Jerusalem: A Cookbook

I stumbled across Jerusalem: A Cookbook in Anthropologie in March.  I previously read an article in the New Yorker about the chef and writer Yotam Ottolenghi and I couldn't wait to eat at one of his restaurants the next time I was in London.  I opened the book and fell for the photos of all the beautiful dishes.  I used my birthday discount to buy the book and then I knew that my first recipe had to be the Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Fresh Figs.  Unfortunately, I had to wait until August for the figs to ripen.  I checked the markets obsessively for a few weeks and kept asking my friends with fig trees if they were ripe yet.  I finally found figs this last Saturday and knew exactly what I would be eating on Sunday.

For some reason, figs remind me of my Dad.  We had so much fruit growing up in the central valley but these stand out.  I specifically remember him coming home from the farmer's market with a basket and sharing them with me every summer.  I thought they were such a delicious fruit and that it was cool that my Dad liked them also.

I became excited about mixing this fruit with one of my other favorite foods, sweet potatoes. The photo in the book showed a dish of beautiful colors and that is what I wanted to eat.

The actual food lived up to my expectations and you can find the recipe here.  It's very easy to make.  And I loved the kick of the pepper with the sweet figs and potatoes.

There has been a lot of love shared for the cookbook recently in the NY Times.  This article spurred a desire in me to start my own cookbook club.  I've gathered a few interested friends and I'm looking forward to explore this book and other recipe resources starting next month.