"Jamie Oliver's Great Britain"
by Jamie Oliver
Publisher: Hyperion
Release Date: Oct 2, 2012 (reprint)
Source: sent by publicist
My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Having grown up in his parents' gastropub, Jamie Oliver has always had a special place in his heart for British cooking. And in recent years there's been an exciting revolution in the British food world in general. English chefs, producers, and artisans are retracing old recipes, rediscovering quality ingredients, and focusing on simplicity and quality. Jamie celebrates the best of the old and new (including classic British immigrant food) in his first cookbook focused on England.
Here are over 130 great, easy-to-prepare recipes, ranging from salads--Heavenly Salmon and Epic Roast Chicken; to puddings--Rhubarb and Rice Pudding and Citrus Cheesecake Pots; to Sunday lunch--Guinness Lamb Shanks and Roast Quail Skewers; and, of course, the crumbliest scones. America has already fallen for the new British gastropub cooking, with popular restaurants by chefs such as April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig and the John Dory. Now Jamie shows how to make the same delicious food at home. This is definitely not your grandmother's mushy peas!
My Review:
Readers of my blog know that I am a huge fan of Jamie Oliver (
as shown here), so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review this cookbook. Many people caught "Britain fever" this summer due to the Olympics in London, and this cookbook is released at a time when the world is really interested in knowing more about the country and it's culture. This book honestly has some of the best looking recipes in any of Jamie's books yet, and that's saying something because I love all of this cookbooks!
The book is oversized, and at 416 pages, it is absolutely full of recipes, photos, and details of Jamie's trip around Britain looking for the best recipes and inspiration in the country. The gorgeous photos, are not just of the food, but also of Jamie's adventures around Britain. In a graphic style, almost like a scrapbook, he shares the people, culture, and the beautiful sights that he found along the way. I want to visit all of these places, he makes them look so inviting and beautiful.
Every recipe in the book has a heartfelt intro by Jamie, these alone will make you want to try the recipes no matter what the ingredients are! With recipes like "ER's Diamond Jubilee Chicken" (an upgrade on Coronation Chicken), and "Kate and Will's Wedding Pie" (a meat pie), I am willing to try the more traditional British dishes that I haven't been so sure about before.
There is an entire section of the book for "Afternoon Tea." Does anything get any more British than Tea Time? The recipes here sound delicious, and almost dessert-like, including "Sour Cranberry Bakewell" and "My Nan's St. Clement's Cake."
Bottom Line: Not only do I love all the recipes, and want to try them all, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Jamie Oliver's adventures in Britain with it's uniquely British people and culture.
Jamie Oliver's Great Britain on Amazon.com:
Bonus Recipes from the Book!
The publicist and publisher have given me permission to post two recipes from the book on my blog along with the blog tour! Enjoy!!
photo credit: David Loftus
Roasted Apple & Squash Soup
By Jamie Oliver
On my travels around Bristol I spent an afternoon with Leona, who runs the Boiling Wells cafe in the allotment gardens. She’s a lovely young lady and a real food activist in many ways. What’s more, she’s a great cook, and I’d rather eat food made by a great cook than a great chef any day of the week. The food she makes is clearly a reaction to the wonderful ingredients she gets from the allotments, which are a stone’s throw from her cafe. She knocked out this soup for me, which I’ve tweaked slightly. I genuinely love it.
SERVES 4 TO 6
butternut squash (roughly 2 lbs)
3 good eating apples, such as Braeburn
1 large onion
1 or 2 fresh red chiles
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled and bashed
olive oil
sea salt and ground pepper
a pinch of coriander seeds
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
3 heaped tablespoons pumpkin seeds
a pinch of cayenne pepper
3 ¼ cups organic vegetable or chicken stock
⅔ cup light cream
optional: edible flowers or flowering herbs, to serve
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Very carefully(!) peel and slice the squash lengthways and scoop out the seeds. Cut into 1-inch chunks and put them on a large baking sheet. To see how to safely cut up butternut squash, go to www.jamieoliver.com/how-to.
Peel the apples, then quarter them and remove the core. Peel and roughly chop the onion and add the apples and onion to the baking sheet. Halve and deseed the chiles and add to the sheet with the unpeeled and bashed garlic cloves. Drizzle over a good amount of olive oil and add a good pinch of salt and pepper – I also like to add a pinch of coriander seeds and a little chopped rosemary because I think it brings out the best flavor. Toss everything together so all the veg is nicely coated, season one more time, then whack into the oven and cook for around 45 minutes, or until everything is cooked through, intensely golden and delicious.
