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
chocolate christmas pudding food ice cream jam marsala panettone

winter christmas pudding bombe

winter pudding bombe, dripping with chocolate
winter pudding bombe

I really enjoyed Jamie Oliver’s Family Christmas, a programme which dealt with making Christmas as easy and stress-free as possible. There was plenty to enjoy and loads of bits that I took from it, such as his roast potatoes. However I was drooling at the sight of his winter pudding bombe, and thought it looked absolutely fantastic. I had to make my own. It’s a spin on Summer pudding, with panettone as the bread base, filled with ice cream and preserved fruit, then topped with melted chocolate.

I didn’t fancy faffing with glacé fruits and went straight to a shortcut: leftover Christmas pudding. I used Sainsbury’s Basics Christmas pudding, which sounds absolutely rotten but I’ve used them before and been completely happy with them. I wasn’t disappointed. I also managed to find a chocolate chip panettone which was a really nice touch; chunky bits of choc punctuating the beautifully bland ice-cream. But to my surprise it’s the jam that makes this. Such a vibrant flavour sings out loud when you’re chewing through it, it’s quite exciting. If you have any of these bits laying around, I really recommend you make one – takes no time at all and can be left quite happy in the freezer until required.

Winter Christmas pudding bombe:

5 – 6 slices panettone (I used a chocolate chip one)

500ml good vanilla ice cream

300 – 500g Christmas pudding (I used 4 x Sainsbury’s Basics ones)

3 – 4 tablespoons fruity jam (I used raspberry)

Some good splashes of marsala wine

125g melted dark chocolate

  1. Leave your ice cream out of the freezer for 30 mins beforehand to let it soften.
  2. Lay some clingfilm in a bowl with plenty of overhang so you’ll be able to cover it over the top afterwards. Layer the panettone in a mixing bowl, overlapping slightly but don’t let it get too thick. (Make sure your bowl can fit in your fridge!)
  3. Spread a thin layer of jam all around the bread.
  4. Spoon in half the ice cream, then top with broken up Christmas pudding. Add the remaining ice cream.
  5. Top with more panettone, then drizzle marsala all over the base and down the sides for a little Christmas cheer.
  6. Wrap the cling film over the top, then cling film again. Take a plate and press down on it to squish it all together. Leave in the freezer until needed.
  7. When serving, remove to the fridge for an hour to let the ice cream soften. melt some chocolate in a bain marie and pour over the top.

Jamie’s own recipe can be found here.

Categories
food potatoes

jamie oliver roast potatoes

Regular readers may know that I pride myself on bloody good roast potatoes, somewhat boastful but I’ve put the hours in. But I’m never complacent, always on the lookout for tips and pointers to gild the already-golden lily. Nigella gave me the idea to use polenta, Heston put forth the idea of using potato peelings in the boiling liquor, now Jamie comes forward with more ideas. Here’s Jamie Oliver Roast Potatoes.

I’ve distilled all these ideas into my perfect roast potato recipe. Check it out here!

His recent mini-series, Jamie’s Family Christmas has dealt with all manner of festive food, and it didn’t take long for him to try working up the humble roasties. He offered a formula: half way through roasting add a combo of garlic, vinegar and herb to the mix. At this point also give the half-roast pots a slight squidge with a potato masher – not mashing them you understand, but squeezing them to open them up. More exposed surface area equals more places for the potato to soak up fat. He also trialled using three different fats: olive oil, butter and goose fat. Predictably, they increased in flavour and crispiness as they decrease in healthiness. But it’s the addition of an acid that intrigues me. I went all into the method, eschewing all my usual steps I followed the Jamie technique. I used some pork fat, orange peel, red wine vinegar and rosemary.

This is the first time in a long time I haven’t used polenta; I’d almost forgotten what roasties were like without. There was certainly plenty of crunch to go around, and the pleasing licks of other flavours drifted in. The rosemary was predictably perfumed and slightly crisp, garlic was welcome, and the occasional spud that cosied up to orange peel had an interesting twist. The red wine vinegar had permeated little but I’d like to try a splash more next time. There’s lots to enjoy here.

So have I reached the perfect roast potato yet? Yes! Read it here. Have you tried Jamie Oliver Roast Potatoes? How did you get on?

Jamie Oliver’s perfect roast potatoes:

500g maris piper, peeled and chunked

4 tablespoons fat

Peel of 1 orange

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 rosemary sprig, leaves picked

6 cloves garlic, unpeeled

  • Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  • Boil the potatoes for around 10 minutes, until they are very well done. After 5 minutes put the fat in the pan and whack in the oven.
  • Drain the potatoes and shake about to chuff up the edges. Add to the pan.
  • Roast for 30 minutes, then using a potato masher, lightly press each spud to encourage them to split.
  • Meanwhile toss the garlic, rosemary and orange together in the vinegar with a splash of olive oil.
  • Add this to the pan and put back in the oven. Continue to roast for another 20 – 30 minutes, until done to your desired crispiness.
  • Season liberally with sea salt and a dash of white pepper. Eat like gods.

Jamie’s recipe in his own words can be seen here at his website.

Like this? Check out MyKingCook’s guide to mashed potatoes!

