its 1080 recipes continue to save marriages

It is impossible to talk about Simone Ortega without mentioning the book 1080 cooking recipes, published in 1972 by Alianza Editorial. The word best sellerse falls short of a phenomenon that is still alive today. It is the third best-selling book only behind the Bible and Don Quixote and there is no Spanish shelf on which this legendary recipe book does not rest, with which millions of people learned to cook. Simone had two sons and a daughter with José Ortega Spottorno, son of the philosopher Ortega y Gasset. They met at a dinner at the Garrigues’ house. Simone was a widow and he was accompanied by a young lady. However, that same night they fell in love and began a relationship. It was her daughter, Inés Ortega, who decided to continue the legacy of her famous mother and the person who tells this supplement what Simone was like. “He was a person very concerned about our education and our food. In that sense, very advanced of its time. In Spain at that time they did not eat yogurt but you could buy it in pharmacies and she bought it for us. As a mother, she was great, always attentive to our education.”

Simone Ortega was born in Barcelona but was of French descent. Her maternal grandmother left her some notebooks with recipes that Simone put into practice. She was an experienced cook despite the fact that at that time the ladies of her social class delegated cooking to other people. Her daughter Inés tells LOC how Simone was an expert in protocol and what her modus operandi was for receiving guests at home.

“Had some notebooks in which he drew a table to distribute to the guests. In addition, he wrote down what they had eaten or had dinner in case they returned home on another occasion, not repeating the dishes,” he says.

The truth is that Simone Ortega did not plan to become the lady of Spanish cuisine. In fact, her daughter confesses to us that she opened a DIY store and that she was a woman who had her own ideas and always sought independence at a time when women, even more so in her social class, lived off their husbands. However, it was her husband, founder of El País and the publishing house Alianza Editorial, who encouraged her to publish a recipe book. Nobody thought it would have the impact it finally had. “They are very easy recipes to follow, the dishes come out. That’s the secret. It’s the book they gave you when you got married and left home or the one they put in the suitcase of someone who went on Erasmus. Even Arzak consults it Once we were signing at the book fair in the 80s and a man approached my mother and said: ‘I come to tell you that you have saved my marriage. Neither my wife nor I knew how to cook and we have learned thanks to your book.’ “My mother was amazed by the stories people told her.”

RELIEF

For a few years now, Inés Ortega has been looking for an ally to continue publishing cookbooks as she did when her mother was alive. Simone died in 2008 but both Inés and her daughter-in-law, Marina Rivas, continue to work in the kitchen.

They have updated the book of 1080 recipes including dishes like pizza or rice three delicacieswhich are mixed with the originals such as cooked or crepes Suzette. They have also adapted to the times and have published titles such as Our containers, Cooking without gluten, without eggs and without lactose either Healthy and simple cuisine. All of them under the seal of Alianza Editorial, a project that in some moments of crisis was always supported by 1080 cooking recipes.

Simone rubbed shoulders with the greats like Ferran Adrià and became a member of the Spanish gastronomy academy, some steps that his daughter Inés did not want continue. However, both she and her daughter-in-law continue to go to conferences at senior centers, schools, etc., where they teach cooking and the importance of food. They also go to the Simone Ortega Hospitality School in Móstoles. “I was dedicated to the financial sector and worked in a bank. I left it, I studied at Le Cordon Bleu and when I finished I did an internship in a pastry shop and then I started making books with Inés”, explains Marina, married to Inés’s only son. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have a special connection, nothing fake and very real. An exception in every rule. “It’s true that we get along very well. Inés helps us a lot with the children and has always been there even when I was training at Le Cordon Bleu and asked her for help making a sauce.”

Marina has three children to whom she is already instilling her love for cooking. She is, furthermore, health coach and he has clients whom he advises through books on how to eat and lead a life linked to physical exercise. Of course, they both like to enjoy good food. “We like good fish, Pescaderías Coruñesas, O’Pazo, El Pescador and timeless classics like El Landó. Those that have been around for a lifetime. We are more of traditional cuisine,” they say. And Marina adds: “Yes, we have visited other types of restaurants, but I don’t dream of going to Michelin star restaurants.”