Mushroom Risotto with Garlic and Parsley

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

To satisfy my latest push into making risotto I turned to a recipe of Jamie Oliver’s as a basis.

I cooked the mushrooms, buttons cut into quarters, first in a hot pan with olive oil and a little butter. When they had started to acquire a brown tinge I added chopped garlic cloves and a sprinkling of salt. When they seemed to be finally cooked I added chopped parsley, a pinch of chipotle chilli powder and a little lemon juice.

 Now it was time to cook the risotto. The usually pattern was followed. Stock was put on to simmer. A chopped onion was fried until soft in a little oil and butter. The rice was then added and stirred around until it was fully covered with the butter/oil mix.  About a quarter of a cup of white wine was now added and, when it was absorbed by the rice, the first ladle of stock was added.

While the risotto was now cooking half of the mushrooms were cut up to smaller pieces. These were added to the rice.

As each ladle of stock was absorbed another was added and this continued until the rice at ready. It was tasted for seasoning. Grated Parmesan cheese was added and stirred in. And finally the remaining mushrooms went into the mix. When it was served a round of truffle butter was added.

This was a very satisfying dish. You can’t really go far wrong with a risotto/mushroom combination.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Marinated Chickpeas with Chilli, Lemon and Parsley

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

Chickpeas always go down well at home; those that are not consumed with the meal tend to be devoured as nibbles. So it’s always good to find variations on chickpea cooking. Jamie Oliver’s recipe deserved a try.

The chickpeas were soaked overnight and then, after rinsing, placed in a pot of water with a whole potato (peeled), a couple of peeled garlic cloves and a bunch of parsley stalks tied together (the leaves were saved for the final stage). These were all simmered until the chickpeas were cooked.

They were then drained, the potato, parsley and garlic discarded, and the chickpeas dressed with olive oil and lemon juice and had some chopped parsley and chilli. Seasoning was added.

This made a good accompaniment for some couscous patties and a green on the side. I'm not sure that my palate was able to distinguish the difference that the potato etc made to the final chickpeas but they were tasty nevertheless. The remainder of the chickpeas soon went in various ways.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Horseradish Mash

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

I needed something to go with a crumbed version of Lucy’s breakfast sausages. Naturally I went for a mash and turned to this variation from Jamie Oliver.

It was a simple dish. All that was necessary was to add some butter and horseradish sauce to the mashed potato. With a bit of tasting the right quantities that suited were soon found. A little cream was added and seasoning. Tasty. And it went really well with the sausages with a few green peas and tomato chutney.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Spicy Pumpkin, Basil and Ricotta Tortellini with Crispy Herbs

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

With a lot of spicy pumpkin left over from a previous baked dinner this was the obvious recipe to use it up.

The filling for the tortellini was made by chopping up half of the pumpkin into small pieces and the other half into coarser lumps. They were mixed together in a bowl with chopped basil and ricotta cheese and a handful of grated Parmesan cheese. Once seasoned it was ready to use to fill the tortellini.

I used Jamie Oliver’s pasta recipe to make the tortellini. It’s an egg-heavy pasta but it does make a nice flexible light pasta. Tortellini are fun to make although I don’t always come up with the best looking ones.

While the tortellini were cooking in salted water, some fresh herbs (sage, mint, parsley and marjoram) were fried in some butter and olive oil. This was served over the cooked pasta.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Spicy Roasted Pumpkin

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

When we have a baked dinner we usually overdo the amount of vegetables we cook because we enjoy them so much. One of the vegies cooked at the last bake was spicy roasted pumpkin.

The pumpkin is an easy one to prepare and wonderfully tasty. Herbs (coriander seeds, dried oregano, fennel seeds, dried red chillies, salt and pepper) were pounded in a mortar and pestle. Once they were well ground a garlic clove was added and pounded into the spice mix. This was then mixed with some olive oil and this was used to coat the pumpkin slices. They were then baked.

The result of this is exceptionally tasty spicy pumpkin slices. It is liked so much that extra was made to use later in a tortellini.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Baked Fruit

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

I don’t know what it is about fruit but, though I like it, I rarely get around to eating it. Even with fruit in the house, it seems to be overlooked. So I thought perhaps cooking some fruit may be the remedy. I found a simple recipe for baked fruit in one of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks.

It was the easiest recipe. Firstly the fruit was cut in half (I used nectarines and peaches) and placed on the grill until it had brown grill stripes across the open cuts. It then went in the oven under the grill for a few minutes more until the fruit was cooked through. I sprinkled some caster sugar over the fruit and a few drops of brandy and gave it a little longer under the grill. I was not watching closely enough and managed to slightly burn the caster sugar.

The fruit, despite the slight apparent burn, didn’t taste burnt and was quite delicious. I must bake some more.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Fettucine with Dried Porcini and Thyme, Tomato and Mascarpone Sauce

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

Having some of Jamie Oliver’s basic tomato sauce left over I thought this looked like a great opportunity to use it up. It was supposed to be a pappardelle dish but I was a bit tight on time so used some dried fettucine from the pantry.

The recipe called for some dried porcini to be soaked for 15 minutes in boiling water. While it was soaking I chopped some garlic and fried it in olive oil. The porcini was then added, chopped, together with thyme and fried for a little longer.

Some of the water that the porcini was soaked in was added. This was allowed to boil down until nearly evaporated. At this stage the tomato sauce was added. A little mascarpone was also added and seasoning to taste.

The sauce was truly flavoursome. It was amazing how much flavour the few porcini added to the basic sauce.

The fettucine was cooked in boiling water and tossed with the sauce. With parmesan sprinkled over the top this was a truly satisfying dish.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Root Salad

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

‘This is one of the nicest salads you can make.’ I always find you do have to take Jamie Oliver’s statements with a grain of salt. Over conscientious in his efforts to make people enjoy his food he seems to employ too much hyperbole. Nevertheless, taking this into account, his books do have much that is worth trying.

This salad was a perfectly enjoyable one, though not the 'nicest' of salads. It is a simple one—only three vegetables: carrots, fennel and celery. These are sliced very thinly. With a herb and red wine dressing this makes a quick, crunchy accompaniment to a meal.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Aubergine/Eggplant Soup

Creamy Aubergine, Cannellini Bean and Ricotta Soup

from The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver,  Michael Joseph, 1999.

Reading the name of this soup had me wondering. The thought of eggplant as a soup ingredient along with ricotta didn’t sound too appetising to me. However, Jamie Oliver comes with good recommendations world-wide as a chef. So I had to give it a go.

The Naked Chef is a book that has a much clearer layout than a subsequent Jamie’s Dinners which I found to be somewhat messy and a bit on the confusing side when you tried to cook from it. This previous book has recipes laid out clearly and the instructions are easy to follow.

I didn’t use dry cannellini beans but preferred the quicker use of a can. The eggplants had to be baked whole until they had gone soft and crinkly. When the flavourings of onions, garlic, basil and parsley were lightly fried the insides of the eggplant were added with the beans and stock. It was then cooked for a while and half of it was put through the blender.  The two lots were joined together and the ricotta mixed in.

It looked really pale and creamy but the taste was quite wonderful.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