Reviews: Boustany (8)

This cookbook is beautiful, you can see from the first page how much love for the food and the home all Sami Tamimi's recipes represent, has gone into it. Boustany is a delicious pleasure to cook from, but also to pour over. It's a cookbook you can really spend time in.

This is my third decade as a vegetarian and I can honestly say that this sumptuous volume of Palestinian recipes from the co-founder of Ottolenghi is one of the most inspiring cookbooks in my collection. Beautifully illustrated with mouthwatering photographs, some of my new favourites include Jerusalem sesame bread nests, Celeriac & tomato bake, Fried halloumi with purslane salad, and Sweetcorn, bean and green cabbage soup. So many of the dishes are incredibly easy and quick to make, so it's perfect for beginners who want to experiment with new flavours.

Boustany is the latest cookbook from Ottolenghi co founder Sami Tamimi celebrating vegetarian dishes from Palestine. Right off the bat I think that if you love all things Ottolenghi then you will love this and want to pick it up! If you are like me and don't really know much about Ottolenghi but enjoy cooking delicious food at home, then this is worth thinking about and looking at before you purchase.
In this nearly 300 page cookbook, only 60 of those pages are actually weeknight dinners and one of those recipes is just a recipe for carrots and nothing else. There is a great chapter on pickles and condiments, a large chapter on bread and chapters on breakfasts and soups among other things. None of the ingredients are particularly difficult to get so in this sense this is an accessible cookbook. In terms of layout and construction It is less so.
There is no time at the beginning of the recipe to let you know how long in total it will take. The instructions are clear and concise but many of the pages don't include photos until the next page, for me personally as a home cook I like to be able to see what I'm putting together as I read the recipe. A lot of the recipes suggest that they could be a part of a spread but there is little to no guidance on what dishes might work well together.
Also quite a large portion of this book requires grains and gluten, more specifically the last quarter where there is an abundance of bread and dessert recipes. No substitutions are offered and while the focus of this book is on Palestinian cuisine and not gluten free cuisine, it is still something to consider before spending $30 on a cookbook. My partner is a coeliac so there a lot of these recipes that become a bigger effort to cook because we will have to find substitutions. Worth bearing this in mind!
The quality of this book is really high, it has a gorgeous matte cover and lovely food photography playing a part in the price! Overall I don't think I am the intended audience for this book, I think it will really suit people who cook lots and are very comfortable in the kitchen as opposed to me who wants flavour forward but ultimately accessible and easy to think about vegetarian cuisine. The author does a great job compiling Palestinian recipes and while there isn't much storytelling there is flavourful food from a beautiful country, that will appeal to a lot of people!

This is more than just an excellent cookery book. There is no doubt that Boustany captures all of the essential essences of the best cookery books. It is so classy, accessible, and as tasty as heck, while managing to be both rustic and sophisticated. If some ever tells you that they think vegetables are boring, just point them in Sami’s direction.

A beautiful vegetarian cookbook (a lot Vegan or can be adapted) celebrating the food of Palestine. It’s worth it just for the pickles (Sumac onions are my go to pickle now). I’ve made several recipes already - chilled tomato and avocado soup, aubergine and fava beans with eggs for example.
None of the recipes look too difficult with any tricky techniques, it’s good home cooking. The ingredients are obtainable with substitutions offered in some cases. If I have a criticism it’s that there is no overall cooking time shown but it’s easy to estimate from reading through the instructions. I’m looking forward to exploring this cuisine further over the coming months.

This is fabulous!
Mouth watering recipes and food photos!
I'm especially loving the soup section.
Totally recommended.

Tasty vegetarian recipes, well crafted and easy to follow. I can sit and read through this book, little anecdotes and tips throughout make it an enjoyable read. Comforting, tasty food and I didn't have to hunt down any ingredients or buy special kitchen equipment.

From the moving introduction about the genesis of the book , we move on to the dishes that Sami Tamimi has returned to time and time again.

The book's sections are:-
Pantry- pickles, dairy, condiments and spice mixes
Breakfast and brunch
Small plates and spreads
Salads
Soups
Weekday dinners
Sharing and special occasions
Bread
Sweets

Lots of recipes now have a tag on them ready for me to try out. There is no index/indication of GF, Vegan etc but I am currently looking at Broad Beans with lemon and coriander , so lots of the recipes are, you may just need to enjoy flicking through to find ones suitable for your dietary requirements - tip, Vegan date bars (P.278)

Having a sweet tooth I do tend to spend more time drooling over the sweets (desserts and cakes) I am definitely going to try the Apricot, orange and almond cake on p.270 , which is also GF, for our Book Group .

None of the recipes seem too complicated and a lot of areas have shops where you can source sumac etc.

Thanks to the publishers for a copy of this amazing book

Tracey
Exeter Roman Gate