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Jamie's 15-Minute Meals - Jamie Oliver
by KLockwood75
Picture the scene... An array of fresh ingredients laid out on the counter top, all the required equipment ready and waiting to be used, recipe book open to the right page and the timer set on my mobile phone (well, I do like a challenge!) The basic premise of Jamie's 15 Minute Meals is that you can prepare a full, balanced meal using ... fresh ingredients in a 15 minute window which sounds ideal for our busy, everyday lives. However, friends who have his '30 Minute Meals' book say that you can't cook those in half an hour, so my expectations of actually being able to get one of these meals on the table in 15 minutes weren't particularly high. Of course, my husband had other ideas - with the timer ticking away on my first attempt ("Gorgeous Greek Chicken with Herby Vegetable Couscous and Tzatziki'), he was posting on Facebook saying that he'd "been waiting 16 minutes for his dinner and it was still not ready"... in the end it took me 21 minutes from starting cooking to serving that first recipe. Plus, I felt like I was racing round the kitchen, from one task to the next, like a contestant on some kind of bizarre 'speed-cooking' game show.
* The Recipes *
Jamie's 15 Minute Meals is designed to allow you to cook quick, tasty and nutritious food that you can eat every day of the week. It is not 'dinner party cooking'. You definitely wouldn't want to attempt the 'speed cooking' required for these recipes while trying to entertain guests at the same time. Instead it is the kind of food that you can prepare after a day at work and sit down to enjoy, safe in the knowledge that you are eating something that is fresh and full of flavour, all in approximately the same timeframe as serving up a plate of oven chips. In addition, whereas some of Jamie Oliver's books have been criticised for being unhealthy / too high in fat and calories, these recipes have been developed in conjunction with nutritionists and have an average of 580 calories per serving. The book is divided into chapters based on the main ingredient (type of meat / fish / veggie) or style of meal (Pasta / Soups and Sarnies / Breakfast) and I will talk about my personal favourites below.
Chicken - The chicken section is my favourite part of the book so far and the one I find myself coming back to time and time again. The 'Gorgeous Greek Chicken' mentioned above has now become a favourite in our house (and I've shaved 5 minutes off my original personal best time for making it) and we also love the 'Spicy Cajun Chicken, Mashed Sweet Potato and Fresh Corn Salsa'. The 'Incredibly Delicious Chicken Salad' is tasty too. I feel that I have learned some new techniques too from this section - such tenderising and flavouring the chicken breasts by shaking the spices over them in a greaseproof paper wrap before bashing them repeatedly with a rolling pin. The range of recipes is really varied - from 'Chicken Dim Sum' to 'Warm Chicken Liver Salad with Little Welsh Rarebits' via 'Golden Chicken, Braised Greens and Potato Gratin' and I feel that there really is something for everyone here. Quite a lot of the recipes do have an element of spice (always popular amongst the adults in this house) but there are also recipes which I feel are suitable for the whole family.
Beef - The beef section of the book is also really good. There are simple recipes such as homemade burgers (definitely one for the BBQ season, assuming we get a summer this year), Chinese inspired recipes such as 'Sizzling Beef Steak, Hoisin Prawn and Noodle Bowls' and more classic recipes such as 'Steak Medallions, Mushroom Sauce and Spring Greens'. My personal favourites from this chapter as the 'Beef Kofta Curry with Fluffy Rice, Beans and Peas' and the 'Grilled Steak, Ratatouille and Saffron Rice' both of which were relatively simple to cook and tasted delicious. Again, you can use this section as inspiration for creating your own meals as well as following the recipes - we always eat steak with either chips or potato wedges, but it was delicious with the ratatouille and I have used the saffron rice recipe to accompany several other dishes since.
Pasta - We eat a lot of pasta in this house so I am always on the lookout for quick and easy pasta recipes, and this chapter of the book is full of them. All of the pasta dishes in the book come with their own salad accompaniment, although you could obviously serve them on their own / with garlic bread just as easily. Personal favourites here are the 'Sausage Fusilli with Creamy Garden Salad', the 'Chicken Cacciatore, Spaghetti and Smoky Tomato Sauce' and 'Prawn Linguini with Sicilian Shaved Fennel Salad'. The Prawn Linguini (or Tagliatelle / Fusilli / Penne depending on what we have in the cupboard at the time) is an excellent quick dinner option and one that we seem to have every few weeks, although I don't usually bother with the salad.
