Book review: Oren by Oded Oren

Oded Oren’s eponymous cookbook is a personal collection of stories and recipes from his home city of Tel Aviv.

His recipes take influence from his upbringing as part of an Ashkenazi Jewish family to working in restaurants in Tel Aviv, including a stint as head chef of Turkiz, and travelling to London where he opened Oren in Dalston, via a series of pop-ups.

Oren explains how the cuisine that first ignited his interest in cooking as a child inspired him to open his own restaurant, from those traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dishes hailing from Central and Eastern Europe, to the melting pot of food cultures found in Tel Aviv.

The recipes in Oren are divided by hero ingredients, be it tahini, preserved lemons, tomatoes or herbs, with small plates, breads and dips providing the foundations for a feast. While paying homage to well-known dishes the chef is not confined by tradition and frequently explains how he has put his own spin on classics.

When leafing through the recipes it’s impossible not to imagine a feast coming together one plate at a time, from garlic-heavy tzatziki, hummus and pickles to flame-puckered flatbreads topped with cured sardines and preserved lemon, glinting with olive oil. Punchy green tahini is paired with crispy sardines, while a herb salad is created with cherries, almond and mild chillies.

There’s a great selection of vegetarian dishes, including hispi cabbage with Romanesco and roasted beetroots with sherry vinegar and chives. Seafood and meat sections offer grilled squid stuffed with spiced lamb sausage and a shawarma-style slow-roasted leg of lamb that is braised until it falls from the bone. When reviewing Oren’s restaurant, The Sunday Times’ food critic Marina O’Loughlin said: “There’s something about this way of cooking that’s hugely cheering, regularly delivering the sparkiest, most happy-making experiences.”

The fragrance and beauty of Oren’s relatively simple recipes leap from the page, and will inspire readers to fill their tables with joy.

'Oren' by Oded Oren (Hardie Grant, £26)