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I know people like to criticise Jamie Oliver but I've saved a fortune this week with his ministry of food recipes

118 replies

deaconblue · 13/01/2009 14:32

I know the book is aimed at novice cooks, but I cook a lot and don't think it's patronising. Have had a go at 4 recipes so far, not one has taken more than 15 mins preparation time and we reckon each meal has cost about £5-6 (feeds 4 or 3 pigs). Am impressed so far.

OP posts:
RnB · 13/01/2009 16:42

I agree this is a fantastic book. I've made a few things and they were delicious and easy (esp the chicken Korma - YUMMY)

Got it for £12 in Tesco

StirlingTheStrong · 13/01/2009 16:48

Ooh, I love Jamie but I thought this book might be too basic but from the messages here it sounds good.

I already have 4 Jamie books but may need to get this one too.

TonyAlmeida · 13/01/2009 16:50

the curry is divine and i CAN cook.

notgettingmuchdone · 13/01/2009 16:54

I'm a can't be arsed cook who generally leaves it all to DH as I have no idea what to cook and how (target for this book I suppose) but bought it in a bookclub sale thing for £10 and it's great, although I'm a bit over how quickly some of you can get through these recipies, I did the sizzling beef last night [smug born again housewife emoticon] and it took me about an hour to chop everything and get it all ready plus the kitchen was a midden by the end.... but food was divine and I was v proud

TonyAlmeida · 13/01/2009 16:55

i copied the chicken tikka massala ( or whatever) recipe out in the book store.

dietstartstomorrow · 13/01/2009 18:03

This book was £8.99 in Waterstones recently.

tootiredtothink · 13/01/2009 18:25

Have just ordered one from Amazon. Lets see if he's as good as Nigella.

Blondeshavemorefun · 13/01/2009 19:03

his recipe are good

shame he cant control his language a bit

im all for a bit of fuck here and there ,but the amount he does and on national tv, doesnt show a good image to me

sure he would love daisy boo to say dad, can i have a fucking apple?

mrsmaidamess · 13/01/2009 19:07

J'AIME THIS BOOK.

I have made

Fish Pie soooo easy, no faffling to make a bechemal sauce, and it tasted divine

Bolognese sauce, yeah laugh all you want but again divine (I'm the queen of screw top pasta sauces usually)

Lasagne - sublime.

If you stock up on creme fraich and celery which seem to feature in nearly every recipe, you'll be fine!

janeite · 13/01/2009 19:08

I nearly bought this for dp for Christmas, as he's starting to realy get into cooking, after hardly being able to do anything when we met. But since 50% of our household is veggie I was unsure how many recipes would actually be any use to us.

MarlaSinger · 13/01/2009 19:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Mercy · 13/01/2009 19:09

Even dd (7.8) commented on his vocabulary the other day.

Why doesn't one of the production crew tell him that you whizz something up not wazz it up?

bigTillyMint · 13/01/2009 19:11

I got mine DH's for £6 from the Book People, amd even DH can follow the recipes!

bigTillyMint · 13/01/2009 19:13

Snap Janeite - I got it for DH for Christmas, so he could follow his New Years orders of cooking more!

sagacious · 13/01/2009 19:16

Don't pay over £10 for it most places have it on special offer.

I do love this book, its very easy to follow (I have to stock up on ginger, canned tomatoes and chilli as they also seem to feature heavily)

Chicken tikka masala - lovely (but halve the water)

Lamb rogan josh - yum

Chicken with wine leeks and cream (can't remember the proper name) - very tasty

Bashed chicken with posh ham (lovely but I didn't bash it flat enough so my timings were really out)

Lasagne/meatballs/spag bol/meatloaf - all very tasty

Pesto chicken- my favorite

Stews/roasts are nice (and very easy to follow.. I prefer the lamb in red wine)

HTH

janeite · 13/01/2009 19:16

And has he made anything yet?

How is it for veggie recipes, anybody? I'd get it but it is very rare that only dp and dd1 would be eating together and I'd need recipes that either feed all of us or that are easily adaptable to veggies and carnovores.

mrsmaidamess · 13/01/2009 19:18

janeite there are lots of lovely salads in there, but quite a bit of meat based dishes.

MaHumbug · 13/01/2009 19:18

I made the lasagne and it was lovely. I've made it again with turkey mince and added peppers too (and t4ried to make it less fattening!)

rebelmum72 · 13/01/2009 19:19

Oook, have just made space on my kitchen bookshelf and I love Jamie Oliver, so I think I know what I'll be getting v. soon
Thanks for the tip!

Sherbert37 · 13/01/2009 19:19

Meat balls with crushed up cream crackers - was lovely! They stayed together in the pan which other recipes haven't.

mrsmaidamess · 13/01/2009 19:23

I made the tomato soup to his quantities, which said enough for 4-6 people . It made about 4 litres! So I would reduce the amount of liquid in that. Dh made the steak and ale stew and it needed more liquid.

pointydog · 13/01/2009 19:26

oo this is interesting. I haven't even looked at this book because I've thought it was simple, dull recipes for cokkery fools.

I am tempted to buy it now.

Thanks bags

pointydog · 13/01/2009 19:26

cookery

thinkingaboutdrinking · 13/01/2009 19:43

My mum gave me a subscription to good food mag for xmas - and I got JO ministry book for free with the subscription. I haven't done any of the mag recipes yet but have done JO's chicken with crispy ham, stew, chicken & leek thing, prawn thing, fish pie, and one of the curries and all were fab!
Lots of the recipes are on his ministry of food website and you can download them free here

lucysmam · 13/01/2009 19:55

anyone tried the tuna salad that's in there? I've only flicked through my copy & tried a couple of things but was fancying trying that one evening