Jerusalem, Ottolenghi SIMPLE, Plenty 3 Books Collection Set By Yotam Ottolenghi

Why it's worth it

Three Ottolenghi books — Plenty, Jerusalem and SIMPLE — in one bundle, covering weeknight speed, Middle Eastern pantry work and dinner-party cooking. It's the set that teaches you to improvise with vegetables instead of following recipes forever.

This is the set that changed how restaurants cook vegetables, and it'll do the same for you. Plenty, first of the three, is widely credited by food editors as the most influential vegetarian cookbook of the past two decades. It doesn't treat vegetables as the sad plate you get when you skip the meat. Roasting, charring, layered spice, a squeeze of acid at the end — those moves work on whatever's in your crisper drawer, not just on the dish in front of you.

Each book covers a different night of the week, which is why the bundle beats any one of them alone. SIMPLE is built around recipes with ten ingredients or fewer, so it's your Tuesday book. Plenty is what you reach for when six people are coming over and you want something that looks like effort. Jerusalem teaches the pantry — tahini, sumac, pomegranate molasses — and once those are in your cupboard, the other two books get faster.

From our review of 6 vegetarian and plant-based cookbooks, by Genevieve Dubois, Home & Living Expert

What we like

• +This is the set that changed how restaurants cook vegetables, and it'll do the same for you
• +Each book covers a different night of the week, which is why the bundle beats any one of them alone
• +The recipes are written to work, not to impress
• +It's a genuine library rather than a single reference, and that changes the math

What to know

• –None of the three is vegan, and that's not a small footnote
• –Expect a dedicated shopping trip before your first real cooking session
• –Bundle listings for boxed sets can be flaky