Hieveryone! Myname isNatalie, and I’m interested incooking. Ilove making all sorts ofmeals athome, andI also enjoy watching famous chefs, like Jamie Oliver, create their masterpieces. But I’d never tried torecreate his dishes, thinkingI wasn’t good enough.
So, Idecided todoanexperiment, and for one week, cook one meal aday, using the recipes from Jamie Oliver. Every meal had just 5ingredients, aside from the always-needed ones, like oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Messy meatball buns
Ingredients: burger buns, fresh ground beef, mozzarella, pesto sauce, and canned plum tomatoes
How tomake:
1. Tale 400 grams ofground beef, add salt, pepper, and 4tsp ofpesto. Mix together.
2. Form the meatballs and fry them onmedium heat with olive oil for around 5minutes, turning them from side toside.
3. Add acan ofplum potatoes and the juice from amozzarella pack. Boil.
4. Cut mozzarella incircles, and put acircle oneach meatball. Cover the frying pan with alid and stew ituntil the cheese melts.
5. Cut the buns and toast them alittle.
6. Rub the bottom part ofthe bun with 1tsp ofpesto, put 3–4 meatballs onit, and cover itwith the top bun.
7. Serve with tomato sauce.
Jamie spent 21minutes cooking the burgers, Ineeded around 40. But itwas only because hedoes certain things inthe blink ofaneye. For example, heeasily turns the meat byflicking the pan. Ineeded aspatula for each ofthe meatballs.
Iliked the idea ofnot adding all the ordinary ingredients tothe meat: eggs, onions, and breadcrumbs. The meat was still juicy and inone piece. And Ihad never used mozzarella brine before.
Myfamily enjoyed lots ofsauce, you can dip the buns inbefore eating. Ithink you can use regular tomato paste instead ofcanned plum tomatoes. But don’t even think ofnot using pesto: this sauce makes the taste truly original.
Chicken inpeanuts
Ingredients: chicken fillet, peanut butter, chili pepper, lime, garlic
How tomake:
1. Zest 2limes.
2. Take 2pieces ofchicken fillet and cut slits onone ofthe sides.
3. Rub olive oil over the chicken breast, add salt and pepper, and half ofthe lime zest.
4. Put the fillet with the cut side onahot pan. Fry atmedium-high heat.
5. Mix 2tsp ofpeanut butter and the juice of1.5limes. You can add alittle water: the sauce should beabit liquid.
6. Add 4ground cloves ofgarlic and 2-3 chili pods.
7. Pour the sauce onto the chicken and put itinto the oven for 6minutes.
8. Before serving, sprinkle the dish with olive oil and add the remaining lime zest.
When Jamie removed the chicken from the oven, ithad abeautiful crust. Inmycase, the paste was still soft after 12minutes, soI kept the dish inthe oven for 10more minutes. So, the cooking time went from 12minutes to22. Ofcourse, myentire apartment smells like fried peanuts.
Asfor the serving, itwas acomplete failure, asyou can see inthe photo. But don’t just judge itbythe look. I’ve never tried chicken asgood asthis. Peanut paste, lime peel, and chili created astorm offlavors! But Iwas the only one inmyfamily that ate itbecause nobody else likes such spicy food. IfIdecide tocook itagain, Iwill add less chili.
Warm carrot grain salad
Ingredients: baby carrots, 1pomegranate, fresh mint, feta cheese, mixed cooked grains
How tomake:
1. Fry 350 grams ofcarrots inolive oil for 15minutes. Ifthe carrots are small, you don’t need tocut them.
2. Cut the pomegranate into 2halves, squeeze the juice ofone ofthem into the salad dish. Add salt, abit ofolive oil, and red vinegar— this isyour dressing!
3. Take the top, leafy half ofthe mint, and chop itinto abowl.
4. Fry the boiled grains (250grams) toremove the moisture.
5. Put the mint, carrots, and grains into the dressing and stir.
6. Use the seeds from the second half ofthe pomegranate and add them tothe salad.
7. Crumble orgrate 40grams offeta cheese and add them tothe salad.
Ittook Jamie 18minutes, because heused pre-cooked mixed grains. Ineeded 40minutes intotal.
Ihad very high expectations for this salad because the ingredients were very unusual, andI thought mytaste buds would beshocked. But Iwas disappointed: it’s edible, but not very tasty. I’d argue with Jamie about serving the salad asaseparate meal. Myfamily likes itasaside dish. The mint was their least favorite part.
Pork and mash gratin
Ingredients: pork fillet, potatoes, cheddar cheese, prosciutto, fresh sage
How tomake:
1. Cut 800 grams ofpotatoes into big pieces, pour boiling water into the pot, and boil them until they get soft.
2. Put amix ofsalt and pepper on400 grams ofpork fillet, and fry itinolive oil onhigh heat for 3minutes, turning from side toside.
3. After removing the pork, put the sage into the pan and the oil for aminute.
4. Grate around 40grams ofcheese.
5. Mash the potatoes, add salt, abit ofolive oil, and 20grams ofcheddar. You can add alittle water.
6. Put the mash and the pork into abaking dish with the meat inthe middle. Sprinkle the mash with the cheese you have left and put itinto the oven for 10minutes.
