Ollie Dabbous is one of the UK's most exciting chefs. His restrained but stunning dishes celebrate the essence of ingredients and flavour.
Essential is his first cookbook for home cooks and it is made up of 100 everyday recipes that Ollie has made faultless. These are pitch-perfect versions of familiar dishes like cauliflower cheese, risotto, tuna steak, roast beef and cheesecake. Each chapter takes a different ingredient type – from Grains through to Fruit and Berries – and the recipes are simple, unfussy and incredibly elegant.
Ollie may be Michelin-starred but in this book he doesn't use complicated techniques or tools. He simply shares his intuitive approach to balancing, layering and tweaking ingredients to create perfect results time and again
About the Author
Ollie Dabbous knew he wanted to be a chef from the age of six, and started cooking as a kitchen hand in Florence when he was fifteen. He worked at Kensington Place for Rowley Leigh, but it was his years spent working with Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons that most profoundly influenced his cooking. He went on to be head chef at the Scandinavian-influenced Texture on Portman Street, and has also spent time at Mugaritz, Noma, Hibiscus, L'Astrance, Pierre Gagnaire and WD50. In January 2012 he opened DABBOUS to rapturous reviews, and was awarded a Michelin star within months.
