• averythingcooks on October 15, 2017

  I really like Jamie Oliver's "voice" in all of his books (I have 8 of them). I have made several recipes from this title using some verbatim and others as a starting point for my own takes but my favorite part of this one is the full page of homemade curry pastes.......I make the tikka masala, vindaloo, rogan josh and korma pastes to use in his versions of these curries. They are all very popular weekend dinners during the long, cold central Ontario winter :)

• Janemac on June 13, 2011

  Excellent recipes and easy read, ideal for beginners and more experienced cooks looking for quick, easy recipes.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Pot-roast meatloaf

  • ccav on March 02, 2021

    Make half recipe. Added ketchup to meat mixture.

• Parmesan chicken breasts with crispy posh ham

  • eliza on August 05, 2018

    This was excellent and very easy to make. Chicken breasts are lightly bashed, topped with cheese, herbs,and Parmesan and then pan fried. I made this as shown in the YouTube video using both thyme and rosemary. I would increase the herbs next time (just personal preference). The one caveat is the size of the chicken breasts; North American chicken pieces are much bigger than British so needed to be split before cooking. I served on a bed of greens, cherry tomatoes and shaved fennel fresh from the garden for a delicious meal.

• Vegetable jalfrezi

  • eliza on January 13, 2023

    I agree this is a lovely dish, and it’s very adaptable. I used the jalfrezi curry paste from the author's website and changed the vegetables according to what I had. My version had carrots and potatoes from my veg garden instead of the squash and cauliflower. I added green peas at the end instead of the chickpeas, and served with rice. I’ve also made it with cooked black beans added at the end. A bit of dukkah sprinkled on top is also very nice. Thanks to the previous reviewers for drawing my attention to this recipe.

  • MarianneMTL on July 16, 2013

    LOVE this one, has a mild spice and vinegary taste. Note that it serves 8 - never tried freezing it, make it more for vegan/vegetarian dinner parties. Is tasty cold too, makes a nice potluck dish.

  • averythingcooks on January 10, 2023

    We also loved this curry. I scaled it back to 1/3 & added 8 oz of cubed pork loin. I use his paste recipe, both here & in a lovely traybake (7 Ways) and I do like this particular flavour profile . I added more veg as he suggests (red peppers, broccoli & baby spinach) and I served it with a few Pad Thai noodles stirred in. We pretty much devoured it.

• Jalfrezi paste

  • eliza on January 13, 2023

    I also used this recipe to make curry paste for his vegetable curry. I had to omit the cilantro as I didn’t have any, and also left out the fenugreek (personal taste). It worked very well, and was delicious in the recipe. My only change would be to double the recipe in future since my full size food processor had trouble with the smaller amounts. I’m going to try freezing the leftovers.

  • averythingcooks on December 06, 2021

    I needed jalfrezi paste for another JO recipe so I came here. As with all of JO's curry pastes I've made, it is delicious - lots of toasted whole spices combined with fresh garlic, ginger, chilies etc. It certainly worked in last night's traybake and I am going to look for other jalfrezi recipes that would use this paste.

• Evolution carrot salad

  • eliza on February 07, 2023

    We love carrot salads and this is a good one. I added some shaved Brussels sprouts from the garden and added the nuts, mixed herbs, and clementine. My clementines are not the best, and still this was a delicious addition. I’m sure the feta or goat cheese would be very good in this.

  • cupcakemuffin on October 13, 2011

    So tasty - I added cumin seeds and feta cheese. Leftovers keep well.

• Quick salmon tikka with cucumber yogurt

  • adrienneyoung on May 23, 2011

    A decent, VERY quick meal if you've got the jarred curry paste on hand. And pretty healthy, actually!

  • adrienneyoung on June 11, 2012

    Made this again tonight. It's turning into a go-to in regular rotation. Fast and (made with wild salmon) both delicious AND reasonably healthy!

