jamie oliver's 15 min meals

marie12

I'm not the most experienced at cooking and this is my only cook book. Have it a while now and want to start making use of it. Anyone recommend an easy dinner to start off with from the book? It looks quite daunting! Thanks.

PinkLemonade

I love the green tea salmon, and the beef Koftas!
With both you can kind of prep everything first time round before you start cooking (dressing or sauce) it'll take longer but you won't mess it up, I can prob do both in under 20 mins now taking my time

marie12

PinkLemonade wrote: »

I love the green tea salmon, and the beef Koftas!
With both you can kind of prep everything first time round before you start cooking (dressing or sauce) it'll take longer but you won't mess it up, I can prob do both in under 20 mins now taking my time

Thanks. That beef looks delic! I forgot to say I don't like fish but the green tea looks impressive too! I can see why people get into this cooking! are all the ingredients easy to source? I need to get myself a liquidiser flip!

PinkLemonade

marie12 wrote: »

That beef looks delic! I forgot to say I don't like fish but the green tea looks impressive too! I can see why people get into this cooking! are all the ingredients easy to source? I need to get myself a liquidiser flip!

You won't get them all in lidl etc but the large Tesco near me would have miso paste readycooked lentils etc

It isn't the cheapest book, and there are a lot of specialist ingredients which is aannoying but there are some great tips.

PS I sometimes make the green tea salmon with chicken for my OH instead of salmon

Bateman

Think there are steak sambos and homemade chicken fajitas in there that are easy enough

BaZmO*

Bateman wrote: »

Think there are steak sambos and homemade chicken fajitas in there that are easy enough

In fairness though, all the dishes are easy enough to make, I just don't buy the 15 mins bit, and I wouldn't be into making all the dishes at once. Just pick one dish at a time if you're new to cooking. Less stress that way!

Gloomtastic!

BaZmO* wrote: »

In fairness though, all the dishes are easy enough to make, I just don't buy the 15 mins bit, and I wouldn't be into making all the dishes at once. Just pick one dish at a time if you're new to cooking. Less stress that way!

Watching one a couple of weeks ago where he was stuffing chicken pieces with feta. He did one, then miraculously a second later, all eight were stuffed. The boy's a genius!

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Watching one a couple of weeks ago where he was stuffing chicken pieces with feta. He did one, then miraculously a second later, all eight were stuffed. The boy's a genius!

It's a real pet hate of mine when TV chefs do the whole, "You can cook a 3 course family meal for 4 people quicker than it takes to order from the local take away!"

Stop lying!! It just turns people off when they realise that it takes way longer than that, when you factor in prep, cooking, and wash up.

Moody_mona

Watched an episode on more4 there last week, the thirty minutes meals. I got a chuckle out of the scheduling, it was on from 10.30 to 11.05, so it's not even possible for him

The ideas and recipes are nice, get inspiration from that, but cooking doesn't have to be a race!

kylith

What I like about the layout of his recipes is that you're not trying to follow two different recipes and work out how to time them properly, the way they're laid out means that you know that when the chicken, for example, is cooking you need to be frying the onions. I find it makes it easier for me to get everything on the table at the same time.

Unfortunately I'm slightly hampered by not having a food processor so I have to do all my prep ahead of time.

bee06

kylith wrote: »

What I like about the layout of his recipes is that you're not trying to follow two different recipes and work out how to time them properly, the way they're laid out means that you know that when the chicken, for example, is cooking you need to be frying the onions. I find it makes it easier for me to get everything on the table at the same time.

Unfortunately I'm slightly hampered by not having a food processor so I have to do all my prep ahead of time.

That's actually one of the things I don't like about the books it makes it harder to cook just one of the elements if you don't want to do all the sides/desserts.

rubadub

BaZmO* wrote: »

It's a real pet hate of mine when TV chefs do the whole, "You can cook a 3 course family meal for 4 people quicker than it takes to order from the local take away!"

They also usually overstate the cost savings. Posted about this before

-I am always amused at Jamie Olivers price claims, other chefs do it too. They do not factor in all the costs. Its very rare to hear them factor in electricity, and then they are always putting on extras as though they are free, like spices. There has never once been a time where I saw a TV chef price something where I thought "hmm that sounds a little high" -never.

Now stuff like the salt & pepper will last ages once bought so a "portion" is cheap. But I met a friend of mine in the supermarket getting stuff to do some Asian recipe (Jamie Olivers coincidentally), as we went around it was totting up really quickly and costing a lot more than a takeaway, some things were not going to be a bulk long term buy, the price of the fresh veg amazed him.

