February 17, 2008

Cook with Jamie: My guide to making you a better cook

By Jamie Oliver

Michael Joseph/Penguin Books

Available with Liberty Books, Karachi

ISBN 0-718-14771-5

447pp. Rs1,346

Reviewed by T. U. Dawood

Jamie Oliver is back with another one of his must-have books, this one is titled Cook with Jamie: My guide to making you a better cook. Whether you have watched his numerous television cooking shows or used any of his six previous cookbooks, you will know that his unique style of ‘bare bones’ — simple yet tasty — cooking has not only given Oliver the nickname ‘The Naked Chef’ but has won the hearts of cooking fans world over.

I had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with the chef célèbre during a launch party for his book when I was in Toronto. As witty and personable in person as he always is on screen, Oliver enjoyed mingling with the crowd and sharing anecdotes from the early days of his career as well as the concept behind this new book, all the proceeds from which will go toward his Fifteen Foundation.

Oliver created the restaurant called Fifteen as part of his 2002 TV show Jamie’s Kitchen for which he recruited 15 hard out of luck young people and trained them to become professional chefs. Today there are Fifteen restaurants in London, Amsterdam, Cornwall and most recently Melbourne. The restaurants function as a charitable foundation with all profits going to train fresh recruits. Many of its graduates are today sous-chefs and chefs de cuisine in top restaurants in London and by extension other parts of the world.

As Oliver explains, ‘The kids we take on have had bit of a hard time and could do with a break. Many of them are homeless, have been raised in difficult circumstances, have spent time in prison or gone off the rails and got into drink and drugs. We believe that we can inspire them to break such habits and believe in themselves to become incredibly passionate chefs.’

When asked whether he would consider opening a Fifteen restaurant in any other major city in the world such as Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad, Oliver was very open to the idea.

‘I would love to open more Fifteen restaurants around the world, he said. ‘However, the support and financing has to come from the local community itself. If your local community is interested, please contact us and we’ll work together to set it up.’

Oliver has given his word that ‘every single penny’ from the sales of Cook with Jamie will go to support this important cause. His passion toward this cause and for cooking resonates on each and every page of the book and in the inventiveness, whimsical and flavourful combinations that make up its recipes.

Cook with Jamie is Oliver’s seventh book and his best to date. It is also the most ambitious. With a whopping 400 pages, the book covers everything from basic salads all the way through to desserts and is written so simply, that all dishes actually look really easy to make and thus very tempting to try, even for novice cooks. The most ambitious section — making your own pasta — is simplified instruction-wise and presented in a manner that is downright empowering. By using creative flavourings (mushrooms and sage, potato and rocket, chicken and gorgonzola with thyme) and unexpected pairings of ingredients (ravioli of pecorino, potato and mint), Oliver demonstrates that the sky is truly the limit when you are making your own pasta and that pasta-making can be a great way to impress guests.

The presentation and chronology of Cook with Jamie is extremely well done. As Oliver writes in the introduction, ‘In this book I’m going to treat you just as I would one of my students… and get you thinking about shopping and cooking in ways that you might not have considered before.’ He has succeeded in this mission.

First off, the book begins with a list of the few essentials one needs in a kitchen. Oliver’s ‘top gear’ as he calls it, doubles up in many ways and fits a reasonable budget, not taking up too much space. With attractive pictures and clear descriptions of the best ways to get the most out of these tools, this section is presented as both logical and sensible.

Each section that follows has its own list of useful ‘Top Tips’, which is a simple guide on how to buy better ingredients and some scintillating pictures accompanying recipes that hint at haute cuisine but are ‘naked’ enough to be easy to make and practical enough to serve in your own home.

All 175 recipes contain common ingredients that are usually easy to find in most grocery stores. Oliver emphasises freshness of ingredients and getting the right balance between ingredients, something that depends on one’s taste buds rather than on a recipe.

Most recipes are updated versions of classics with Oliver breaking down haute cuisine into simple dishes by paring away the bells and whistles, yet keeping the overall flavour and theme.

The recipes are divided into the following categories: salads; pasta, gnocchi and risotto; meat; fish; vegetables and desserts. Oliver ends the book with ‘Some bits and bobs’ where he shares tips on sharpening knives, food storage, food safety, herbs and spices.

Weak sections of the book include the warm salads and, surprisingly, vegetables (potatoes, carrots, peas, etc.). The all day breakfast salad and warm grilled peach and frisee salad with goat’s cheese dressing are cumbersome and really not worth the effort. Similarly, rosemary-roasted cubed potatoes, potato rosti, cheesy peas, and so forth are sadly not the best vegetable recipes around, although they are quite easy to make. Exceptions to this disappointing section include roasted cauliflower with cumin, coriander and almonds (must-make), courgette fritters (positively gourmet) and simple sautéed courgettes with chilli and lemon (a perfect snack for the kids).

The best sections include his tips on salad dressings, the pasta and risotto sections, as well as how to pick and prepare various seafood. Almost all the recipes in these sections are simple yet inspiring and will definitely encourage you to try them immediately. Whether it is super squid linguine, raviolini of celeriac and thyme or asparagus, mint and lemon risotta, these delicious recipes are likely to become part of your regular home or party dinner. The South Indian crab curry, sticky fingers lobster and my favourite crunchy squid with lime and chilli mayonnaise are mouth-watering.

Other favourite recipes include proper tomato salad (which is quick and easy to make and will dress up any home dinner or party instantly), crunchy raw beetroot salad with feta and pear (the combination of flavours is alchemic), melt-in-your-mouth shin stew (yes, you can make soft and tender meat dishes) and crispy fragrant jumbo prawns (must-make).

The desserts are chosen well with highlights including 1980s-style black forest Swiss roll, Fifteen chocolate brownies and a rather pleasing carrot cake with lime mascarpone icing, as well as a sumptuous range of meringues.

This is another great effort from a very talented and inspiring chef; so pare down your ingredients and try cooking ‘naked’.