A mac and cheese kind of weekend

It’s a brave chef that decides to upgrade a classic pasta. That’s where Yotam Ottolenghi comes in. The revered restaurateur and food writer [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( It’s a brave chef that decides to upgrade a classic pasta. That’s where [Yotam Ottolenghi comes in](. The revered restaurateur and food writer has a singular way of picking up a treasured dish and seeing an opportunity to insert an unlikely flavor or two without disturbing the food’s integrity. Ottolenghi’s macaroni and cheese dish benefits from bright za’atar pesto and crispy onions. Photographer: Elena Heatherwick, of courtesy Clarkson Potter In his most recent cookbook, Ottolenghi Flavor, the Israeli-born cook and his test-kitchen assistant Ixta Belfrage [redefined cacio e pepe]( by adding a hefty sprinkling of za’atar. The tangy mix of dried herbs and spices, invariably including thyme, oregano, sumac and sesame seeds (recipes vary around the Middle East) is one of the chef’s signature flavorings. The cheesy, buttery pasta instantly became livelier. “It was a scary point, because it’s a recipe that already works,” said Ottolenghi at the time. “How do you change a perfect dish?” The question arises again in his new book, [Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love. Recipes to Unlock the Secrets of Your Pantry, Fridge and Freezer]( by Noor Murad and Ottolenghi (Clarkson Potter; $32). In it, the pair take on another classic (many would say perfect) pasta: mac and cheese. The genius of [his recipe]( starts in Step 1, when the pasta cooks in milk—which becomes the sauce. That trick obviates the need to drain the fusilli and add flour, which can render the dish bland. The pasta’s starch thickens the milk, and the addition of feta and cheddar enrich it even further. In the recipe, the pasta cooks in the milk, which is brilliant. Photographer: Kate Krader/Bloomberg But what really enhances the dish is a cilantro lemon pesto spiked with—you guessed it—za’atar. The spice mix does a heroic job of balancing the richness of the pasta.  Murad, who is half-English and half-Middle Eastern, says there's always room for classic mac and cheese. But the Middle Eastern flair delivered by the za’atar, feta, cumin, and fried onions that garnish the dish are, for her, “what mac and cheese was missing all along.” Middle Eastern mac and cheese; feel free to add further za’atar pesto. Photographer: Kate Krader/Bloomberg [RECIPE:Â]([M.E. (Middle Eastern) Mac and Cheese with Za’atar Pesto]( Keep it in your back pocket for more wintry weekends to come From the Pages of Bloomberg Businessweek Do you have an emergency preparedness plan? Few do. Judy Prep’s co-founder Simon Huck launched his company after he’d realized how unready even his high-flying celebrity friends like Kim Kardashian were for floods or earthquakes. Judy now produces kits with food, water, and other supplies, as well as a portable 1,000-watt [power station]( ($995) to keep devices and essential appliances—hello, coffee maker—running until the lights come back on. You don’t need to be a doomsday prepper to be prepared. Read on for the full review and other essential articles from the Pursuits section of [Bloomberg Businessweek magazine](. [A Silicon Valley-Chic Solution to Emergency Preparation]( [Colorful, One-of-a-Kind Crockery to Set Your Table With a Smile]( [The Market for Vintage Travel Posters Takes Flight During Pandemic]( [Beyond Cookbook, Black Food Bears Witness to Vital Culinary History]( [Fair Trade Is the Next Frontier in Beauty’s Ugly Supply Chain]( [96 Elegant Holiday Gifts That Are Bursting With Color and Fun]( Snippets “Not only do we deliver by land, but we will be delivering by sea, with jet skis offering boatside delivery. We’re doing everything new.” —DJ Khaled on [the world’s most ambitious restaurant launch]( in five countries simultaneously. Khaled’s Another Wing went into business Thursday at 150-plus locations. Photographer: Ivan Berrios “Not having time machines or crystal balls…we were faced with a choice: Do we make this a high-priced, allocated unicorn?” —Elijah Craig’s master distiller Conor O’Driscoll on why whisky producers are [reformulating their prized expressions](. Yamazaki 25 is the latest ultra-luxury bottle to undergo a dramatic rethink (left). Source: Suntory “We’re still trying to figure out exactly what it is.” —NFT collector Jimmy McNelis on Universal Music Group’s decision to [create a band out of four virtual apes](. Kingship imagines the idea of a band—and a brand. Source: 10:22PM “A few key tweaks can make the difference between letting your status slip or keeping it for another (hopefully more travel-friendly) year.” —Points and miles expert Ramey Quebin on the [strategies for maintaining status in 2022](. American Airlines is one of many companies completely overhauling the way that customers can either earn or spend their points. You’ll want to act now. Photographer: FangXiaNuo/iStock Unreleased “Americans said, That doesn’t really work for us, we’re going to do something a little different.” —Menswear designer Todd Snyder on his [collaboration with preppy powerhouse J. Press](. Famous for his riffs on everything from Champion sweatshirts to L.L. Bean’s Maine kitsch, Snyder takes another pass at Americana. Source: Todd Snyder “This is the work of people who live the life they’re trying to sell you. I am already predicting a Rivian x Patagonia special edition, like the kind Ford did with Eddie Bauer back in the day.” —Car critic Hannah Elliott on [test-driving the Rivian electric truck]( ahead of the company’s IPO. The Rivian R1T "Launch Edition" starts at $73,000. Deliveries are currently underway. Photographer: Elliot Ross “If everyone was eating half the sugar they eat today…that changes the world.” —Chef Thomas Keller, owner of Per Se and The French Laundry, testing out [the next generation of sugar replacements](. The pandemic turbocharged interest in substitutes that taste like sugar while being healthier. But medical experts are sounding a note of caution. Photographer: Aleksandr Zubkov/Moment RF/Getty Images “We cannot wait for more promises from world leaders. We need the fierce urgency of now.” —Activist chef José Andrés on starting a $1 billion climate fund [using Jeff Bezos’s money](. The chef’s $100 million Courage and Civility Award helped World Central Kitchen ‘think bigger.’ Source: World Central Kitchen And if you read just one thing... [Why Hong Kong Is Building Apartments the Size of Parking Spaces]( With limited space to build, Hong Kong has gained a reputation for having some of the smallest and most expensive apartments anywhere in the world. Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( Like getting the Pursuits newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access]( to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert analysis from exclusive subscriber-only newsletters. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Pursuits newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022