Electricity might be low enough, but when foods are cheap anyway it can be a higher %. I remember some program with a woman making cakes and saying how much cheaper they were, and overstating the price you pay. The likes of donuts are 5 for €1 in tesco these days.

Moody_mona

He also doesn't factor in the cost of leftover roast chicken, which is fair enough, but to have enough left over to feed four/five people again, you need to start off with a bugger chicken!

squonk

To be honest though electricity costs fluctuate and then factor in from country to country.

I think it's a fair assumption that most regular cooks will have a bunch of staples on hand, including spices. For sure if you read one of Jamie's recipes now, say Rogan Josh, and have rarely cooked and go out today to buy all the ingredients, including the staples, it'll cost a fair bit. Next time though you've got a lot of the staples so you just need to buy your chicken and veggies etc.

Go to an Asian shop and you'll find all the spices you want in fair sized bags for relatively little money. They last quite a while if you store them properly. I know my spices cost me maybe 1-2 quid a pop but I get so much use out of them I almost think of them as free at this stage. If you're buying the little Sharwoods jars they work out much more expensive.

I think some common sense has to come into play here as well. I look at Jamie's 15 minute meals sometimes on a Sunday morning and I know full well there's no way you'll get it done in 15 minutes. Not when you've to prepare some things and clean up. Still if you get the result in 20-30 minutes it's fine too and better than a takeaway.

irish_goat

These lamb lollipops are lovely and doable in 15 mins. I did them with cous cous and used goat instead of lamb.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/sizzling-lamb-lollipops

vibe666

I tried one of his recipes once, but the 15 minutes was up before i'd even finished planting my small herb garden, never mind how long it took to grow.

rubadub

squonk wrote: »

To be honest though electricity costs fluctuate and then factor in from country to country.

I think it's a fair assumption that most regular cooks will have a bunch of staples on hand, including spices.

Its the fact it is not mentioned at all, more exagerration.

Ribs would be one thing I do not cook at home since I think it is cheaper for me to get a takeaway, I get ridiculous portions for 5.60 in the local chinese.

squonk wrote: »

I think some common sense has to come into play here as well.... Still if you get the result in 20-30 minutes it's fine too and better than a takeaway.

Common sense would be calling it 25 or 30min meals and not pissing people off. There are loads of negative reviews on amazon about it solely about the misleading time.


he has a 30min one too.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinkbooks/9579067/Jamie-Oliver-put-to-the-test.html

The TV chef has taken a big risk in putting together yet another time-saving recipe book. His 30 Minute Meals, though it sold more than 1.5 million copies (making it both the UK’s fastest- and best-selling non-fiction book ever), was criticised by chefs and members of the public. Some branded it a “work of fiction”, others a “myth”, claiming that the recipes took far longer than 30 minutes (some up to 90 minutes), and required complicated equipment and expensive ingredients.

foodaholic

irish_goat wrote: »

These lamb lollipops are lovely and doable in 15 mins. I did them with cous cous and used goat instead of lamb.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/sizzling-lamb-lollipops

Where did you get the goat ?

kylith

bee06 wrote: »

That's actually one of the things I don't like about the books it makes it harder to cook just one of the elements if you don't want to do all the sides/desserts.

Yeah, I can understand that alright. If you're doing the whole thing it's very handy though.

irish_goat

foodaholic wrote: »

Where did you get the goat ?

I got it off these guys. http://www.broughgammon.com/

They show up at a lot of markets around the north, not sure if they sell down south yet.

awec

I think that 15 minute meals book has a few pages at the start that give you a list of "generic" ingredients to buy in your groceries.

I have it, the beef burgers are really easy and awesome.

fussyonion

I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver and I use his recipes for a lot of my meals, but rubadub made a good point about electricity.

I saw a recipe on JO's website for pulled pork and he he said to cook for 6 hours.

Now, that's fine, but I've got an electricity meter and although I get a fair amount of bang for my buck, I would think twice about having my oven on for 6 hours!

oscarBravo

Moody_mona wrote: »

...you need to start off with a bugger chicken!

o O

kylith

oscarBravo wrote: »

o O

One that's been cross-bred with bugs - they have 6 drumsticks so everyone's happy.

awec

Are the 15 min / 30 min books supposed to be "super value" recipes?

I thought they were just about being fast.

Gloomtastic!

awec wrote: »

Are the 15 min / 30 min books supposed to be "super value" recipes?

