jamie oliver's 15 min meals

marie12

I'm not the most experienced at cooking and this is my only cook book. Have it a while now and want to start making use of it. Anyone recommend an easy dinner to start off with from the book? It looks quite daunting! Thanks.

PinkLemonade

I love the green tea salmon, and the beef Koftas!
With both you can kind of prep everything first time round before you start cooking (dressing or sauce) it'll take longer but you won't mess it up, I can prob do both in under 20 mins now taking my time

marie12

PinkLemonade wrote: »

I love the green tea salmon, and the beef Koftas!
With both you can kind of prep everything first time round before you start cooking (dressing or sauce) it'll take longer but you won't mess it up, I can prob do both in under 20 mins now taking my time

Thanks. That beef looks delic! I forgot to say I don't like fish but the green tea looks impressive too! I can see why people get into this cooking! are all the ingredients easy to source? I need to get myself a liquidiser flip!

PinkLemonade

marie12 wrote: »

That beef looks delic! I forgot to say I don't like fish but the green tea looks impressive too! I can see why people get into this cooking! are all the ingredients easy to source? I need to get myself a liquidiser flip!

You won't get them all in lidl etc but the large Tesco near me would have miso paste readycooked lentils etc

It isn't the cheapest book, and there are a lot of specialist ingredients which is aannoying but there are some great tips.

PS I sometimes make the green tea salmon with chicken for my OH instead of salmon

Bateman

Think there are steak sambos and homemade chicken fajitas in there that are easy enough

BaZmO*

Bateman wrote: »

Think there are steak sambos and homemade chicken fajitas in there that are easy enough

In fairness though, all the dishes are easy enough to make, I just don't buy the 15 mins bit, and I wouldn't be into making all the dishes at once. Just pick one dish at a time if you're new to cooking. Less stress that way!

Gloomtastic!

BaZmO* wrote: »

In fairness though, all the dishes are easy enough to make, I just don't buy the 15 mins bit, and I wouldn't be into making all the dishes at once. Just pick one dish at a time if you're new to cooking. Less stress that way!

Watching one a couple of weeks ago where he was stuffing chicken pieces with feta. He did one, then miraculously a second later, all eight were stuffed. The boy's a genius!

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Watching one a couple of weeks ago where he was stuffing chicken pieces with feta. He did one, then miraculously a second later, all eight were stuffed. The boy's a genius!

It's a real pet hate of mine when TV chefs do the whole, "You can cook a 3 course family meal for 4 people quicker than it takes to order from the local take away!"

Stop lying!! It just turns people off when they realise that it takes way longer than that, when you factor in prep, cooking, and wash up.

Moody_mona

Watched an episode on more4 there last week, the thirty minutes meals. I got a chuckle out of the scheduling, it was on from 10.30 to 11.05, so it's not even possible for him

The ideas and recipes are nice, get inspiration from that, but cooking doesn't have to be a race!

kylith

What I like about the layout of his recipes is that you're not trying to follow two different recipes and work out how to time them properly, the way they're laid out means that you know that when the chicken, for example, is cooking you need to be frying the onions. I find it makes it easier for me to get everything on the table at the same time.

Unfortunately I'm slightly hampered by not having a food processor so I have to do all my prep ahead of time.

bee06

kylith wrote: »

What I like about the layout of his recipes is that you're not trying to follow two different recipes and work out how to time them properly, the way they're laid out means that you know that when the chicken, for example, is cooking you need to be frying the onions. I find it makes it easier for me to get everything on the table at the same time.

Unfortunately I'm slightly hampered by not having a food processor so I have to do all my prep ahead of time.

That's actually one of the things I don't like about the books it makes it harder to cook just one of the elements if you don't want to do all the sides/desserts.

rubadub

BaZmO* wrote: »

It's a real pet hate of mine when TV chefs do the whole, "You can cook a 3 course family meal for 4 people quicker than it takes to order from the local take away!"

They also usually overstate the cost savings. Posted about this before

-I am always amused at Jamie Olivers price claims, other chefs do it too. They do not factor in all the costs. Its very rare to hear them factor in electricity, and then they are always putting on extras as though they are free, like spices. There has never once been a time where I saw a TV chef price something where I thought "hmm that sounds a little high" -never.

Now stuff like the salt & pepper will last ages once bought so a "portion" is cheap. But I met a friend of mine in the supermarket getting stuff to do some Asian recipe (Jamie Olivers coincidentally), as we went around it was totting up really quickly and costing a lot more than a takeaway, some things were not going to be a bulk long term buy, the price of the fresh veg amazed him.

Electricity might be low enough, but when foods are cheap anyway it can be a higher %. I remember some program with a woman making cakes and saying how much cheaper they were, and overstating the price you pay. The likes of donuts are 5 for €1 in tesco these days.

