Auntie Lisa, as my boys know her, bought me the Ottolenghi cookbook for my birthday. Based on the food served at the iconic London restaurant, it has a wide selection of recipes, with some particularly appealing vegetarian offerings.
Yotam Ottolenghi writes a column for the Guardian newspaper, focusing specifically on vegetarian cuisine, with interesting, different recipes – a nice change for folks who are so often relegated to eating side dishes.
As Small Boy is still sick, I made these olive oil crackers, in the hope that the salt and crunch might rejuvenate his appetite. Very easy, and very delicious and he did eat several of them quite happily (thank you, Auntie Lisa!).
- 250g plain (all purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 115ml water
- 25ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika (I used smoked)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Maldon flaky salt for sprinkling
Note: the original recipe had ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper as well, but I left that out as I needed this batch to be child-friendly.
1. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the Maldon salt. Squelch the mix between your fingers to get it all combined. Then turn the dough out onto a clean workbench and knead it briefly until smooth. Wrap in cling film and leave it to rest for an hour in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 220°C (or 210°C with fan). On a well floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll walnut-sized pieces of dough into what the book describes as “long, oval tongues, almost paper thin”. It’s a very appropriate description! Use lots of flour to ensure the dough doesn’t stick to the bench.
3. Place the crackers on a tray lined with parchment, brush the tops generously with olive oil, then sprinkle on the Maldon salt flakes. Bake for 6 – 7 minutes, until crisp and golden brown. Store in an airtight container.
Click here for a printable version of this recipe
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
These crackers look great – and sound so easy to make too. Does this mean that I will now stop buying them from fancy bakeries? They might go out of business at this rate…. :)
I love eating these crackers with some nice runny brie or blue brie….mmm….all the things I should be avoiding in one delicious, crunchy, sharp little bite (or thirty)!
When I made them, I thought to myself, “the Spice Girl could probably come up with some really interesting spice combos to flavour these..”
hmmm…now you are talking…diferent spice versions. And herb versions. We love the rosemary version we buy from Brasserie Bread.
The colour of those crackers is simply beautiful! (The magic of a little paprika!) Great book isn’t it? Has food in it that you would want to eat every day, though their vegetarian recipes are often so full of cheese (s) that I pause, I think I once made something of theirs that had close on 1kg of cheese in it…..
Yes, and thank you for putting me onto their Guardian page, Jo! And on a non-vegetarian front, they have a recipe for belly pork which looks decidedly wicked.. :)
Thanks for sharing the recipe – they do look extremely tasty.
Waw!! These crackers look so tasty & appetizing!
Very apart too!
Lovely pictures too!
Many greetings from sunny Brussels!
I’m so sad that I missed out on visiting Ottolenghi when I was overseas :( Thankfully the cookbook aids in overcoming that :P
Impressive! I love the book too – and used to live only 100metres from their first cafe – sigh.
The aubergine with saffron yoghurt is v good as are their choc cupcakes – serious stuff.
Hope Small Boy is feeling better.
Anna
Thank you all, the crackers were delicious, and all gone by the following day.
Anna, thanks, Small Boy on the mend, and I’ll look out for the other recipes. I finally returned Dredgey’s copy of the book to him, and he said, “when did you get take that?” :)
A very good friend also gave me the book for my birthday and it is high on my list for London visit in September. Simple food done well, it is all about the inspired combinations. Roz
These crackers sound great. I’ve been eyeing up this book on Amazon for a while now – but really do I need another cookery book – ah the dilemma!