I thought they were just about being fast.

Jamie, justifiably, loves adding fresh herbs. Unless you grow your own, herbs are more expensive than meat.....

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Jamie, justifiably, loves adding fresh herbs. Unless you grow your own, herbs are more expensive than meat.....

That's not true.

Gloomtastic!

BaZmO* wrote: »

That's not true.

Pound for pound......

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Pound for pound......

So you buy herbs by the pound?

Gloomtastic!

BaZmO* wrote: »

So you buy herbs by the pound?

Fail!

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Fail!

Well at least you've admitted your mistake. Takes a big man to do that. FairPlay.

Bassfish

I'd recommend his Ministry of Food book as a beginner's book. Takes you from basic things like various curries, pastas and roasts. That book will give you a good grounding.

rubadub

awec wrote: »

Are the 15 min / 30 min books supposed to be "super value" recipes?

I thought they were just about being fast.

Yeah, I think they are just to be about being fast. I was just commenting that speed is not the only thing he lies/exaggerates about.

His other thing was "money saving meals", and you can see other people said very similar things.

http://therealfoodinspector.blogspot.ie/2014/06/money-saving-meals-jamie-oliver.html

In last night's edition, Jamie cooked Mexican Chilli (£1.60 per portion), Chicken Chowder (87p per portion), Dhal and Chapati (67p per portion), Smoked Mackerel Carbonara (£1.02 per portion) and French Salad. While it all looked impressive, particularly the portion costs that he was quoting, I calculated a lot of 'hidden' costs that certainly need to be considered when taking-on these recipes.

The Mexican Chilli (below) used a shin of beef, which although a cheap cut of meat, required cooking for 5 hours at 170', but Jamie failed to factor-in the cost of the electricity in the portion cost. He used a tin of tomatoes which he claimed was 14p per tin. Where can you find tins that cheap? For the Chowder and the French Salad he suggested the use of 'left-over' chicken, but in the programme you saw him strip a whole chicken with all the white meat added to the dishes. In reality, Jamie, most chicken 'left-over', is brown meat!

However, the biggest weakness in the programme was Oliver's generous use of fresh herbs in every dish. This is hardly 'money saving'. Money saving is using dried herbs. He is constantly seen tearing a few leaves of Tarragon here or a handful of Coriander there, or adding a few gratings of fresh ginger. Is Jamie aware that a small packet of fresh Coriander is 90p? Cumin, Cinnamon and Smoked Paprika were all generously added to the Mexican Chilli last night, yet he still quoted £1.60 per portion. Ground Nut Oil, Curry Leaves and Fresh Chilli were used in the Dhal and Chapati, yet only 67p per portion. Who are you kidding Jamie? Expensive Parmesan Cheese went into the Mackerel Carbonara (below) and then a final grating of the zest of a lemon, but what happens to the rest of the lemon, Jamie? Is it's wastage calculated in the £1.02 per portion? I think not!

I must admit to not being a Jamie Oliver fan, but last night's programme failed to deliver the true costs of his Money Saving Meals. Viewers should be warned that they will need a generously stocked store of fresh herbs, spices and all the extras that Jamie takes for granted in his TV kitchen and then they will see the true cost of his Money Saving Meals.

The negative reviews about his "money saving" book are mostly about it being costly. (similar to how the negative reviews about the other were about being too long)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0718158148/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

awec

To be fair though, who actually calculates the cost of electricity when cooking something? That's like wondering how much gas is used on the hob when cooking there etc.

rubadub

awec wrote: »

To be fair though, who actually calculates the cost of electricity when cooking something?

I am not saying you have to calculate it exactly. I expect few do that, some might with those new prepay power meter things. But people who are trying to figure out costs should factor it in if using a lot, if they are smart, if they want to fool themselves for whatever reason then ignore it.

Its weird how some people do not pay attention to appliances using the most electricity. People will fuss over plugging out phone chargers, or leaving a energy saving light on for a few mins, yet think nothing of blasting an oven for hours using literally maybe 2000 times the energy of the phone charger per minute.

Its the fact he never mentions it to appear to be more convincing about his "great advice".

I had a housemate would would regularly preheat the oven for over an hour before cooking a single chicken fillet. He would feck off to the shops after leaving it on.

There was a thread on before asking for the most efficient way to boil an egg, most were saying it is negligible which is true, but a 5 hours roast is significant.