Overall though, there are so many enticing recipes in this book. I have pulled out a few favourites above, but if I was to go through my list of 'things that I want to make', this review would be far too long. There is a good range of vegetarian recipes too, plus a lot of recipes which could be converted to suit vegetarian guests / family members by just substituting something else for the meat. Veggie meals include a 'Keralan Veggie Curry', 'Falafel Wraps, Grilled Veg and Salsa' and 'Spring Frittata, Tomato Toasts, Watercress and Pea Salad'
* A Few (Minor) Issues *
Overall, I think that this is an excellent cook book and one that I use regularly. There are a few issues though - not so much for me, but on a more general basis. The first is that you need a lot of equipment - there are very few recipes which don't specify the use of a food processor, for a variety of different purposes (chopping, blending, disc-slicing etc.) and, although all these tasks can be done by hand, you would need to allow a lot more time if you don't have a food processor. The other issue is timings - there are no defined timings in this book, which if you stick to the recipe and do things in the right order, shouldn't be an issue. However, if you can't do it as quickly as Jamie thinks you should be able to do it, you are likely to find that your chicken (for example) is cooked long before you have finished making the accompanying elements of the meal. Or, sometimes, you buy something and it takes much longer to cook that the recipe suggests it will - I did one last week which needed to have bulgar wheat put on to cook about five minutes into the cooking time, but the instructions on the packet said it took 15 minutes to cook.
The other issue, which my husband is constantly pointing out, is that this style of cooking makes a lot of washing up - the average meal uses at least two (often three pans), plus the food processor, and all of that needs to be washed by hand. Oh, and while I'm here, you need to take his advice about 'serving' the food with a pinch of salt - seriously, who has a variety of different shaped boards to serve their everyday dinners on?
* Price and Purchasing *
Jamie's 15 Minute Meals has an RRP of £26.00 but you are very unlikely to have to pay that much for it, as it is usually reduced. Current Amazon price for the hardback is £11.96. It is available everywhere, in proper bookshops and online.
* Final Thoughts *
Jamie's 15 Minute Meals is a book that I would highly recommend. The recipes are mostly easy to follow and the results are impressive. I love the way that one recipe gives you a complete meal - it takes away all the indecisiveness about what to serve with a main dish, and it has certainly broadened our culinary horizons. We had slipped into a bit of a rut where everything was served with rice, couscous, pasta or some kind of potato, and it is refreshing to cook (and eat) a greater variety of meals. I have used this book at least once a week since I got it at Christmas - a combination of experimenting with new recipes and revisiting ones that have quickly become favourites - and I feel like it is one that I will continue to use. You do need to have a bit of confidence in your own abilities in the kitchen as there are a few tricky techniques in this book (it is definitely not as basic as 'Jamie's Ministry of Food' for example), but there is nothing that should make it inaccessible to a relatively experienced cook. So, if you want to make fresh, healthy, balanced meals which taste delicious, go out and buy this.
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The Vegetarian Student Cookbook
by CosmicLove
~ Why I Bought It ~
I came across this book on amazon while browsing through their vegetarian cookbooks. It sounded like a really good book and it was quite cheap so I decided to buy it. It is aimed at vegetarian students however I am not actually either of those things but nevertheless I have found it to be an excellent ... book.
~ Price ~
I paid just under £5 for this book and the retail price is £6.99. I think that this is really good value as the book is packed full of delicious, easy recipes and I have already cooked ten or so of the recipes in the space of about a month!
~ My Opinion ~
Me and my fiancé decided at the beginning on this year to start doing mealtless Mondays, where obviously we don't eat any fish or meat on Mondays. At first this was easy as I already knew a couple of veggie recipes but after a while I found my self bored with the same old food, so I decided to have a look at veggie cook books.
This is one of the books that I decided to buy and I have to say that it is my favourite as all of the recipes can be made on quite a low budget and all of the food in the recipes is easily found in supermarkets so there's no searching around for exotic ingredients! The book is absolutely packed full of information too and it is really well written and easy to follow. I actually found my self reading through it as I would a story book as it was so easy to follow and all of the recipes are really yummy sounding.
