Tag: jamie oliver

Jamie Oliver was born in 1975 in Clavering in Essex, jumping straight into the kitchen of his parents’ pub. He swept through the River Cafe, was quickly spotted by TV crews and became an immediate celebrity with Naked Chef. He’s then used his celebrity status to increase the ranges of supermarkets, give disadvantaged youths a career in cooking, fights tooth and nail to improve school dinners and is passionate about everyone having at least one recipe up their sleeve. (Fun fact: I once fixed Jamie Oliver’s website over the phone.)

Categories
cherries chicken mascarpone mushroom pie

30 minute chicken pie, smashed carrots and mascarpone cherries

30 minute chicken pie with smashed carrots

At the risk of sounding like a raging sycophant, I haven’t yet come across a Jamie 30 Minute Meal that isn’t a) extremely doable in the time, and b) darn tasty to boot. But they just are!

This chicken pie is no exception. A rich and tasty pie that ticks all the “chicken pie please” boxes. There’s supposed to be peas & lettuce simmered in stock with this too, but the carrots were enough for me.

Dessert was a rapid and shameless quick switcheroo from a different 30 minute meal, but just what I fancied. Thick, creamy and sweet too.

30 minute chicken pie, smashed carrots and mascarpone cherries (serves 2):

For the pie:

2 skinless chicken breasts, sliced into 1 cm pieces

1 red onion, peeled

7 – 8 chestnut mushrooms

1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon English mustard

1 tablespoon creme fraiche

200ml chicken stock

A few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked

½ nutmeg

1 sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry

1 egg

For the smash:

4 – 5 carrots

Handful of parsley, roughly chopped

For the mascarpone cherries:

½ tin cherries

150g tub mascarpone

A little milk

1 heaped teaspoon icing sugar

Some shortbread biscuits

  1. Get the oven on 200°C, the kettle full and boiling, a big frying pan on a low heat, a large lidded saucepan on a low heat and chuck the thick slicer disc in the food processor.
  2. Add a little oil and butter to the frying pan, add the chicken and fry for a couple of minutes. Throw the mushrooms and onion into the food processor, slice and add to the pan. Stir in the flour, work it around the pan then add the mustard, creme fraiche, stock, thyme and nutmeg. Leave to simmer.
  3. Slice the carrots in the food processor and add to the saucepan. Cover with water from the kettle and bring up the heat – simmer for 15 minutes until tender.
  4. Check the chicken mix for seasoning, then tip into a baking dish. Cover with a sheet of puff pastry and slice liberally with a knife, then brush over the beaten egg. Pop in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden and puffed up.
  5. For the dessert, crumble some biscuits in the bottom of a serving bowl. Mix the mascarpone with some milk to slacken to a creamy paste, then stir in the sugar. Plop this on top of the biscuit and dot with cherries, tipping on a little of the tin juice with it. Put to one side until dinner’s done.
  6. Back at the carrots, if they’re tender drain, season, add a splash of oil and seasoning, then stir through the parsley. Get the pie out of the oven and start eating!
Categories
breadcrumbs cauliflower cheese macaroni pancetta pasta

cauliflower macaroni cheese

Not quite a 30 minute meal. It’s simpler than that. It’s yanked from Jamie’s 30 minute cauliflower macaroni, chicory salad with insane dressing, and lovely stewed fruit. But I only fancied the cauliflower macaroni bit.

I loused up the recipe a bit – I somehow ended up blitzing the cheese with the lovely breadcrumbs, which meant the topping was cheesy but the sauce too bland. Stupid spud. I still feel like the whole thing could use a little more seasoning though.

Cauliflower macaroni:

8 rasher of pancetta

1 head of cauliflower, quartered

300g macaroni

Large sprig of rosemary, leaves picked

200g cheddar

2 thick slices of bread

2 cloves of garlic

150g creme fraiche

  1. Get the oven on 220°C. Lay the pancetta in a baking tray ready to take the finished dish and pop in the oven while you carry on.
  2. Put the cauliflower and the macaroni in a large pot and fill with boiling salted water, and keep on the simmer.
  3. Get the food processor out with the chopping blade. Get the pancetta out of the oven and whizz this up with the bread, rosemary and a dash of olive oil.
  4. Drain off the cauliflower & pasta and reserve some of the water. Tip the veg/mac into the roasting tray you used for the pancetta and put on a low heat. Pour in a little water, crush in the garlic and mix in the creme fraiche and cheddar. Mix everything right up, adding more water and seasoning as necessary to get a smooth, silky sauce. Spread out evenly, top with the breadcrumbs and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until bubbling.
Categories
beef butter beans carrots celery potatoes salad

30 minute beef hash with baked potatoes, green goddess salad and butter beans

I got in from work the other day and Mrs. RP beseeched me with a desperate look in her eyes: “make this. MAKE THIS NOW!” So here’s 30 minute beef hash.