Alun

rubadub wrote: »

People will fuss over plugging out phone chargers, or leaving a energy saving light on for a few mins, yet think nothing of blasting an oven for hours using literally maybe 2000 times the energy of the phone charger per minute.

While an oven is maybe rated at 2000 times the power consumption of a phone charger, it's not constantly using energy though, and won't use 2000 times as much energy over an extended period. The maximum, 100%, energy usage is when it's warming up, and once it's done so, the thermostat kicks in and it only has to consume power to maintain the temperature. It's still using power, yes, but not as much as you might think based purely on the power rating, assuming you don't open the door, the oven is well insulated and the door seal is intact. A fan oven will be constantly using some power to turn the fan, but this will be a lot lower than that used for the heating element.

How much less though is difficult to quantify. For smaller appliances that plug in to a standard 13A socket, you can use a power meter to easily calculate how much it's costing you, but for an oven that's permanently wired in it's a bit more difficult. You can get devices that clamp around the cable and measure that way, but they're not readily available for consumer use as far as I know.

I've been trying to find some info on the internet regarding real-life energy usage for ovens, but could find nothing apart from a few useless 'energy calculators' that took no account of the thermostat effect.

oscarBravo

rubadub wrote: »

People will fuss over plugging out phone chargers...

On that tangent (it's a minor bugbear of mine) - if your phone charger isn't warm when it's not actively charging your phone, then it's not using any electricity worth talking about. Electricity doesn't magically disappear - if it's not charging a phone, and it's not converting electricity to heat, then it's not doing anything at all, and plugging it out won't save you any money.

Kato74

marie12 wrote: »

I'm not the most experienced at cooking and this is my only cook book. Have it a while now and want to start making use of it. Anyone recommend an easy dinner to start off with from the book? It looks quite daunting! Thanks.

Try watching You tube videos.
You can find anything, just pick your main ingredient (meat, fish etc.) & search that way.
They are nearly all step by step & you can pause when required ;-)

The Hill Billy

The OP has closed her account. Poor lass probably just wanted to throw together a nice quick pasta dish, but thoughts of the drain on the National Grid probably scared the bejaysus out of her.

If anyone can recommend one of Jamie's dishes that can be done in 15 minutes - I'm all ears.

tHB

rubadub

Alun wrote: »

While an oven is maybe rated at 2000 times the power consumption of a phone charger, it's not constantly using energy though

Yes a fair point, still on heatup its still full whack though, and some would fuss over a light being left on for minutes. I was actually saying the same thing trying to explain how slow cookers work and how rated power is not on all the time. People were worried since one slow cooker was higher power than another so they figured it is less efficient. One guy claimed to have used a energy meter.

A way to test your oven would be to figure out typical standby usage in your house and simply subtract it.

i.e. note the reading on your esb meter, if at 6-7pm it uses 1kWhr with no cooker on and all your other applicances plugged in then do it the next day with the cooker on and it might be 2kWhr. If you have nothing ununusual running your "standby appliances" should be the same. These would be your fridge, freezer, tvs on standby etc.

There are still factors, in winter a freezer in a cold garage will use less power per day. SO you cannot use the same standby figure all year.

Also in winter the heat given off by a cooker will offset a thermostatically controlled heating system, so its difficult to figure out true usage -but still stupid to just blindly ignore it altogether since its hard to figure out.

Faith

rubadub wrote: »

Yes a fair point, still on heatup its still full whack though, and some would fuss over a light being left on for minutes. I was actually saying the same thing trying to explain how slow cookers work and how rated power is not on all the time. People were worried since one slow cooker was higher power than another so they figured it is less efficient. One guy claimed to have used a energy meter.

I actually do a lot of energy testing in my job. A way to test your oven would be to figure out typical standby usage in your house and simply subtract it.

i.e. note the reading on your esb meter, if at 6-7pm it uses 1kWhr with no cooker on and all your other applicances plugged in then do it the next day with the cooker on and it might be 2kWhr. If you have nothing ununusual running your "standby appliances" should be the same. These would be your fridge, freezer, tvs on standby etc.

There are still factors, in winter a freezer in a cold garage will use less power per day. SO you cannot use the same standby figure all year.

Also in winter the heat given off by a cooker will offset a thermostatically controlled heating system, so its difficult to figure out true usage -but still stupid to just blindly ignore it altogether since its hard to figure out.

That's enough of that now. This is the cooking forum, not the electricity forum. Please don't drag threads off-topic.

Kato74

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The OP has closed her account. Poor lass probably just wanted to throw together a nice quick pasta dish, but thoughts of the drain on the National Grid probably scared the bejaysus out of her.

