Weeknight Cooking Doesn't Have to be Boring

The title of multiple James Beard Award winner Yotam Ottolenghi’s most recent tome, Ottolenghi Simple, is misleading in the best way imaginable. The ingredients are accessible and the recipes are manageable, but the final dishes are packed with complex flavors inspired by the author’s decades of international culinary adventures. Take for instance this recipe for tofu and haricots verts tossed with a rich and spicy chraimeh sauce.

Ottolenghi starts by blanching and shocking a pound of string beans and crisping up a block of firm tofu. Then, he turns to the chraimeh sauce—a Libyan condiment that features North African spices and tomato paste bloomed in hot oil. He brightens up the sauce with a squeeze of lime before tossing in those still-crisp haricots verts, golden-brown tofu, and chopped cilantro. Served with some extra lime wedges, it’s a weeknight-friendly celebration of international flavors, no plane ticket required. Get the recipe and make it tonight.

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Frank Guerriero is the media assistant at the Beard Foundation. Find him on Instagram.