• Macaroni and cauliflower cheese bake

  • rebecca1july on June 16, 2011

    Great afterwork family supper

  • clkandel on April 24, 2021

    Like this recipe, although this is not a creamy saucy mac & cheese type dish. Added some cayenne and snipped chives.

  • MarianneMTL on July 16, 2013

    Love this one. Fast, easy and not much cleanup since you can make the "sauce" in the bowl you toss the pasta in. Great way to sneak in veggies, nobody minded the cauliflour.

• Rice salad

  • rebecca1july on June 16, 2011

    Great dish looks fantastic

• Baked French potatoes

  • rebecca1july on June 16, 2011

    Very very nice

• Chicken korma

  • annapanna on January 04, 2014

    Delicious! We have now made this several times, it's one of our favorite recipes when we feel like eating curry. I haven't tried JO's Korma paste, we usually buy Sharwood's mild curry paste. The jar is probably larger than Patak's (I couldn't find it where we live) so 1/2 would be way too much. 3-4 heaped teaspoons are enough.

  • MarianneMTL on July 16, 2013

    DO try this one. I use patak's curries in the small jars (as JO recommends) and they make quick and delicious curries. Great way to add veggies and great as leftovers.

• Super quick salmon stir-fry

  • annapanna on May 20, 2013

    This is really easy to make and everybody loved it. It was the first time I made a stir fry with salmon and the chunks I had prepared when the fish was raw sort of crumbled towards the end, maybe I cooked it for too long? When we make this again I will try and reduce cooking time. Snow peas = mangetout.

• Chicken fajitas

  • annapanna on February 02, 2014

    Easy to make, it tasted so much better than using the Fajitas spice mix from the supermarket. We served it with grated cheddar, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce and salsa (made according to Jamie's instructions). I reduced the amount of the smoked paprika to a bit less than 1/2 a tbsp and added 1/2 tbsp of regular paprika, as I find the smoked one sometimes a bit too overpowering.

  • MarianneMTL on July 16, 2013

    Best and easiest fajita recipe... just toss chopped chicken and veggies with paprika, lime juice and a bit of cumin. Can't miss - I even double the veggies; so good you can leave out the chicken for vegetarians. Serve with tortillas, sour cream and grated cheese. Chopped tomatoes and avocado if you have it also nice.

• Spring vegetable and bean soup

  • clkandel on May 31, 2020

    Added red pepper flakes, thyme, and ground sage.

• Pan-fried curried cod

  • clkandel on June 02, 2021

    This makes a tasty, fast main course.

• Grilled tuna and asparagus

  • clkandel on July 15, 2019

    It wasn't asparagus season when I made this, so I served the tuna with a side of sauteed green and wax beans. The vinaigrette is easy to make and so tasty!

• Baked Camembert pasta

  • MarianneMTL on July 16, 2013

    Wasn't crazy about this one... sounded good (and fun!) on paper but maybe the cheese was too mild for the pasta. We found it bland.

• Shrimp and avocado with an old-school Marie Rose sauce

  • MarianneMTL on July 16, 2013

    Was surprised by how good shrimp simply tossed in flour and fried in garlicky olive oil - almost like breaded. Sauce was good but too much trouble, get same type of flavour from mayo + Franks. Will def make again.

  • ellencooks on June 10, 2017

    This was surprisingly good for how simple it is! I used watercress rather than sprouted cress because I had some. I thought the sauce WAS worth the minimal effort. Shrimp was fantastic!

• Cauliflower cheese soup

  • JennyR on September 22, 2014

    http://kitchen-delights.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/jamie-olivers-cauliflower-cheese-soup.html

  • averythingcooks on November 04, 2022

    This soup is simple but creamy and oh so good. With an extra old white cheddar and the really nice finishing touch from the mustard, this one is a repeat for sure.

• Chicken tikka masala

  • jessmonkey on January 25, 2015

    Delicious and easy recipe. I make this all the time :)

  • phembott2 on February 03, 2016

    This was fabulous and not too complicated to make. Would absolutely make it again.

