Jamie’s Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is currently my favorite cookbook.  I got this for Christmas and I started using it right away.  I have a number of Jamie’s books starting with his appearance as “The Naked Chef”. 

 The Naked Chef books are really great, easy to use, full of great advice and the recipes seem fancy because of the ingredients but a lot of the techniques are rustic and easy for an enthusiastic but naive home cook to do.  The dishes are full of flavor and the presentation is pretty and fun but not fussy.

I also have a few of his others which I am not as keen on, but Food Revolution is a return to the Jamie Oliver that I love.  Granted, the recipes can be a bit difficult to follow as he is almost trying to write a story instead of a step-by-step recipe but if you pay attention it all comes out great at the end.

Below are the recipes in this book that I have used so far:

Chicken Fajitas – pg 38 – This is soooo good.  They are so easy and the flavor is fantastic.  I have done this as chicken only and also as chicken and steak combos.  I love that he doesn’t use loads of raw onions and garlic but that the recipe has got real punch without a lot of ingredients.

Baked Camembert Pasta – pg 44 – This would have been good if I had used a white pasta instead of a whole wheat pasta.  Not only did I use a whole wheat pasta trying to be healthy but I also used too much and diluted the sauce.  I plan to try this again. 

Pasta w/Creamy Smoked Bacon & Pea Sauce – pg 52 – this recipe was fantastic.  I used left over baked ham from Christmas dinner and it was great.  I wish we had had more leftovers I would have made it again.

Lamb Rogan Josh – pg 81 – I cook a lot of Indian food.  One of the recipes I use often is one from an earlier Jamie Oliver book, so I thought I would try one of the recipes in Food Revolution.  I did it with his version of Rogan Josh paste and although it was easy and the dish came out fine, if I do it again I will use a store bought Rogan Josh paste instead.  I look forward to trying some of the other curry dishes in the book.

Light Fluffy Rice – pg 95 – there isn’t much to say about this except that it is the easiest way to make rice that I have ever used and also it was the best rice I have ever made.  I will try it soon with brown rice instead of white, adjusting the times and see if it works as well.

Perfect Roast Pork – pg 195 – the name says it all!  It was perfect!!!!  Served it with roasted carrots and parsnips and creamy gratin potatoes, mmmmmmm!

This book is definitely worth purchasing and I am looking forward to the tv show that goes along with it which is starting tonight.