Great family meals for all types of cook (Jamie's Ministry of Food: Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours - Jamie Oliver)

Member Name: KLockwood75

Product:	Jamie's Ministry of Food: Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours - Jamie Oliver
Date:	23/02/09 (353 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple family meals made from fresh, inexpensive ingredients

Disadvantages: May be a bit too basic for some people

I am an enthusiastic cook with a wide range of cook books (including every other Jamie Oliver book) and when I received this for Christmas, I wasn't entirely sure I needed it. After all, I 'can' cook and I do cook regularly, so why did I need a book that is essentially written for beginners? However, in the two months I have had this book, I have found that it is by far the cookery book that I turn to most, and I am now really appreciating the simplicity of the recipes and how easy Jamie Oliver makes it to cook family meals from fresh ingredients.

Overview
The basic premise of this book is that everybody can learn to cook, and through learning to cook simple meals, you can move away from the fast food / ready meals which have become so much part of our every day life. It accompanied the TV series 'Jamie's Ministry of Food' which aimed to change the eating habits of ordinary families in Rotherham by introducing fresh ingredients to make quick, healthy family meals, and providing them with the support and knowledge to do this. All the recipes have ingredients that are easy to find in the supermarket, and you don't have to buy a lot of things that you will just use for a particular recipe and then never use again (this is one of my main criticisms of the other Jamie Oliver books). Everything is explained very clearly which is great for beginner cooks, and there isn't any overly technical language

Structure of the Book
The book is broken down into chapters including 20 minute meals (perfect for after work dinners!), Pasta, Stir-Fries, Curries, Salads, Soups, Vg, Meat and Fish, Breakfasts and Sweet Things. Each chapter has an introductory page where Jamie writes about the style of cooking, a selection of clearly written, relatively simple recipes and great photographs of the dishes. Each section also has photographs of people who have participated in the 'Ministry of Food' programme with their thoughts about cooking - I think that this is a really nice idea as it adds a bit more personality to the book.

The Recipes
The book concentrates on family meals such as curries, stir-fries, roast dinners, chilli con carne, macaroni cheese, stews, soups etc. - things that you would cook and eat regularly, not special occasion food. In some sections, there are examples of how you can perfect one basic recipe, such as a Beef and Ale Stew and then change it to create a bit of variety by adding a puff pastry lid, serving it with dumplings, making a hot-pot style topping or doing it cottage pie style. The salads section has an 'evolution' theme, showing how you can add different ingredients to create a much more interesting salad. I particularly like the step-by-step instructions for creating perfect roast dinners as no matter how many times I cook a roast, I never remember how long it needs to cook for.

Personal Recommendations
So far, my favourite recipes from this book have been the Lamb Rogan Josh (I make it using a Pataks curry paste as in the recipe but Jamie also provides the recipe to make your own paste should you want to), the Prawn Stir-Fry, the Leftover Curry Biriyani, the Chilli Con Carne and the Fish Pie. All have been simple to make, relatively cheap in terms of ingredients and really delicious.

Overall, I think that this book is an invaluable addition to my large library of cookery books. I haven't been tempted to buy tinned sauces or ready meals since I bought it, and it's given me more confidence in using fresh ingredients, especially things like chillies and ginger which I tended to avoid. It's even encouraged me to start growing my own herbs and chillies as I am using so many more of them.

Summary: Great for building confidence in the kitchen and feeding your family