7. Put the prosciutto pieces around the meat, add sage, and put itall back into the oven for another 2minutes.
Iwas expecting guests that evening, soI decided totry this dish. Iused abit more pork and replaced sage with rosemary. Jamie says tonot peel the potatoes, sothat’s what Idid, butI used young potatoes. And itwas great! Myguests ate all the pork and mash, they loved the cheesy flavor and also wondered how longI marinated the meat because itwas very soft. And Ididn’t marinate itatall!
Jamie cooked itfor 30minutes, including 10minutes for baking. Hedidn’t specify the temperature, soI set the oven at370°F. Iknew that myoven wouldn’t bake the meat injust 10minutes, soI waited alittle longer. Iincreased the baking time by10more minutes, andI also needed more time tocut the vegetables and boil the potatoes. Intotal, Ispent 45minutes onthe meal.
Crunchy prosciutto slices make the meal feel more Italian, but you can dowithout itand still have agood dinner.
Crispy squid and smashed avocado
Ingredients: fresh squid, avocado, whole meal flour, limes, chili sauce
How tomake:
1. Pour acentimeter ofolive oil into apan.
2. Cut 250 grams ofsquid into slices tomake rings.
3. Put the squid into the flour sothat itcovers the inner and outer edges ofthe ring.
4. Deep fry the squid for 3–4 minutes and add salt.
5. Mash 1avocado with aspoon, add the zest of1lime, and squeeze the juice. Add salt and pepper.
6. Put the mash onadish, add the squid rings, sprinkle with chili sauce, and decorate with alime piece.
7. Eat with your hands, dipping into the mash.
Jamie cooked for 20minutes, andI needed around 27becauseI needed tofry the squid inturns asI didn’t have abig enough pan. Ialso didn’t use whole meal flour and used regular instead, somyrings didn’t turn out asgolden.
I’m not sure about the idea ofadding the juice ofanentire lime— itwas very sour, and some people might not like this flavor. But together with the chili sauce, it’s quite good. Iliked the recipe ingeneral: the squid was very tender and crispy, and the avocado added tothe seafood taste.
Sticky chicken wings
Ingredients: chicken wings, teriyaki sauce, sesame seeds, chili, green onions
How tomake:
1. Fry 2tbsp ofsesame seeds until they turn golden.
2. Put the chicken wings inthe same pan, fry onmedium heat for 1minute oneach side.
3. Add 1–2 chilis and 4tbsp ofteriyaki. Add boiling water tocover the wings.
4. Stew for 30–40minutes, turning the chicken occasionally.
5. When the water evaporates and the sauce starts tothicken, add 1tbsp ofvinegar. This will prevent the sauce from sticking tothe pan.
6. Add the chopped onions and fried sesame seeds tothe wings.
Jamie took 46minutes tocook this meal. Ineeded just around 2minutes more becauseI actually doneed aspoon toknow how much sauce I’m adding.
The meal turned out exactly aspromised: tender meat and delicious crust. Myfamily loved the wings, andI will make them again. Ithink you can replace the teriyaki sauce from the supermarket with home-made, based onginger, honey, and vinegar.
Chocolate rye cookies
Ingredients: rye bread, dark chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar
Ingredients:
1. Break 100 grams ofchocolate into pieces and meltit.
2. Grind 100 grams ofbread without the crust.
3. Add 2eggs and 50grams ofsugar tothe bread and stir.
4. Add 100 grams ofbutter tothe chocolate and stir until it’s fully melted.
5. Combine the chocolate and the bread mixture, put them into apiping bag, and pipe the cookies onto parchment rubbed with olive oil.
6. Bake inanoven at390°F for around 10minutes.
7. Sprinkle each cookie with coarse salt.
Jamie cooked for 28minutes, Icooked for 40. Hewas doing 2trays ofcookies atthe same time, Ionly had one. This isprobably the simplest recipe interms ofthe accessibility ofingredients because you can buy them atany grocery store. And the cooking itself iseasy enough.
While the cookies were inthe oven, the kitchen smelled ofchocolate. And Jamie also promised that using actual bread instead offlour would make the middle very soft. And itwas! The crust was crispy, and the middle was very tender. The salt only accentuated the flavor.
Iwill make more ofthese because this isagreat way touse your stale bread and create adessert.
Myconclusions
1. The recipes are perfectly real. All ofthe 7dishesI made were eaten tothe last crumb. Yes, Ididn’t like the warm carrot salad asmuch asthe other dishes, but itwas still good enough.
2. Jamie promised the cooking would beeasy, and it’s true. Ineach ofthe cases, the process was very simple, even though I’m not aprofessional cook.
3. Asfor the speed, itwasn’t asfast asIthought. Not everyone can docertain things like Jamie does. Besides, ordinary people don’t have all the equipment todoseveral tasks atthe same time.
4. Almost all ofthe recipes have some ingredients you might not find inyour local supermarket. Inorder tocook exactly what Jamie does, you might need towalk around food markets, ororder certain things online. For example, prosciutto.
5. Jamie taught metolook atleftovers differently: feta brine and old bread can actually beused. And potato peel doesn’t make the meal worse. Quite the opposite.
Have you ever cooked anything using the recipes offamous chefs? Ifyes, what was your experience like?
Preview photo credit
