Jamie's Dinners

( 8 )

Want to read this on your NOOK? Request as NOOK Book from the publisher

Thank you for requesting this book as a NOOK book from the publisher.

More About This Book

Overview
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Meet the Author

Advertising

Overview

It's dinnertime! Cooking sensation Jamie Oliver returns with a cookbook designed to delight the entire family -- filled with his favorite recipes for accessible, delicious, and stylish family meals.

Bestselling cookbook author Jamie Oliver takes his signature fresh, fun cooking style into new territory by putting his focus on the family. Designed to encourage us to eat healthier meals at home and enjoy our time spent in the kitchen, Jamie's Dinners features over 100 new and simple recipes for easy-to-afford, easy-to-prepare gourmet dinners that will get even the busiest of families back into the kitchen. Jamie's pared-down style and inventive use of fresh, uncomplicated ingredients will ensure that even novice chefs can cook up delicious dinners with confidence and ease using accessible, stylish recipes that the whole family will love, such as "Farfalle with Carbonara and Spring Peas" and "Japanese-Style Saturday Night Steak."

Jamie's Dinners will also be packed with special features, including Jamie's Top Ten favorite family meals, and a special "Family Tree" feature that will show how mastering one core dish can expand your cooking repertoire.

Jamie Oliver is the bestselling author of The Naked Chef and three other successful cookbooks including The Naked Chef Takes Off, Happy Days with the Naked Chef and Jamie's Kitchen, which have combined sales of over 750,000 copies. A Food Network regular in series including The Naked Chef, Oliver's Twist, and Jamie's Kitchen, Jamie has also written for the Saturday Times and was food editor at GQ and Marie Claire magazines. He lives in London with his wife, Jools, and their daughters, Poppy and Daisy.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

Food Network Jamie Oliver thinks that his "back to basics" cooking style is perfect for family meals. Meals should be simple, healthy, easy-to-afford, easy-to-prepare combos that don't necessitate one person slaving over a hot kitchen stove. Jamie's Dinners reflects his philosophy of fresh, uncomplicated ingredients and pared-down instructions. With the verve that made him a bestselling cookbook author, Oliver offers kitchen tips and recipes that even a novice can master.

BookPage

"Jamie's Dinners is not about 'the posh stuff,' it is about making tasty, nutritious meals that are affordable, easy and time-efficient."

More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews

New York Times

. . . recipes to make Sunday nights at home with the kids the culinary equivalent of date night without them.

The Patriot Ledger

The Naked Chef has grown up, and the result is delicious.

Publishers Weekly

The Naked Chef grows up: Oliver, the ebullient British lad who enchanted the Friends generation of Food Network viewers, turns his focus from throwing impromptu dinner parties to cooking family meals and school lunches. As always, the emphasis is on tasty food that anyone can prepare-and the book's best sections are devoted to simple fare such as sandwiches and pasta, where Oliver brings new life to staples like grilled cheese, with his Double-Decker Cheddar Cheese Sandwich with Pickled Onions and Potato Chips. The chef romps through shopping, kitchen tools, basic ingredients and core dishes, tying together his 120 recipes with the family-friendly theme of value for money. Readers already weary of Oliver's chipper British persona-the enthusiastic descriptions of everything from poached chicken to herb-infused salad as "genius" or "brilliant," the exhortations to eat more "veg," another "best" sausage and mash recipe-will not be won over by this fifth addition to the Oliver shelf. The extravagant package, which includes mouth-watering food shots, hand-drawn graphics and bright color text spreads, seems to include more photos of the chef and his family-photogenic wife Jools and children Poppy and Daisy-than of the dishes. But those who continue to be seduced by Oliver's infectious love of food and his cheerful narcissism will eagerly queue up at the cash register with a copy in hand. (Nov.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780141043005
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Publication date: 1/28/2010

Meet the Author

Jamie Oliver

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver earned his nickname "The Naked Chef" from his philosophy that the best approach to cooking is to strip it down to the bare essentials, using simple ingredients and techniques. His back-to-basics approach -- combined with his winning kitchen charisma on television -- have made Oliver one hot culinary commodity.