Toss the pumpkin seeds with salt, pepper, olive oil and the cayenne. Spread on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until nice and toasted, then put aside for later.
Put some of the roasted veg into a blender, making sure you squeeze the garlic flesh out of its skin first. Add a swig of stock, then place a tea towel over the lid and gently blitz until smooth and lovely. Put this into a large pan while you blitz the rest. Pour in most of the cream and bring to a simmer over a medium to low heat. Have a taste, season to perfection and either add another splash of stock, or carry on simmering until you’ve got it to the consistency you love.
To serve, divide between warm soup bowls and add an 80s swirl of cream and a sprinkling of
toasted seeds. If you’re as creative as Leona, you can also grab some flowering herbs or edible
flowers to sprinkle over the top and make it extra beautiful. Serve with warm crusty bread.
photo credit: David Loftus
Empire Roast Chicken
By Jamie Oliver
EMPIRE ROAST CHICKEN
BOMBAY ROASTIES | AMAZING INDIAN GRAVY
Ask any British person what their two favorite meals are and I reckon most people would say their mum’s roast chicken, and a curry. Well, welcome to Empire roast chicken, a combination of both of those things. Your friends and family are going to love it. I love it. You will love it.
Slash the chicken’s legs a few times right down to the bone. Get a baking sheet slightly bigger than the chicken, then add all of the marinade ingredients and mix together well. Put on a pair of clean rubber gloves, then really massage those flavors over and inside the chicken so it’s smeared everywhere. Don’t be shy! Ideally marinate overnight in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 400°F and organize the oven rack so the baking sheet can sit right at the bottom, the chicken can sit directly above it, right on the rack, and the potatoes can go at the top. Halve any larger potatoes, then parboil them in a large pan of salted boiling water with a whole lemon for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Drain the potatoes then let them steam dry. Stab the lemon a few times with a sharp knife and put it right into the chicken’s cavity. Move the chicken to a plate.
Roughly chop the onions and add to the baking sheet along with the cinnamon stick, cloves, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, then whisk in the flour. Pour in the stock or water, then place this right at the bottom of the oven. Place the chicken straight on to the bars of the middle shelf, above the baking sheet. Cook for 1 hour 20 minutes.
Put another sturdy baking sheet over a medium heat and add the olive oil, a knob of butter, the mustard and cumin seeds, garam masala and turmeric – work quickly because if the fat gets too hot the mustard seeds will pop everywhere. Halve a bulb of garlic and add it straight to the pan, with the sliced chile and chopped tomatoes. Add your drained potatoes to the tray, mix everything together, then season well. Finely slice and scatter in the cilantro stalks, and keep the leaves in a bowl of water for later. After the chicken has been in for 40 minutes, put the potatoes in.
Once the chicken is cooked, move it to a board and carefully peel off the dark charred bits to reveal perfect chicken underneath. Pass the gravy through a coarse sieve into a pan, whisking any sticky goodness from the pan as you go. Bring to the boil and either cook and thicken or thin down with water to your preference. Put it into a serving bowl and drizzle over a little yogurt. Get your potatoes out of the oven and put them into a serving bowl, then serve the chicken on a board next to the sizzling roasties and hot gravy. Sprinkle the reserved cilantro leaves over everything and serve with any condiments you like. Life doesn’t get much better.
SERVES 4-6
For the chicken and marinade
2 ¼ lb preferably higher welfare chicken
1 heaped tablespoon each finely grated garlic, fresh ginger and fresh red chile
1 heaped tablespoon tomato puree
1 heaped teaspoon each of ground coriander, turmeric, garam masala and ground cumin
2 heaped teaspoons plain yogurt
2 lemons
2 teaspoons sea salt
For the gravy
3 small red onions, peeled
1 stick of cinnamon
10 cloves
3 tablespoons each of white wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups organic chicken stock
optional: plain yogurt, to serve
For the Bombay-style potatoes
1 ¾ lbs new potatoes
sea salt and ground pepper
1 lemon
2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil
a knob of butter
1 heaped teaspoon each of black mustard seeds, cumin seeds, garam masala and turmeric
1 bulb of garlic
1 fresh red chile, deseeded and finely sliced
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small bunch of fresh cilantro
I am so happy to be able to offer a copy of Jamie Oliver's Great Britain to one lucky reader of my blog!!
GIVEAWAY RULES:
The publicist and publisher have generously provided a copy of "Jamie Oliver's Great Britain" for a lucky follower of my blog!
All you have to do is follow my blog publicly and fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Please follow publicly or I can't tell that you are following :)
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- Must be 18 or over
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