to think now that Jamie Oliver is wonderful, after years of thinking he was a prat?

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I couldn't be arsed with all that 'ooh me and Jools' nonsense in Naked Chef.

Grudgingly admired his campaign for school dinners and 15 but think he was very judgmental and overzealous and naive.

Frankly found his 'what the proles eat in Rotherham' series borderline offensive.

Have a few of his recipe books and they are distinctly bla bla bla.

BUT - 30 minute meals (both book and series) are seriously good.

His presentation is very good - he actually comes across as likeable for the first time.

Perhaps he has grown up a bit.

And the food is very, very good.

Plus he is more attractive now.

It takes me longer than 30 minutes, but I am very half arsed in the kitchen, and usually cook whilst reafding magazines.

I like him & what he's done for school dinners.

Proper cooking always involves a glass of wine or two for the chef and the reading of magazines

That's my law for Christmas dinner anyway.

Orf, you have seen sense and you are to be saluted.

I find Jamie extremely likeable. Honest, straight-forward, funny not up his arse.

I sorta love him. And I am not one for loving many people at all.

I am raising an eyebrown at dream school. But it's Jamie, so I;'ll listen.

i can do 1 of the 30 min things

the spinach and feta pie thing

is vg

(that was just the pie btw, not the other things )

but tbh i find him v accessible and does food you actually want to eat, rather than frame and put up on the wall

I have the 30 minute meals book but I don't have a kitchen big enough to have all the appliances out on a vast kitchen island all plugged in and ready to use.

I think a lot of people would have the same problem.

Plus, some of his meals used a blender or processor more than once, you'd need more than one or someone else washing up to do the meal in 30 mins.

I like him but I always have tbh
I think he is rather good value - I get the impression that he likes the food, I like his style of cooking and it is accessible i.e. people can actually cook it, for every day.
and I thought the school dinners stuff was GREAT - I like that he stuck his neck out. ditto the 15 stuff.
I don't really watch telly though so I can't comment on what he looks like.
is he REALLY only 34?????

Thanks to Jamie I can send DS to school to have dinners without a twinge of parental guilt

And then do beans on toast for tea.

All hail saint Jamie...

But he does have TOO much merchandising. But then that's why he's a gazillionaire

LadyintheRadiator You forgot the 'glug of balsamic' and lemon zest.

I have about the tiniest sodding kitchen in the world (I swear constantly these days) and I heave out my processor and manage his 30 minute meals with only half a dozen curses. I improvise too. It's allowed.

All you need is 3 litres of olive oil

LOL!! He does like his olive oil.

34?

Then again he does work odd and long hours and is married to Jools.

LOL about the equipment having to be used a few times and needing a servant to clean it.

Reminds me of a "Two Fat Ladies" episode in which they were making a delightfully simple and wholly economical little canapé then said, "now top with white Beluga caviar and a scrambled Fabergé egg" or something similar.

He reminds me of my dh. Although dh hates it if I ever mention this because he thinks Jamie is a nob

Jamie is great!

I've always liked him and if i had to choose 1 celebrity to nanny for (and only 1) i would choose to nanny for his girls!!!!!

have always said that, and was very enviouse when me ex boss had dinner with him!

Agree - couldn't stand him back in the day, but I think he's brilliant now :)

I've come round to rather liking Jamie too, to be honest. But OP, I do actually think the fact that you can't (hardly) do the thirty min stuff in thirty mins is a worthwhile point. Yes, you can do the recipes in a relatively quick time, and they come out well & taste good. BUT they can be quite stressful to do - certainly if you are trying to do them fairly quickly - because of the way they're written with all the steps of the meal intermeshing.

If you're doing the whole meal but not sticking to the same timings as he does because you're washing up as you go along, chopping some stuff by hand, or just being slower cos it's the first time you've done it, then you run the risk of overcooking the bit that's on the heat at the same time as you're being slow doing something else, IYSWIM. I wish he'd say more often that "the chicken needs to cook for 18 mins" or whatever, so that it would be easier if you were doing just that bit of the meal by itself, and it would be easier to make sure you didn't over or undercook that if you were doing the whole meal instead.

I'd love it if a second edition of the book came out which also gave step by step instructions for each item if you were making it separately. I see it as a tweak rather than a serious change to the 30 mins idea, cos it would make it easier to do the whole meal as well as doing bits. However I suspect he'd be against it precisely cos it would make it easier for people to pick & choose individual bits out of his menu - but then I reckon they'll be doing that anyway.

I do think some of his technique ideas for doing it more quickly are fab though: scoring thru chicken breast so it cooks quicker, and crushing the garlic instead of peeling & chopping it, are two that come to mind.

I cannot abide him. For many reasons.

I agree with comixminx - instructions for each bit of 30 min meals separately would be nice.

And he's not exactly attractive.

But he is very likeable.

LOL at the two of you being 24!

GOML...I agree

he used to get on my tits something chronic

but I have warmed to him recently

something about his demeanour...he seems grown-up now instead of an over-zealous teenager

I like him. He's a bit of a nob, but a likable nob. I don't find him attractive though. His tongue is too fat for his mouth

I've always liked him, I think his heart's in the right place.

He is still a bit patronising though, I saw his programme today

'You only need one melon, but I've got two here, just to show you the different colours'

I know what colours melons come in you plonker, even if I am northern

I can't dislike him though, lovable twat

I totally agree with you comix - I woul much prefer it if the recipes were laid out like other recipe books. I very rarely make a pudding for instance so I just skip over the irrelevant bits.

I also like reading preambles before recipes to set the scene - Nigella is especially good for this.

Mind you I think that this TV series is the only one I have watched which actually aids and complements the book, rather than being superfluous like most of them.

Some great recipe ideas - the satay kebabs are great (I think the idea of stabbing skewers in the chicken breasts before cutting is excellent), the brocolli pasta thing, the puttanesca (which is far better than my old puttanesca recipe), the tapas and the smoked salmon and the quick dauphinoise. All very good. Plus a really, really good selection of salads.

You're right AF - I think he has just grown up now.

"I know what colours melons come in you plonker, even if I am northern"

I hink that fat tongue could come in useful, tbh