Moody_mona

He also doesn't factor in the cost of leftover roast chicken, which is fair enough, but to have enough left over to feed four/five people again, you need to start off with a bugger chicken!

squonk

To be honest though electricity costs fluctuate and then factor in from country to country.

I think it's a fair assumption that most regular cooks will have a bunch of staples on hand, including spices. For sure if you read one of Jamie's recipes now, say Rogan Josh, and have rarely cooked and go out today to buy all the ingredients, including the staples, it'll cost a fair bit. Next time though you've got a lot of the staples so you just need to buy your chicken and veggies etc.

Go to an Asian shop and you'll find all the spices you want in fair sized bags for relatively little money. They last quite a while if you store them properly. I know my spices cost me maybe 1-2 quid a pop but I get so much use out of them I almost think of them as free at this stage. If you're buying the little Sharwoods jars they work out much more expensive.

I think some common sense has to come into play here as well. I look at Jamie's 15 minute meals sometimes on a Sunday morning and I know full well there's no way you'll get it done in 15 minutes. Not when you've to prepare some things and clean up. Still if you get the result in 20-30 minutes it's fine too and better than a takeaway.

irish_goat

These lamb lollipops are lovely and doable in 15 mins. I did them with cous cous and used goat instead of lamb.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/sizzling-lamb-lollipops

vibe666

I tried one of his recipes once, but the 15 minutes was up before i'd even finished planting my small herb garden, never mind how long it took to grow.

rubadub

squonk wrote: »

To be honest though electricity costs fluctuate and then factor in from country to country.

I think it's a fair assumption that most regular cooks will have a bunch of staples on hand, including spices.

Its the fact it is not mentioned at all, more exagerration.

Ribs would be one thing I do not cook at home since I think it is cheaper for me to get a takeaway, I get ridiculous portions for 5.60 in the local chinese.

squonk wrote: »

I think some common sense has to come into play here as well.... Still if you get the result in 20-30 minutes it's fine too and better than a takeaway.

Common sense would be calling it 25 or 30min meals and not pissing people off. There are loads of negative reviews on amazon about it solely about the misleading time.


he has a 30min one too.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinkbooks/9579067/Jamie-Oliver-put-to-the-test.html

The TV chef has taken a big risk in putting together yet another time-saving recipe book. His 30 Minute Meals, though it sold more than 1.5 million copies (making it both the UK’s fastest- and best-selling non-fiction book ever), was criticised by chefs and members of the public. Some branded it a “work of fiction”, others a “myth”, claiming that the recipes took far longer than 30 minutes (some up to 90 minutes), and required complicated equipment and expensive ingredients.

foodaholic

irish_goat wrote: »

These lamb lollipops are lovely and doable in 15 mins. I did them with cous cous and used goat instead of lamb.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/sizzling-lamb-lollipops

Where did you get the goat ?

kylith

bee06 wrote: »

That's actually one of the things I don't like about the books it makes it harder to cook just one of the elements if you don't want to do all the sides/desserts.

Yeah, I can understand that alright. If you're doing the whole thing it's very handy though.

irish_goat

foodaholic wrote: »

Where did you get the goat ?

I got it off these guys. http://www.broughgammon.com/

They show up at a lot of markets around the north, not sure if they sell down south yet.

awec

I think that 15 minute meals book has a few pages at the start that give you a list of "generic" ingredients to buy in your groceries.

I have it, the beef burgers are really easy and awesome.

fussyonion

I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver and I use his recipes for a lot of my meals, but rubadub made a good point about electricity.

I saw a recipe on JO's website for pulled pork and he he said to cook for 6 hours.

Now, that's fine, but I've got an electricity meter and although I get a fair amount of bang for my buck, I would think twice about having my oven on for 6 hours!

oscarBravo

Moody_mona wrote: »

...you need to start off with a bugger chicken!

o O

kylith

oscarBravo wrote: »

o O

One that's been cross-bred with bugs - they have 6 drumsticks so everyone's happy.

awec

Are the 15 min / 30 min books supposed to be "super value" recipes?

I thought they were just about being fast.

Gloomtastic!

awec wrote: »

Are the 15 min / 30 min books supposed to be "super value" recipes?

I thought they were just about being fast.

Jamie, justifiably, loves adding fresh herbs. Unless you grow your own, herbs are more expensive than meat.....

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Jamie, justifiably, loves adding fresh herbs. Unless you grow your own, herbs are more expensive than meat.....

That's not true.

Gloomtastic!

BaZmO* wrote: »

That's not true.

Pound for pound......

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Pound for pound......

So you buy herbs by the pound?

Gloomtastic!

BaZmO* wrote: »

So you buy herbs by the pound?

Fail!

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Fail!

Well at least you've admitted your mistake. Takes a big man to do that. FairPlay.