As well as recipes it also has quite a lengthy introduction which goes into ways to save money, how to go about living with carnivores and it also has a lengthy list of must have kitchen utensils, a list of cupboard basics and a lot more things. It also has a preparation page which has information on how to prepare certain foods including onions and vegetables. Now I found this a little bizarre but then again I have been cooking for several years so this part of the book is definitely aimed at people who are learning to cook for themselves for the very first time.
One particular part of the book that I found interesting was the 'read the label' section which tells you which foods can contain animal derived ingredients without you actually realising and it even warns that toothpaste can sometimes contain glycerine. As I'm not actually a veggie this didn't bother me but I found it interesting to know. The book also has a section on kitchen hygiene which personally I found to be quite patronising and basic but again, this part is probably aimed at people who are learning to cook for the first time.
I also really like the section which tells you the food groups and the vegetarian friendly foods that are in that food group - I found this really interesting and it gave me ideas for meals while reading it. It tells you which foods to eat to get certain vitamins and iron too. There's also a menu planner which just has a list of different meals under 'breakfast' 'dinner' 'lunch' etc headings and then the page number which has the recipe for that certain meal.
The recipes themselves are in different sections including: breakfasts, soups and salads, cheap eats, Italian food, oriental food, cakes, sweet treats, cocktails, fruit juices/smoothies and so on. Each recipe has its own page and the steps are very easy to follow and the ingredients list is written clearly with the measurements/amounts needed clearly written. Unfortunately there are no pictures which is the only disadvantage - it'd be nice to see how the meal should look once made, but this isn't really that much of a disadvantage.
I have cooked several meals from this book (around ten!) and they've all been absolutely delicious. One of my favourites is definitely the spicy bean burgers which are soooo filling! All of the food in this book (minus most of the desserts obviously!!) is very healthy and full of vitamins and fibre while still being filling and not tasting like rabbit food. It is obviously not diet food but a lot of the recipes can be adjusted a little to make them even more healthier.
~ All in All ~
A great value, well laid out book but its a shame there are no pictures of the food. I am going to give the book five out of five stars though due to the wide range of recipes and it is a very informative book with plenty of information that someone who is a vegetarian or transitioning to be a vegetarian would find helpful to know.
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Everyday Slow Cooker Recipes
by Listerbelle
Everyday Slow Cooker Recipes
This small and simple recipe book was a gift from my sister soon after I purchased a slow cooker over three years ago. It's the perfect introduction into using this cooking method. The book was published in 2010, is spiral bound -therefore easy to turn the pages - and available in hardback and ... softback. I have the softback version.
The first 10 chapters cover slow cooker basics to ensure readers are able to get the best out of their slow cooker. Some of these chapters are titled "Getting to know your slow cooker", "Adding Liquid", "Adapting Your Favourite Recipes For The Slow Cooker" and "Cooking Time Conversion Guide", all of which I have found to be written clearly and succinctly. These first chapters really do cover everything that a rookie slow cooker cook could possibly need.
The next chapters form the substance of the book, that is, the actual recipes. Chapters are arranged by meal type or main ingredient: Pate, Soups, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Poultry & Game, Fish & Seafood, Vegetarian, Side, Desserts, and Cakes & Breads. Clearly one cake make just about any kind of dish in a slow cooker!
I particularly enjoy the fact that there is a wide variety of recipe styles. There is a combination of older style recipes (eg Citrus Chicken) and newer (Slow Chicken with Ricotta, Rocket & Red Capsicum).
The recipes themselves are easy to follow. Ingredients are listed at the top of the page in both metric and imperial measurements, and are printed in bold. The preparation and cooking instructions follow. Finally, there is an indicator of the number of meals that the recipe makes.
I cook most often with chicken, and can vouch for these recipes included in this book. I have never attempted a slow cooker recipe from a non-meat chapter in this book.
So far I have highlighted this book's many positive attributes. The only negative one for me is the omission of colour photographs. I very much enjoy cooking with my eyes as well as my hands, and this is much more difficult to do when there are not pictures.
Details:
* Paperback: 288 pages
* Publisher: Hinkler Books (23 Jan 2010)
* ISBN-10: 1741856078
* ISBN-13: 978-1741856071
* Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.5 x 2.8 cm
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