If anyone can recommend one of Jamie's dishes that can be done in 15 minutes - I'm all ears.

tHB

I do a Mexican dish that was on one of his programmes.
3 Chillies (whatever suits your taste buds, I like very hot)
2 cloves of garlic
2 Peppers (different colours to add colour to the dish)
1 Red onion
All above fine chopped & fried in Olive oil & in a wide & deep pan or Paella dish.

In with 3 tins of chopped tomatoes & let it come to boil on a medium heat.
Salt / Pepper & give it a stir

Chop another 2 tomatoes to add a bit of texture & in with them, then let sit for 5 minutes.

Then make little pockets & crack an egg into the pocket, it will start to poach.
(I usually stick in 3 or 4 eggs, depending on size of pan & how many you are cooking for).

When the egg is poached, scoop it out & into a Tortilla wrap with some of the sauce.

Wrap it up & NOM.

I do put a dollop of Sour cream on it also to soften the blow of heat (I would definitely buy a tub ;-) ).

Give it a go ;-)

awec

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The OP has closed her account. Poor lass probably just wanted to throw together a nice quick pasta dish, but thoughts of the drain on the National Grid probably scared the bejaysus out of her.

If anyone can recommend one of Jamie's dishes that can be done in 15 minutes - I'm all ears.

tHB

The burgers (in the book) are doable in 15 minutes no bother.

BaZmO*

This one is also well doable in 15mins (or thereabouts) and is a staple in our house. Beautiful dish!

duploelabs

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The OP has closed her account. Poor lass probably just wanted to throw together a nice quick pasta dish, but thoughts of the drain on the National Grid probably scared the bejaysus out of her.

If anyone can recommend one of Jamie's dishes that can be done in 15 minutes - I'm all ears.

tHB

I can give you a recipe for making Ice-cream in 3 minutes if that helps? But then it's my recipe not Jamie's, and no it doesn't require an ice-cream maker

The Hill Billy

Is there a big canister of Nitrogen involved? Go for it!

My request was more for people to get back on topic really.

I prefer to spend quite a while preparing my meals as that is generally my 'chill-out' time.

Roesy

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Is there a big canister of Nitrogen involved? Go for it!

My request was more for people to get back on topic really.

I prefer to spend quite a while preparing my meals as that is generally my 'chill-out' time.

I'm the same, I really enjoy taking my time and making something nice. I'm also quite an orderly cook but I can work fast and neatly if I have to though. We were given the 15 minute meals and the 30 minute meals cookbooks as presents and my husband bought the 20 minute meal app for some ideas when he was starting to get into cooking. Every so often one of us will try to do a complete one of his meals within the timeframe and more often than not it results in a frazzled cook and a tip of a kitchen. We've managed a couple within the given time(pasta puttanesca, garlic bread and chocolate ganache/sea bass and crispy pancetta, sweet potato mash, Asian greens, 1 minute berry ice cream, sparkling lemon ginger drink/Thai red prawn curry, jasmine rice, cucumber salad and mango platter instead of papaya) but a few would quite simply been inedible after the 15/30 minutes. I'm talking raw chicken. We've been close with a couple of other dishes. I'm not the biggest Jamie fan or the biggest fan of the 15/20/30 minute meal thing as I think it puts people under pressure and annoys them if the times are way off. However, I will say most of the recipes we've tried have been quite tasty.

duploelabs

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Is there a big canister of Nitrogen involved? Go for it!

My request was more for people to get back on topic really.

I prefer to spend quite a while preparing my meals as that is generally my 'chill-out' time.

Dry ice actually, surprisingly cheap and easy to obtain

duploelabs

One part base (be it a flavoured yoghurt or creme anglaise ) to two parts dry ice.
Blitz the dry ice in a magimix until it's a powder.
Put your base in a metal bowl and whilst whisking, add the powdered dry ice gradually until it's too stiff to whisk. You won't be able to see it due to the fog but you'll have to go by 'the feel'. Caution!! Do not taste it now, it's about -75 degrees celcius and I learnt the hard way with a freezer burn on my tongue (ala dumb and dumber).
Transfer it to a plastic container and in to the freezer to settle. Job done.
The science behind it is that the longer it takes to freeze, the bigger the ice crystals will form and give you a grainy texture to your ice-cream.

BaZmO*

duploelabs wrote: »

creme anglaise

or custard

duploelabs

BaZmO* wrote: »

or custard

yes but you can't use birds or any pre-made