Couscous cake and Middle Eastern mac’n’cheese: eight show-stopping new recipes from Team Ottolenghi

It takes a band of global talents to create Yotam Ottolenghi's distinctive dishes. In an exclusive extract from his latest book, he introduces some of their finest new creations

Originally located under a railway arch in north London, built from equal parts brick and tahini, walls coated in olive oil and floors stained with spice, the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen started off simply as the place where I play with my food; my low-tech lab where ideas turn into dishes, which turn into recipes. Gradually, though, like a sourdough starter, it began to absorb outside contaminators", gathering fizz and bubbles and a load of funk, until finally it became rich, deep and splendidly distinct.

The OTK crew are the equivalent of a good loaf's life-affirming natural yeasts. Through them, my food, rooted in Jerusalem and the Middle East, has become our food, having been on all kinds of journeys, borrowing harissa from north Africa and chaat masala from India, using newly discovered chilli pastes from south-east Asia or Mexico, and adopting some cheffy techniques from our London restaurants.