out before people sit down, then I remove it because it’s in the way if it’s in our eyeline. Candles are really nice on a table. I like the lighting to be muted."
7. "Everything Can Just Wait For the Potatoes"
Hosting Christmas doesn't need to be stressful, Ottolenghi says.
For the Christmas table, Ottolenghi applies exactly the same prepare-ahead philosophy. "If you think of the traditional Christmas meal, it’s made out of a lot of things. So many of them are fine just warm rather than piping hot"
His Brussels sprouts can be roasted and dressed with vinaigrette as soon as they emerge from the oven.
"This is a trick that I use quite often in my cooking: hot brassicas, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbages coming out of the oven, a bit of vinaigrette, and they sit down, and they soak up that richness, the acidity and the sweetness." Carrots can be handled in much the same way.
"You roast them. You dress them. They’re ready to go. I use a lot of chopped-up coriander, a lot of pomegranate seeds, and they just sit there. Don’t dress it till before, then dress it with some lime juice, with olive oil, and put it all over the carrots, bring it to the table. People will be happy." But one thing deserves your full attention.
"The roast potatoes are the thing of my life. They always take way longer than you think. If you cook potatoes, you parboil and put them in the oven; they take an hour and a half, or an hour at least, to get to the right crispy situation that you want them in."
He saves herbs and garlic until the end so they do not burn. "Everything can just wait for the potatoes."
8. "Who Doesn’t Like Roast Strawberries and Cream?"
And finally, dessert. If he had to suggest one thing that can make hosting easier, Ottolenghi chose his brown sugar cake with brown sugar cream and brown sugar roasted strawberries.
"This is a marvellous dessert. Every one of these elements is great on their own. You can just eat the cream with the strawberries or the cake with the cream or just the strawberries with granola and yogurt."
But served together, layered onto a big tray, it becomes something else.
"We were just cutting pieces and giving it to everybody. And it just made everybody so happy. Who doesn’t like roast strawberries and cream?"
The fruit can change with the seasons.
"When strawberries are not in season, you can use plums. They’re also super delicious when roasted, or rhubarb roasted with brown sugar as well."
Or even more simply: "Brown sugar cake, brown sugar cream, and just passion fruit. So good."
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