be still, my sugar-levin' heart!

Oh. My. Goodness. A new NY Times blog written by none other than Ottolenghi?!

Yotam Ottolenghi:               Eat Your Sugar

Admitting to a sweet tooth these days seems rather illicit, what with sugar cast in the role of Public Enemy No. 1. But here is my confession: I rarely go a day without a slice or bite or square of something sweet. If it’s not cake, then it’ll be a cookie, a slice of tart topped with fruit or a slab of dark chocolate, a little pop of joy to accompany a short black coffee or a tall cup of green tea.

But it’s not the sugar I’m addicted to. Rather, it’s the comfort, surprise and delight that dessert, or any food, can bring, that ideal match of the right dish and the right moment. The reason a colorful, vertiginously tall and booze-filled trifle brings so much joy at the end of a party is not because of the sugar in the list of ingredients. It’s because nothing says “sharing” and “celebration” and “ta-da!” quite like it. [...]

And so I introduce my new column for The New York Times, which will appear occasionally and is to be filled with all things baked and sweet.
Recently, though, my work surfaces have become covered in flour, and my electric mixer has been getting a workout. I’ve been baking, and the kitchen smells good. I always find cooking for people satisfying, but there is something particularly — and instantly — rewarding about that moment of bliss that you see when someone bites into something sweet and delicious for the first time. Whether it’s a rich and composed dessert, such as my kataifi nests, or a refreshing and light granita, the world, for that shared moment, is all about a simple and straightforward kind of pleasure.

Again, though: It’s not about the sugar. I spend my days cooking and eating a wide range of foods, sweet and savory, Asian or Middle Eastern or Mediterranean in inspiration. Similarly, when I’m baking, I’m just as likely to reach for all sorts of ingredients. The sugar is there, of course, just like the eggs, butter and flour, but the things that really excite me and deliver that pop of joy lie elsewhere. It’s the pinch of golden saffron threads used to poach pears, the cubes of tangy feta whipped through some cream, the use of kataifi pastry (long strands of shredded phyllo) in the place of a more obvious shortbread base. It’s the jewel-like slivered green pistachios that make me smile, and the ruby-red pomegranate seeds.

In the columns to come, you will find me using things that are not always so obviously associated with baking. The presence of hard herbs like rosemary, for example, in an orange and olive oil cake. Cookies bound together and enriched by tahini, the use of which tends to be confined, by many, to the making of hummus. Spices will bring flavor, citrus will bring freshness. I hope you’ll come to share my obsession with lemons, that you’ll indulge my penchant for adding a splash of booze wherever I can. I hope you will agree that, just sometimes, a sprinkle of rose petals really is enough to make the day something special.

Sign me up!

via {ny times}

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