Biography

Jamie Oliver was part of a culinary evolution -- one including Emeril Lagasse and Nigella Lawson -- away from the intimidation factor of predecessors such as Julia Child or even Martha Stewart and toward simply prepared but sophisticated food. His show The Naked Chef, and now Jamie Oliver’s London (seen Stateside on the Food Network), presented the English chef’s approach to “pukka” life, with an emphasis on ingredients and ease over technique and equipment. Like a kitchen dervish, Oliver seemingly slapped together gourmet meals for on-camera occasions ranging from a christening to a football-watching session -- all of it narrated in a dialect so British that the Food Channel site features a glossary of his oft-used terms (“pukka” being excellent, or first-rate).

Oliver’s informal tone makes cooking seem an act of will rather than skill, and his books present a vibe similar to his show. He prescribes techniques and ingredients almost offhandedly, mentioning his own preferences in such a way that leaves you free to discover alternatives but likelier to follow the master. In a cereal recipe from The Naked Chef Takes Off, Oliver writes, “At this point feel free to improvise, adding any other preferred dried nuts like raisins, sultanas or figs -- but personally I think my combination works pretty well. This will keep for a good couple of months very happily in your airtight container, but you'll have eaten it by then, I guarantee.”

Often, dishes in Oliver’s books consist of a few list-free paragraphs that seem more like concepts than recipes at first; but if you read, you’ll see that everything you need to know is right there. Measurements for Oliver often consist of “some,” “a handful,” “a squeeze.” Instructions often include directives such as “bash up,” “whizz up,” “scrunch,” and “smear.” With text like this, it’s easy to see how Oliver has gotten scores of novices -- particularly men -- into the kitchen.

It wasn’t surprising that Oliver became a media darling so quickly. His ebullience, photogenic looks, and youth made him the sort who could appeal to everyone from grandmas to regular blokes. His culinary skills, however, could not be questioned. Having started at age eight by helping in the kitchen of his parents’ pub/restaurant in Essex, he later attended Westminster Catering College and gained experience at kitchens in France and at London’s Neal Street Restaurant and the River Café. His presence in a documentary about the café led to several T.V. offers after it was shown, and The Naked Chef was born.

Cooks around the world couldn’t get enough of Jamie Oliver -- but by 2001, many in Britain had had their fill. Wrote one Guardian columnist, “Jamie Oliver is -- like the Lord himself -- all around us. He is available and on sale in every format, real and virtual. …It is getting hard to spend a day without seeing his face or hearing his voice.” Sensitive to the criticism, Oliver reportedly told the Observer, "I'm quite boring, I've been with the same girl for nine years, I work hard, everything I do is positive, so I couldn't see any reason why the press would aggro me. But then it did." The nay-saying seems to have died down a bit, as it’s become clear that the appetite for all things Oliver has not yet been sated.

Those who are looking for a certain amount of culinary consistency in a cookbook author might do well to look elsewhere. Oliver has often mentioned that he is continually sampling cultures and evolving his cooking style, still being in his 20s and all. His next book, Jamie’s Kitchen, he writes on his Web site, “is completely different to Naked Chef stuff.” This is good news, though, for cooks who aren’t afraid to experiment a bit. Oliver helps ease the bumps in the ride.

Good To Know

Oliver is opening a nonprofit restaurant in London that will also employ underprivileged kids in the kitchen, an endeavor he hopes to capture in a new T.V. show.

He has played the drums in a band called Scarlet Division since he was 13, and released a CD in the U.K. called Cookin’, which was a compilation of his favorite tunes to cook by.

Married to ex-model Juliette “Jools” Norton since 2000, Oliver had daughter Poppy Honey in March 2002 and has a second child on the way.

Oliver’s association with the grocery chain Sainsbury’s caused some headaches for the chef. The spots, which also featured Oliver cooking on his BBC-produced show, did not agree with the network’s code of ethics. One in particular, which featured Oliver speaking Cantonese and practicing Kung Fu, drew protests from some viewers who considered it racist. His deal with the BBC eventually soured over conflict with his Sainsbury’s commitment, and Oliver set up his own company, Fresh Productions, to handle his projects.

1. Hometown:
  
  London, England
1. Date of Birth:
  
  May 27, 1975
2. Place of Birth:
  
  Essex, England

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5

( 8 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(5)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(2)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble

Jamie's Dinners

Overview

More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

BookPage

New York Times

The Patriot Ledger

Publishers Weekly

Product Details

Meet the Author

Jamie Oliver

Biography

Good To Know

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

5 Star

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Your Rating:

Your Recommendations:

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

What to exclude from your review:

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

Reminder:

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!