“Jamie’s 30 minute meals” – our verdict

Kirstin: It’s been an interesting month.

Anna: I hate this book.  In fact it was worse than Faffolenghi in some ways.  Let me tell you why.

Kirstin: Tell me why Anna.

Tom: Tell us Anna, we want to know!

“Swedish-style Fishcakes, Roasted Baby New Potatoes, Sprout Salad, Fresh Zingy Salsa” from “30 Minute Meals”

Time taken: 34 minutes 30 seconds

Miles: Mummy, can I give you a kiss?

Kirstin: Yes. Of course you can. What a lovely kiss! Thank you.

Miles: That’s because it was a slow-motion kiss.

Kirstin: You are sweet, lovely boy. Now Miles, how many of us liked the food?

Miles: Three! And Oscar. I call him Osky-Tosky.

“Thai red prawn curry and papaya platter meal” from “30 Minute Meals”

Time taken: 30:38

Anna: We did it!  The penultimate recipe of the month and we finally did it!  I haven’t of course mentioned the 15 minutes it took up front to get everything prepared.

Peter: Yes. I think this recipe benefited from the food processer.  And given it was a stirfry it was always going to create a lot of mess. So the Jamie approach in this case wasn’t as disruptive as other recipes.

Anna: You say that, but I can make a Thai curry in 20 minutes, with a lot less mess.  So in fact this took longer than usual, even if we did hit 30 minutes….

Peter: Aha! But would you also have prepared a cucumber salad and a papaya platter within the same time frame?

Anna: Well no. But did you think those two additional dishes made the meal?

Peter: They weren’t bad. But they also weren’t essential.

Anna: Another brilliant extraneous Jamie dish.  Cut a couple of items of fruit in half lengthwise and put them on a plate with some mint leaves and some yoghurt with lime zest.  Honestly.  I had to get you to chop it up and turn it into a fruit salad in order to eat it.

Peter: Did you notice how he gets you to take every component of the meal to the table in a separate bowl? Is this a ruse to raise sales of the Jamie Oliver (TM) crockery range?  You’d need a table like an airfield to fit everything on it.

Anna: Did you enjoy it though?

Peter: I thought it tasted very authentic. It was nice to have a curry made with fresh curry paste.  Very tasty.

Anna: And the salad? And the platter?

Peter: The salad was a bit wasted really.  And you de-plattered your platter. I know what a papaya tastes like. I don’t need Jamie to present it to me in a different way. I prefer my bananas in other directions than lengthways.

Anna: What about the prawn crackers, which I lovingly poured from the packet into a bowl?

Peter: Presentation was first class. I wouldn’t have noticed if they weren’t there.

Anna: So it was broadly a success, but not worth the mess. I’d be lying if I said I’d make it again.

“Cheat’s Pizza, Three Delish Salads, Squashed Cherries, and Vanilla and Mascarpone Cream” from “30 Minute Meals”

Time taken: 30 minutes 31 seconds

Kirstin: What did you think of this pizza then, kiddies?

Miles: (stomping foot) GOOD!

Tom: Did you really like it, Miles?

Miles: Yes. But now I want to do a level of “Lego Indiana Jones” with Daddy so we can get that last treasure chest.

Ella: I liked the pizza, but it was too puffy, which took away some of the taste. I prefer the normal kind. I thought the tomato was too thick in places, but that’s because I don’t like tomato.

“Pregnant Jools’s Pasta, Crunchy Chicory & Watercress Salad, Little Frangipane Tarts” from “30 Minute Meals”

Time taken: 38 minutes

Anna: And that was with three people cooking!

Tom: All I was doing was reading the recipe out. And that was after you’d laid everything out first. But I did spend half an hour going to Sainsbury’s looking for pastry cases.

Anna: And Peter went to M&S. And nobody could find any. Where did Jamie get them?

Tom: Surely they have to have them at Sainsbury’s, if he does their advertising?

“Tomato Soup, Chunky Croutons, Crunchy Veg & Guacamole, Sticky Prune Sponge Puddings” from “Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals”

Time Taken: 40′ 11″

If you’d like to see if you can beat my time, a copy of the recipe is on the Daily Mail site. Click here.

Maureen: Tonight’s menu is chosen by Andrew! What do you think?

Andrew: It’s good.

Maureen: What do you like about it?

Andrew: The fact that it’s basic.

Maureen: It’s not that basic. It took 40 minutes.

Tim: Look at that. The cucumbers, which required no cooking at all, were the first to go.

“Spinach & Feta Filo Pie, Cucumber Salad, Tomato Salad” from “Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals”

Time Taken: 44′ 21″

You can find this recipe on the Channel 4 website (click here).

Also, Jamie Oliver has a video on how to assemble the pie under “How To’s” on his website here.

Andrew (11): What’s for dessert?

Maureen: There is no dessert tonight. I am rebelling against the dessert dictatorship of Jamie Oliver.

Nicholas (7): Oh no!

Maureen: You’ll survive. We don’t usually have dessert on weeknights anyway. What do you think?

Andrew: I like it.

Nicholas: Me too!

Andrew: I liked the pie best,  because I helped you make it.

“Broccoli Orecchiette, Courgette & Bocconcini Salad, Prosciutto & Melon Salad” from “Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals”

Time taken: 49′ 03″

You can find the recipe for this meal on the Channel 4 website (click here).

Tim: Another Not-In-30-Minutes Meal.

Maureen: Nope.

Tim: That’s not a huge surprise, is it? We haven’t hit the 30 minute mark yet.

Maureen: Anything you’ve never made before is going to slow you down. This book should have a disclosure that says these are 30 minute meals, once you’ve done them three or four times.

Tim: It’s true. The fastest recipes are the ones that you know by heart. You don’t get slowed down by having to read the method.

“Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, crunchy salad, garlic bread and silky chocolate ganache” from Jamie’s 30 minute meals

Time to table just over 34 minutes.

And there’s no conversation for this post, as it’s just me preparing, cooking, eating, tidying up and blogging away tonight.

But first, Jamie, if you’re reading this, my one small request about the next edition of this book would be for you to list the equipment needed for each recipe, especially if every minute needs to be accounted for. A small gripe, I know, but it’s difficult to keep with the flow when having to get more kit out all the time while trying to work to a deadline.

“Sea Bass & Crispy Pancetta, Sweet Potato Mash, Asian Greens, 1-Minute Berry Ice Cream, Sparkling Lemon Ginger Drink” from “Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals”

Time Taken: 49′ 11″

Mitigating Circumstances: At 9’41″, while chopping the garlic (my crusher isn’t as good as Jamie’s), a piece of garlic and/or chilli flew up into my eye and lodged into my contact lens. Despite my devotion to getting to 30 minutes uninterrupted, I had to turn the timer off and go scream due to the excruciating pain wash my eye out with cold water. However, my devotion to trying to beat the 30-minute marker is now apparent. I returned to the kitchen, and worked through the pain, but I believe the accident slowed me down for the remainder of the meal.

This link takes you to a copy of this recipe.

Tim: I think it’s all pretty good. As you know, I’m not a huge fan of sweet potatoes, but sweet potatoes are all the rage these days.

Maureen: Would you eat the sweet potatoes again?

Tim: If I had to. But I like the vegetables quite a lot. It’s a nice Asian combination.