Cooking can represent some of the happiest moments in your life. (8)
A few months ago, when we were visiting my folks, my mum got us tickets for a cookbook signing. As we lined up at the bookstore with the hundreds of other people waiting to have their moment with the author, my dad – neither a home cook nor cookbook aficionado – remarked at “all of the cookbooks” he noticed displayed on a nearby shelf as we shuffled past, on our way to have our cookbooks signed. Chuckling, I asked him if he ever looked at my shelves (as most of you know, my collection numbered over a thousand at one time but is now in the hundreds). Even all these months later, I keep thinking about his observation because he also wondered if people actually used all – or even any – of those books. While I think personal connection (both for the author and home cook) to the recipes is important, at their heart, cookbooks are utilitarian. An unused cookbook is a missed opportunity – like the plans for a house that is never built. This is where the cannon of Jamie Oliver cookbooks fits in. On the covers of both of these books is the word “simple” but, in Oliver’s case it is more about his earnest desire to make good food and home cooking accessible to all home cooks. There are no missed opportunities in his books because he thinks about the barriers that stop people from cooking – amount of ingredients, the ingredients themselves, the relative complexity of the instructions, the time it takes, etc. – and how to then entice people to cook.
In the introduction to Simply Jamie, he uses 4 adjectives to describe the recipes: reliable, achievable, fun, and delicious; and after spending time cooking from his books, these words could apply to any one of his 28 books (my first Oliver cookbook was his 2007 beauty, Jamie at Home). Keeping things simple, the book is organized into 5 chapters: 1) Midweek Meals, 2) Weekend Wins, 3) One-Pan Dinners, 4) Pantry Love, and 5) Delicious Desserts. Near the end of the book, information is given regarding nutrition and how the recipes fit into and follow the UK government’s Eatwell Guide, as well as some general notes on kitchen ingredients, techniques and equipment. Now, the question you might be wondering: how simple is simple? Admittedly, whenever I approach a new cookbook to review, I can be quite stubborn about following along exactly as a recipe has been written. But I soon remembered that cooking along with Jamie Oliver recipes meant that I could (and he encourages it!) to lean into making the recipes work for me. It’s no crime to adapt a recipe and I found myself appreciating the sturdy framework of Oliver’s recipes. (For home cooks wondering how Simply Jamie might fit into vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free and/or gluten-free diets, there is a weblink for a quick reference list at the end of the index on page 285 of Simply Jamie).
While the recipes are accessible, there is a felicity of expression which occurs with international cookbooks. For anyone unfamiliar with Jamie Oliver’s books, they are UK-based, which means that the ingredients used for the recipes reflect what UK home cooks can buy at their local markets and grocery stores. Crossovers between the UK and North American ingredients is almost 99%, and I was able to find what I was looking for at my local store here in Atlantic Canada (usually similarly packaged and containing the same amounts). The most marked difference happened within the recipes with how amounts of each ingredient are expressed. Weights are provided in ounces and pounds and since Canada follows the metric system, I used Google to convert any weights I needed to. I also found his recipes forgiving enough that if the amounts I used weren’t totally exact the meals still turned out delicious.
You know what smells divine as it bakes in the oven? Basmati rice! I was keen on making the Spicy Paneer and Veg Squash Bake because everything is baked in one pan. The only instruction that gave me pause was to place the squash halves “…cut side down directly on the top rack of the oven” because, in my mind and heart, that sounded like a mess. Now, I will tell you that a roasting pan containing the eggplant and onions is placed directly underneath the baking squash, which would presumably catch any drips or dribbles. However, I placed my squash on a baking tray to ease my mind. In the end, this was one of my family’s favourite recipes from the book! The rice is fluffy and becomes a bed for squash halves stuffed with curry-flavoured, roasted eggplant, onion, and squash, and is topped with mango chutney and grated paneer. Hearty and delicious, we loved this one pan veg bake!
The book also re-imagines pantry staples into “something more useful and with even more flavour” – take the recipe for Easy Green Chili Salsa for example. A simple jar of pickled jalapenos is “jazzed up” with the addition of fresh mint leaves and a spoonful of honey. The jalapenos and their juice are put into the blender with mint and honey, whizzed up and the resulting sauce is poured back into the jar the jalapenos came from for easy storage. I ended up using the sauce with Scrambled Eggs, as Oliver suggests but I also used it to accompany many of our lunches and dinners. Even now my mouth waters thinking about that slightly fresh, slightly sweet and spicy combination.
Although my family of three is comprised of vegetarians, I sometimes feel FOMO when I look at meatier recipes but, Oliver offers substitutions for some of the recipes so we all can enjoy! For the A Better Bolognese recipe, I used broken-up bits of plant-based sausages in place of the beef and pork in the recipe. Not only does this ragu use meat but it’s accompanied by a couple of cans of lentils. Since this recipe yields 14 servings, I ended up freezing portions to be used later. While we’ve enjoyed this banger of a Bolognese with just some pasta, I also used it in the recipe for Pesto Gnocchi Bolognese Bake.
Simply Jamie is such a wonderfully useful and delicious book for busy home cooks. Each recipe is carefully developed using a minimum of ingredients to create something that is simple to make and a joy to eat. I found the recipes to be accessible, and I felt encouraged to follow the recipes in a way that worked for me. This is a book that I keep turning to so I can find other recipes for my family to love.
BONUS MINI REVIEW
In keeping with my review for Simply Jamie, his 5 Ingredients Mediterranean is another cookbook I enjoy using. Here, Oliver is revisiting a concept of one of his earlier books – 5 Ingredients: Quick and Easy Food – by offering home cooks 5 ingredient recipes using Mediterranean flavours and ingredients. It was at the urging of his wife, Jools, that he write another 5 Ingredients cookbook because, as she told him, “It’s where people are at, when our lives are so incredibly busy — it’s the book all the parents at school talk about.” Speaking from experience, the conversations that used to happen at pick up focused on how busy we all were and what was cooking for supper. Any cookbooks mentioned were the ones that offered quick and delicious food — like the 5 Ingredients ones.
One of my all-time favourite recipes comes from this book – the Giant Baked Beans with Mini Sausage Meatballs, Sweet Tomatoes, and Tangy Feta. As I did with the Bolognese, I substituted plant-based sausage in this recipe which worked well and, I finally found canned giant lima beans at the grocery store. Now, I think a variety of substitutions could be used for the giant limas, but I really love how big (about the size of a Toonie) and tender they are. Another recipe we enjoyed was the Breakfast Bread with Bombs of Fruity Jam and Hung Yogurt. For this recipe, yeasted bread is placed into a 12-inch round baking pan (I used a cast iron skillet), and it’s topped with generous dollops of jam before it’s baked in the oven. Slices of jammy, squishy bread are served with “hung yogurt” (a yogurt which is thickened by straining out the liquid). Such a lovely brunch recipe! The 5 Ingredients concept is appreciated because it offers busy home cooks a way to make delicious weeknight meals without needing a lot of time or ingredients.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Appetite by Random House for providing me with a free, review copies of these books. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Any links provided are intended purely for informational purposes.
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