She was gesturing at the TV; Jamie Oliver had just made ‘super-fast beef hash, jacket potatoes, goddess salad, lovely butter beans & bacon’ on 30 Minute Meals. I admit it looked the business. 1 PVR and a flick through the book later, and I was ready. Not quite so manic as previous 30 minute recipes, this one also isn’t too harsh on the washing up. How long did it take? 31 minutes. I’ll take that – I had to stop briefly and try and calm my daughter down, distraught at the distinct lack of Mr. Tumble on the TV. I’m certain I could get it under 25 minutes next time having been through the motions once.

It’s real comfort food; nice big carbs and large flavours. The Worcestershire sauce is particularly satisfying, packing lots of gutsy savouriness. I also felt really nourished eating it – I think it was the amount of carrots and celery in the mince mix.

Jamie’s original recipe can be seen on his site here. I made a couple of minor substitutions based on what I had to hand.

Print

Jamie's 30 minute beef hash

Course Main Course
Cuisine British
Keyword quick
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 4 baking potatoes
  • 500 g beef mince
  • 4 rashers of smoky bacon chopped
  • 2 sprigs of thyme
  • rosemary a few sprigs
  • 6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 red onion
  • 3 sticks celery
  • 2 carrots
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tin butter beans drained
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 1 handful lamb's lettuce
  • ¼ iceberg lettuce shredded
  • 1 avocado
  • 300 ml sour cream
  • 1 lemon
  • parsley chopped

Instructions

  • Get the grill on screaming hot and stick a baking tray under it to get nuclear. Stab the potatoes all over, pop in a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Microwave for 14 minutes.
  • Get a pan on to quite a high heat, chuck in the mince along with a dash of olive oil and seasoning. Fry and stir, browning all over. Meanwhile get some bacon frying gently in another pan.
  • When the mince has browned, coat with the Worcestershire sauce and add the garlic, thyme and half the rosemary. Whack the onion, celery and carrot into a food processor and get them sliced up, then add those to the beef too.
  • When the bacon is golden add the beans and tomatoes to that pan and simmer away.
  • The potatoes are probably done now; prod with a knife to check they're soft in the middle. If they are, slather with olive oil, the rest of the rosemary and some salt and pepper. Toss to coat then pop under the grill to crisp up.
  • Turn to the salad now: whizz up half the avocado with half the sour cream, lemon juice and a little seasoning to make a lurid green dressing. Chop up the other half of the avocado and mix with the lettuces.
  • The beef should be done by now, all crispy and craggy. Add most of the parsley and check for seasoning. Check the beans for seasoning - dash of vinegar perhaps? Rescue the potatoes, cut them open and dollop over the rest of the sour cream and parsley. Toss the salad with the dressing and serve the lot to hungry, lucky people.
Categories
coconut coley curry fish

coley korma

I’ve been watching the recent fish campaign fronted by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay with great interest. Hugh’s documentaries were particularly memorable: following a fishing boat and watching aghast as tons of dead cod is tossed back into the ocean. Why? Because they have already exceeded their cod quota. Senseless, wasteful and frustrating. I watched most of it with tears in my eyes. I recommend you have a look at the Fish Fight website to find out more – why not sign up while you’re there?

The campaign has got the nation out and voting with their wallets. M&S reported their biggest week of fish sales in all their years of trading. Let’s hope the campaign continues to be a success and the ridiculous quota system is overhauled.

You may have noticed this blog contains little in the way of fish recipes. Sadly whilst I am a massive fan of fish, no others in the Roast Potato household are. Therefore fish is a real treat for me reserved for nights in alone. Tonight was one of those nights.

One of Jamie’s recipes in the series caught my eye: coley korma. Coley is a sweet and delicious fish, very reminiscent of cod but dirt cheap. Give it a whirl.

Jamie’s original recipe is here.

Coley korma:

4 coley steaks

1/3 jar of Patak’s korma paste

200ml coconut milk

1 mugful of rice

A couple of cloves

A couple of cardamom pods, cracked

Handful of coriander leaves, shredded

Half a cinnamon stick

  1. Get the rice on – chuck the rice in a saucepan with the spices, a splash of oil and some salt. Add twice the amount of boiling water to rice (so, two mugfuls) and simmer over a medium heat for ten minutes. After this time turn off the heat and pop the lid on for a further ten minutes to steam.
  2. Spread half the paste over the back of one of the steaks. Place in a hot pan and sizzle on one side for a couple of minutes. Flip over, add the rest of the paste and the coconut milk. Allow to simmer for a further 7 – 10 minutes until the fish flakes apart. Scatter over coriander and serve with the rice.
Exit mobile version