Ottolenghi Test Kitchen – Shelf Love

Last Updated on February 28, 2026

Relaxed, flexible home cooking with Shelf Love by  Ottolenghi

Ottolenghi Test Kitchen – Shelf Love (Ebury Press) is making a splash in the world of Ottolenghi devotees who form a global band of merry home cooks. I am a proud member of that gang and happily devour every new book that is published. Shelf Love is not the typical Ottolenghi cookbook – those large, hard-backed volumes, artfully styled with photographs that justify the awful term ‘food porn’. OTK Shelf Love is the first in a new series of four books that will take readers behind the scenes into the Ottolenghi test kitchen. This is the dynamic space, under the arches in North London, where Ottolenghi recipes are created and developed by his talented group of recipe developers. This book is co-edited by Ottolenghi and Noor Murad, who heads up the test kitchen, and has recipe contributions from a number of the team. The format of the book is notebook-style – there are spaces below each recipe for home cooks to add their own notes or how they have tweaked the dish. The photographs, by Elena Heatherwick, are generally more informal, showing the finished dish as well as some images of the cooking in progress.

Shelf Love was born out of the pandemic lockdown when we were all stuck at home, having to cook a whole lot more than ever. We filled our cupboards with dried goods, tins and jars and our freezers with vegetables.  The challenge was to find interesting ways to put the ingredients together to feed ourselves and anyone else at the table. Unlike the Ottolenghi recipes we all love (or perhaps some love to hate) with their long list of sometimes hard-to-source ingredients, Shelf Love is designed for use with ingredients you might well have in your pantry and fridge. And if you don’t, you can happily substitute. What do you mean you don’t have za’atar and sumac, harissa, tahini and pomegranate molasses on your weekly shopping list? At the front of the book is a handy fold-out containing all the tins, jars, grains and pulses, veggies, spices and fresh ingredients needed to make the recipes.  Naturally, all the recipes are sprinkled with Ottolenghi magic to raise their game. So, for example, a simple mac and cheese is topped with za’atar, pesto and crispy onions –  a Middle Eastern take on the family favourite dish, which simply elevates it to another level of fabulousness.

While there is an assortment of meat and fish dishes, OTK Shelf Love is bursting with exciting vegetarian recipes – confit tandoori chickpeas, sweet potato shakshuka with sriracha butter and pickled onions, or curried cauliflower cheese filo pie are all on my must-try list.

I have been making Ottolenghi’s hummus recipe since Jerusalem was published many years ago. Until then, all attempts at homemade hummus were given the thumbs down by my kids as they preferred the smooth, commercial variety. Ottolenghi’s recipe is so creamy that all resistance crumbled at my table, and I now make tubs of it regularly. In OTK Shelf Love, there is a recipe entitled creamy dreamy hummus, which is a perfect description. I must confess that I cheat and use a top-quality jarred chickpea (expensive but worth every penny), but you could follow orders and soak your chickpeas overnight. Either way, you will never want to buy hummus from the supermarket again.

Next, I tried za’atar salmon and tahini, and since all three of these ingredients make a regular appearance on my weekly menu, I knew it was my sort of dish. The fish was cooked beautifully, perfectly timed, but whether you like the taste of the sauce will depend on your attitude towards tahini. I love it, but much as it pains me to say, I know not everyone does like the slightly bitter taste of this sesame paste. If you do, then give this recipe a try, it is a one-pot dish with spinach – or other greens if you prefer – cooked underneath the fish. I simply served it with a bowl of baby potatoes.

Vegans are well catered for in OTK Shelf Life with a dish such as sweet spiced mushroom and rice pilaf being a standout success. It does require a number of ingredients – three types of mushrooms and some dried ancho chillies – but nothing out of the ordinary. The cooking experience is one that Ottolenghi lovers will recognise. It takes time, there are several cooking utensils on the go on the hob, and you need patience. But all is worth it when the fragrant rice is scooped onto your plate. Each bite of rice is gently spiced with the flavours of star anise, cinnamon and ancho chilli, all baked into the grains. One mouthful is tart with dried apricot, the next is meaty and silky with chunks of portobello mushroom. Best of all is the spoonful with one of the ten garlic cloves that has caramelised during cooking into a sweet paste. While this pilaf might not be one of those dishes that could be called good-looking, it makes for seriously interesting eating.

OTK Shelf Love is packed with accessible recipes – some very easy and others more ‘cheffy’. While you may need to buy in a few ingredients, the book encourages readers to reach to the back of the cupboard shelves and the bottom of the freezer drawer to make a delicious meal. A kitchen clear-out never tasted this good.

 

Looking for more book recommendations? Check out Ottolenghi Extra Good Things for more of the same! I regularly review books for The Frugal Flexitarian and post my favourites together with a test recipe. You can find all my book reviews here