As much as I love Jamie Oliver we are not getting on very well with his new book...anyone else have problems?

[pepsi]

We have cooked three things so far from Jamies Dinners and all have not looked like his. First on pg 221, Chicken Maryland. His looks all crispy and dry, the corn isnt sitting in a very runny sauce like ours was. Then on pg 216 The super tasty spanish roast. This all tasted great bur I was confused about the greaseproof paper bit. In the picture the chicken is sitting on greaseproof paper but in the recipe you cover over the chicken with it and tuck it in so juices dont escape. Today I have done the ricotta and spinach and it came out completely wrong. It says 2 tin of plum tomatoes, this I think was my mistake, I know realise that it means drained although it doesnt say that, thickos like me need it to be precise. So my tomato sauce was really runny. I then ran out of filling for the canelloni with 6 left to fill. I kept putting waiting in the creme fraice sauce for the top to make that runny enough to put on top but stopped in the end because I was worried it would get to runny. I seemed to have loads of the stuff but had just used the 500g pot as stated in the recipe. His recipe states 16 canelloni tubes and he has far more than that in the picture of the recipe. Why dont the pictures correspond more accurately. Whilst I love Jamie Oliver and what he is doing for school dinners, at the moment he is not doing that much for mine. Anyone else struggling like me.

Sorry that shoudl read water in the creme fraiche.

Our chicken maryland didn't look anything like the picture but tasted ok as far as I remember. He annoys me with his "handful of this" and "slug of that" - I need precize mls and oz or it goes very pear shaped. Also find some of the recipes in all his books far too bland. But others are fantastic - I like his 2nd naked chef the best. I guess it's just trial and error.
I do love him though.

When it goes wrong the first time though it puts you off bothering to do it again though doesnt it. The canelloni I did today wasnt cheap, it had a whole tub of creme fraiche, fresh parmesan, almost 2 tubs of ricotta, mozzerella, anchovies, it added up to quite a pricey meal. Mind you having said all this my ds 5 ate it, so it was the first time he had eaten spinach. Cookery books are just like the glossy mags with airbrushed models in them with perfect skin.....totally unchieveable.

I think you're setting yourself up for a fall if you expect it to look like the pictures (well I know I am) - just so long as it tastes reasonable is fine by me. I agree about the expensive ingredients though, very annoying.

The Sticky Toffee pudding in his Dinners did come out how it looks in the book - and tasted delicious! Also made the spinach canelloni and agree that it was expensive to make, but also came out how it looks in the book, and also tasted delicious!

I don't like the slug of this etc either though - whats a slug? Give me abit more of Delias 'half a teaspoon' measurements anyday

we had lots of liquid with chkn maryland, and the wine i used was cheap so the fumes nearly knocked me over when i opened the oven door. but it tasted delish and went down very well with everyone here

Well I cooked his macaroni cheese - with a slight modification because I added a tin of tomatoes instead of half the supperripe toms called for by Jamie. It was revolting. Sloppy and tasteless. Am prepared to accept it could have been entirely my own fault.

did the thing with baked ricotta as well (sweet tomato pasta?). I liked that; dh didn't. Used the quantity of ricotta Jamie said, and had half left over.

On the other hand, pasta bianco goes down a treat. (not a lot to go wrong there). even dh, who can't stand parmesan, eats that.

Have to say that I am a big fan of the "slug of this", dollop of that shcool of cooking a la Jamie! Don't often bother measuring stuff out - probably why my cakes are so crap ....... !!!!

Just bought this book so intend to have a go at some of his recipes over the next week or so. I'll let you know how I get on.

But pepsi, your ds ate SPINACH! Who cares what it looks like?

Don't have the book yet,I like Jamie Oliver but am more of a Nigella girl...can I say though for those of you saying about expensive ingredients, I use a website called recipezaar and they have brilliant "Make your own recipes" for things like ricotta and even mascarpone cheese, just type the name or ingredient in and there you have it...much cheaper,rewarding and not too much hassle.

FIMAC1.....did you drain the tinned tomatos when you made the canelloni, I think this was my downfall. Did you need quite a lot of water to make the creme fraice sauce also as I seemed to be putting loads in and it still wasted falling off of the spoon. But yes, I should be pleased my ds ate spinach without any complaints so I have to perfect this recipe so that the whole famil are happy with it and try and do it for cheaper.....and less fat, it must be hugely fattening. I have to say a lot of his recipes are not very slimline. I was going to do the macroni cheese with all the tomatos........have bought the ingredients already, but Im a bit put off now after what purpleturtle had to say.

I didn't drain the tomatoes no, and only added a little water. The consistency was fine I've just gone and dug out the recipe - maybe simmer the sauce for a bit longer next time so that the liquid is reduced more?

I'll have to try it again, I did put in the full can of water though so perhaps thats it. I simmered for longer too. Oh well, things cant be prefect all the time.

I'll have to try it again, I did put in the full can of water though so perhaps thats it. I simmered for longer too. Oh well, things cant be prefect all the time.