Categories
cauliflower chicken curry food rice

chicken tikka masala

Every couple of months I get the urge to make another curry, and I’ve made plenty in the last year. It was a Saturday dish, so I had to time to put a little effort in. After a little research I settled on Jamie Oliver’s chicken tikka masala from Jamie’s Dinners. I still had some garam masala left over from a Heston-inspired blend some months ago so that was going to be my main spice base. Also with recent experiments in brining being met with a great deal of success I had to stick some brining in as the first stage. You could skip this bit if you wanted to, but I love the moistness and depth of flavour this imparts.

I wanted a vegetable side-dish and love the way cauliflower absorbs curry flavours. The key for me is to almost overcook it – a soft, squishy floret bursting with spice is the way to go here.

Plain rice is always sniffed at in my house so I have to be creative with it. I remembered a delicious rice dish by the cuddly Nigel Slater, from my most favourite of his books Appetite. I’ve eaten it before just on it’s own, but gently pared down it makes a tasty – yet interesting – bowl of rice.

The curry itself was time-consuming (aren’t they all?) but thankfully very, very tasty. In fact about the most ‘authentic’ (yes, of course I mean authentic to that you find in a takeaway) tikka masala recipe I’ve eaten. Creamy, nutty and boasting spice from within. The cauliflower was a tasty foil for the curry, with aromatic rice to back it up. (On a side note, both Jamie’s and Nigel’s recipe called for at least 1 chilli in each – we’re not so crazy about super-hot things in our house, so I’ve omitted them to let the spices speak for themselves. By all means chuck some in if they’re your thing).

A dead tasty nottakeaway.

Chicken tikka masala (serves 3):

For the brine:

1 litre water

2 tablespoons sea salt

5 tablespoons honey

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 cardamom pods, cracked

3 cloves

2 chicken breasts, diced

For the tikka marinade:

6 cloves garlic, grated

3 inches fresh ginger, grated

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 tablespoons garam masala

200g natural yoghurt

For the masala sauce:

2 onions, sliced

2 tablespoons garam masala

2 tablespoons tomato puree

2 tablespoons ground almonds

120ml double cream

Handful parsley, chopped

  1. Mix the brine ingredients together and soak the chicken in the water for at least 2 hours, anywhere up to 8 hours.
  2. Drain and rinse the chicken well. Discard the liquid.
  3. Heat the mustard seeds in a splash of oil until they start to pop (about 2 minutes). Remove the seeds from the pan and stir into the other ingredients. Coat the chicken with the yoghurt mix and leave to marinate for half an hour.
  4. In the same pan the mustard seeds were warmed in, add some butter and fry the onions gently with the garam masala. Leave to sweat and soften for 15 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, grill the chicken pieces on both sides until cooked through.
  6. Back at the onions, ad the tomato puree, almonds, 1 litre water and a good sprinkle of salt. Allow to bubble and reduce until thick.
  7. Add the cream and check the seasoning. Add the chicken into the sauce and stir well to coat the meat and let the flavours mingle.
  8. Stir in the parsley and serve.

Gobi masala:

1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets to cook evenly

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon garam masala

200ml vegetable stock

  1. Heat the butter in a small saucepan until foaming. Add the spice and cook for a minute.
  2. Add the florets and toss well to coat in the spice butter. Cook for another minute.
  3. Add the stock and boil fairly fast until the cauliflower is knife-tender.
  4. Turn off the heat and put a lid on it for about ten minutes. The cauliflower will soak up some of the excess fluid.

Aromatic rice:

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and bashed

1 cinnamon stick

3 cloves

4 cardamom pods

1 cupful rice per person

  1. Fry the onion gently until softened, then add the garlic.
  2. Add the spices and stir, allowing them to warm.
  3. Add the rice and a generous sprinkle of salt, stir will to coat the rice in the spiced oil. Top up the pan with three times the amount of water to rice. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
  4. Cover the pan and allow to simmer for ten minutes – do not lift the lid.
  5. Turn off the heat and leave for a further ten minutes, leaving the lid on.
  6. Stir through with a fork and grind over plenty of black pepper. If you have any left over from the curry, throw in some parsley too.
Categories
burger food

jamie’s american burgers

A slightly special blog this one – grubblog is one year old today, kicked off originally my lasagne alla cacciatore. I’ve compiled 154 posts so far, waffling about recipes, food, equipment and restaurants. Thanks to everyone who stops by, I really appreciate all your comments. Unusually for any given post, this was prepared by Mrs. RoastPotato – and jolly nice it was too.

Regular visitors to this blog may remember the turkey chilli burgers, my perfect burger, or the best burgers in the world from Le Parker Meridien. But, faced with yet another burger I can’t resist a go. Shock horror – another recipe from Jamie’s America. Away from my usual ideas about burger recipes (that they should be as simple as possible), this has quite a few things going on. There’s beef mince of course, mixed with red onions, beaten egg, parmesan and curiously cream crackers blitzed to a powder. What happened was as the meat caramelized, the cracker crumb toasted and gave a nutty finish to the burger. A surprising addition and very tasty.

Another great idea was a spicy mayo, somewhat like a certain special sauce: mayo, ketchup, paprika and lemon juice. Savoury and sweet, and a perfect accompaniment to juicy, meaty burgers.

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