I’ve been given two copies of Jamie Oliver’s new cookery book, Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals, one for me and one for you! I’m really keen to give my giveaway copy to another blogger, so I can read how you get on with the book, but that’s not a requirement to enter. If you’d like to win, just let me know in the comments and tell me your favourite Jamie Oliver recipe! I’ll draw a winner on 30 November.
Now, if you read the blog you know how much I love Jamie Oliver. His site (and cookery books) are where I head first if I’m looking for a recipe. But he’s been turning out books so frequently even I had to wonder if he really had anything new to offer. And those horrible adverts in the tube with his head on a timer – he winks at you!
When I cook dinner it usually takes a lot more than 30 minutes – and since I have so many projects going on that is frustrating. But I really want us to eat nice meals, ideally with lots of veg (the very reason I signed up for Abel & Cole). As I read the book’s introduction I started to believe it could be possible to make amazing meals in 30 minutes and maybe it would CHANGE MY LIFE! I picked three recipes to cook this week and see if I could actually do it.
The book is “revolutionary” because of the way it is structured. Jamie gives you an entire menu – usually a main, salad or side and pudding – and then walks you through every step of cooking it in the order you need to do each task. If you can’t picture that, basically it means you’ll jump from main to pudding to main to salad to main, etc. so everything finishes at the same time. It took getting used to but I like it.
The first thing I noticed was how much I’d have to buy to cook these meals. Even with several of the ingredients already in our fridge, freezer or store cupboard, we spent quite a bit at the supermarket to get everything we needed. I suppose I could have made some substitutions – and will in the future – but I stubbornly wanted to follow all of the instructions for the review! The book would benefit if menus were organised by ingredients so you can make sure you use up the various leftover bits and pieces. Shopping lists would then naturally fit in with the menus and I think that would also save time.
Last night I cooked Pregnant Jools’s Pasta with crunchy chicory & watercress salad and (what was intended to be) little frangipane tarts. I finished the pasta and salad at the buzzer (before serving) but had put the tarts in the oven about five minutes behind schedule so that meant I was late. Yes, I used a timer! The pasta was absolutely brilliant and the simple salad was nice. The tarts were a mess (but still tasty) and I think that’s because we couldn’t find the right pastry shells. One suggestion here would be to put a list of required equipment up front so you know what to have close to hand before you start.
All in all, I think I’ll use this book a lot and the first set of recipes I tried were winners. Jools’s pasta will definitely be put into the rotation! Later this week I’m aiming to cook piri-piri chicken and meatball sandwiches, so stand by for more reviews and enter in the comments if you’d like to join me in trying out the book!
I love his 30 minute prawn thai curry. We even adapted it to have a chicken curry the other day. Would love the recipe book.
Please enter me in your competition. My favourite Jamie recipe was one with ricotta cheese from his Italian Meals book. So good.
That sounds just perfect, would love to win this as I have to cook every day now
@Kahanka
I love his recipes but find him quite annoying to watch (sorry Jamie) so the book would be a great compromise!
I really want to try the Portuguese tarts.
I’d love to win a copy please. I need some inspiration in the kitchen!
love to win a copy looks brill
I’d love to win this. I need some more inspiration for quick and easy dinners!
I was watching the program recently and when he cooked that seabass dish with the sweet potato with chilli and corriander, it looked rathe yummy! Would love to win a copy of the book! Need some new recipe ideas!
I would love a comment. Love his down to earth manner and his gorgeous recipes particularly the ones with cheese
I’d love to win this. My children let me watch five minutes of one episode of the series (the one with the peri peri chicken) before demanding CBeebies! @sandycalico
Oh I don’t know where to start! I’ve made about 5 of the meals from this series. I watched the show everyday at 5:30 while feeding Kaja dinner and by the way she said “Yummy yum” while pointing to the television, I think she loved it as well. I certainly think the leftovers laid a good impression. My favorite so far is the Moroccan lamb. Jamie used rack of lamb but the butcher didn’t have any so I used loin of lamb on the bone which sort of resembles rack of lamb and carves the same way as well. It was delish! On top of that the loin cut is much cheaper than rack of lamb. Bonus! The banofee really hit the spot and was so easy to make. I didn’t have that camp coffee thing so I just used Kahlua instead.
Love cookery books – especially ones with quick, easy recipes!
I love Jamie’s recipes. I’ve tried the asparagus lasagne and the mango/yougurt sorbet and they were very good although it took me longer than 30 minutes. I’ve been thinking of buying his books for Xmas so I’d be grateful if you I could join your competition. Many thanks. Ciao. A.
The piri piri chicken sounds great. Great review !
Jamie’s tuna meatball recipe is a firm favourite with dinner guests chez moi – I don’t eat meat and when meat-eaters come round it really confuses them! So, so delicious! @superluckydi
I love Jamie’s Thai Green Curry from his Ministry of Food book, fabulous! @justforcomps x
I love his Piri Piri chicken. It’s always clean plates when that’s been made!
I made the Piri-piri chicken with the potatoes (minus coriander because we don’t like it) and I used chicken breast rather than pieces. I was surprised how tasty and smooth the sauce was, but I don’t think the whole menu could be made in half an hour. Perhaps you could do it if you had the ingredients laid out in front of you, ready measured, but I’m a pretty handy cook and I’m certain I couldn’t do it in that time.
Still a great book though
@happyfox
Would love to be entered into the contest. Think Jamie’s recipes are wonderful!