• Parsnip and ginger soup

  • averythingcooks on January 10, 2023

    I had around 8 oz of parsnips to use up - just enough to scale this back to around 1/3. This soup uses simple ingredients to great effect. I added fresh thyme to the veg at the beginning (in place of using cilantro) and I finished it with a little 10% cream & lots of black pepper. I now have 3 lunch servings of a tasty soup tucked in the freezer.

• Beef and ale stew

  • averythingcooks on July 15, 2019

    This is a very simple stew but I will admit I did season & brown the meat in a mix of oil & rendered bacon fat - I just couldn't bring myself to skip that step no matter what he said in the intro. I used Newcastle Brown Ale & added fresh thyme & rosemary with the called for bay leaves. The recipe doesn't include potatoes (& I didn't want to add any) but I felt it needed more "bulk" so I used an idea from Chrissy Teigan's stew and added a couple of handfuls of cooked navy beans from the freezer and also a handful of frozen peas. Served over mashed potatoes, it was pretty good for a night where I needed dinner prepped early in the day ready to heat up after a late return BUT I'm not sure how often I would make this as I have many other excellent options for really delicious beef stews.

• Bolognese sauce

  • averythingcooks on February 23, 2021

    This made a good pasta sauce (with a mix of ground beef & Italian sausage). I did add a good splash of wine (in place of the water called for) because...why not? I like how he includes the finely minced basil stems early & the actual leaves later and as always for me, a parm rind also went into the pot. For sauces like this requiring carrots & celery, I do a rough chop and then get them much finer in the food processor. After an afternoon of stove top "on & off" simmering, we had a lovely bowl of pasta last night and have another dinner's worth of sauce tucked in the freezer.

• Vindaloo

  • averythingcooks on April 05, 2020

    I wanted to make a pork vindaloo and so came here but missing ingredients for the paste took me to a delicious vindaloo paste from the Spice Bible. But here was the problem (& fault = mine - not either recipe)........ Spice Bible paste had a good amt of cider vinegar (not in JOs) and then when I put the curry together - went with the full amt balsamic vinegar called for - so there I was .......VERY acidic from the double dose of vinegar (totally my bad). Extra honey , more salt , chopped jarred roasted peppers, the end of a bag of sweet peas, a can of coconut milk, sauteed sweet peppers & red onions, and lastly pad Thai noodles steamed & stirred in .......and now T tastes it and says "awesome ! Make that again!" ALWAYS LEARNING......

• Lamb rogan josh

  • averythingcooks on October 19, 2019

    This simmered away all afternoon and as always, is delicious. I always make Jamie's homemade rogan josh paste but I do substitute chunks of pork as I am NOT a fan of lamb. I often ad lib various add-ins and today it was a swirl of heavy cream, some "getting sad looking" chopped up grape tomatoes, a peeled and diced sweet potato and some frozen peas at the end. A lovely warm bowl with a rich sauce perfect for naan dipping.

• Chicken and white wine stew

  • anya_sf on May 13, 2021

    Very simple, flexible recipe that yields quite a decent stew for little effort. There are 3 variations (beef, pork, chicken); I made chicken. I cooked 2 diced pieces of bacon before adding the vegetables, used 1.5 lbs meat, and added some peas at the end. That just served 4 over mash, so as written I don't think it would.

• Shrimp and sweet corn chowder

  • angrygreycat on September 18, 2018

    Made this for dinner tonight as I had half a bag of shrimp in the freezer to use up. Tasty soup and nice combination of flavors with the corn, leek, potatoes and shrimp. Next time I would leave out the shrimp until after the soup has been pureed and then put in the whole shrimp. I think it would have been nicer to have whole shrimp in each bowl rather than have it pureed with the veg. I would make this again as everything on the ingredient list are items that I almost always have on hand, so a nice soup supper.

• Fine Cooking

  Oliver’s zeal and his students’ delight in their new skills makes it all feel exciting and fun. Beginning cooks will appreciate the clear recipe instructions and step-by-step photos.

  Full review