Jamie At Home

dulux

What does everbody think of the Jamie at home series. I never watched much Jamie Oliver stuff before, Naked Chef or what have you but last year on a whim I bought Jamie on Italy book and I have to say its a brilliant cook book. So when Jamie at home came on the TV I started cooking what was on that I fancied the next day. What a success! Great stuff, very tasty and usually so easy.

What does everybody else think?

dh2007

I have both the Jamie at Home book and the Jamie's Dinners books and to be honest I'm not enamoured. The first one I got was Jamie's Dinners and to be fair I think I made a few things out of it.

But then the J at Home book was given as a present are there are some recipes that are almost identical!

• His roasted lamb recipes are just variations on a theme in the two books.
• Any kind of oriental dish sounds exactly the same - practically always uses 5-spice and to me it makes them all taste exactly the same
• His pasta dishes are also invariably very similar
• He loves legs of any kind of fowl (or actually any meat!) baked in an oven in tomatoes and herbs - again just the same stuff re-hashed over and over

but all in all the books aren't bad! I suppose I normally only make a few things out of a book anyway!

Happy cooking!

dulux

Is the Jamie at home book worth buying?

dh2007

if you don't already have one of his books then I'd recommend it. I'm just flicking through it now and maybe i was overly harsh...

it's all categorised according to different ingredients ie. there's an egg section, rhubarb, lamb, chicken, rabbit, etc etc. and he also tells you how to grow your own veg which is nice. I was thinking of growing my own potatoes but I still haven't gotten around to it.

It's really nicely presented too with lovely pictures!

Not sure how much it is - It's says its £25.00 on the back so I'm guessing it's about €40

dh2007

just realised you've the italy one. well my mum has the italy one and I reckon the at home book is quite different to the italy one (apart from the game section, that seems to be quite similar to the italy one but I could be wrong).

go buy it! sure as i said, even if you make five things out of it it'll be a worth it.

PS I made the rhubarb bellinis for my family on christmas day and they were AMAZING!

The Hill Billy

I think the book is rather good & the TV series compliments it well. There are interesting tidbits about the various veg he grows, etc. & I'll be trying these out when I get my garden sorted again. If you're a fan it is a worthwhile purchase IMO.

Minder

I agree with HB - the recipes are useful and the gardening tips are well worth trying. This weekend, I planted seed potatoes in some plasterers buckets I got from Wicks. £3.99 for the bucket. Drilled a few holes in the bottom, some smashed bricks in the bottom for drainage. Add some compost and a layer of potatoes, then cover with soil. In 10 weeks we will have fresh spuds.

I saw a tip on growing strawberries - put them in hanging baskets. There is about a 50% gain in fruit because there is no loss to pests, mildew etc. Brilliant idea.

I have both books. The Italian book is well thought out. Accessible recipes and very authentic. The Jamie at Home book is good for recipes but I think sometimes he is trying to make recipes work because of the ingredients he has from the garden. So a huge plate of different cabbages may well be a great idea if you are feeding a film crew, but doesn't translate to a family setting where the kids eat early and the adults eat later.

The Hill Billy

Minder wrote: »

The Jamie at Home book is good for recipes but I think sometimes he is trying to make recipes work because of the ingredients he has from the garden. So a huge plate of different cabbages may well be a great idea if you are feeding a film crew, but doesn't translate to a family setting where the kids eat early and the adults eat later.

Nail. Head.

ClassicDisaster

I realy like the book, big fan of his cooking but i havnt cooked any of his stuff. in reality i dont follow cook book recipies, i use them as guides and for insperation...

dulux

ClassicDisaster wrote: »

I realy like the book, big fan of his cooking but i havnt cooked any of his stuff. in reality i dont follow cook book recipies, i use them as guides and for insperation...

I Totally get where you are coming from and i guess everbody does it to some degree, putting their own stamp on a dish. Its a very atractive style of cooking from the Jamie at home series and I have to agree, the recipes are not all for family meals. But the kind of loose/cooking for fun way he does it lends well to slight alteration. I cant believe the way my kids have started to eat veg and I put it down to at least one of his recipes.

I think I will pick the book up this afternoon...

vibe666

ClassicDisaster wrote: »

I realy like the book, big fan of his cooking but i havnt cooked any of his stuff. in reality i dont follow cook book recipies, i use them as guides and for insperation...

nail + head x two!

smcelhinney

Well I've done the smoked salmon and potato salad and the roast chicken thighs with tomato and squashed potato. Both were fantastic, have to say (thats no reflection on me, Im a crap cook!).

I wanted to try the pan roasted venison, but I cant find any decent non-fatty venison in Dublin, any recommendations?

muckety

Did you try Hicks on Chatham St - they're pretty good.