Jamie Oliver's Great Britain

Jamie Oliver's Great Britain

130 of my Favorite British Recipes from Comfort Food to New Classics

author: Jamie Oliver
publisher: Hyperion
source: TLC Book Tours
photos: yes
hard cover: 408 pages

chapters/sections:  Breakfasts - Soups - Salads - Pub Grub - New British Classics - Afternoon Tea - Seaside - Pies and Puddings - Sunday Lunch - Wild Food - Vegetables - Puddings - Condiments

fun features:  As with all of Jamie's books - PERSONALITY.  Gorgeous photos on plates and dishes that I sorely want.  Vivid photos (people and places, not just food) throughout, as well as plenty of Jamie-speak. And come on, if you love Jamie, you love Jamie-speak. Catching titles.  Fun, intriguing introductions to both chapters and individual recipes.

(a few of the many) recipes destined for my kitchen:  My Scotch Broth ... with Pulled Lamb on Grilled Toasts - Shredded Rainbow Salad - Glasgow Potato Scones - Delicious Smoked Haddock with Poached Egg and Spinach on Toast - Light & Spicy Kedgeree - My Shrimp Cocktail - Scottish Shortbread - Legendary Clootie Dumpling - Leigh-On-Sea Sole - Highland Mussels (juicy.leeky.whisky.creamy.smoky) - Hearty Oxtail Stew w/ Spinach Dumplings & Creamed Horseradish - Guinness Lamb Shanks (sticky dark gravy. fresh mint dressing) - Speedy Butter Beans - Bonnie Cranachan - Speedy Preserved Chile Slices

my thoughts/review:  Well, to be fair, I've been a HUGE Jamie Oliver fan for years.  I've cooked tons of his stuff and enjoyed the vast majority of it.  So, I was probably a bit biased going in.  But that said - I love this book.  It is typical Jamie.  Chock-full of delicious recipes with tempting photographs.  Funny side bars and colorful pages.  Sturdy cover and hefty paper.  The recipes I've made so far were spot on.  I love it.  And I can't wait to cook more from it!

recipe(s) I have already tried:

Irish Champ - All the comfort of mashed potatoes with the addition of milk that's been infused with leeks and onions and then stirred together with watercress and parsley. Deeelicious.

 Humble Ham and Pea Soup w/ Fluffy Little Dumplings - Comforting and perfect for enjoying in the chilly air that's been hanging around lately.

Baby Yorkshire Puds w/ Creamy Smoked Trout & Horseradish Paté (this one's getting a post all of its own, so watch for recipe to come) - Seriously?  I may have found a new addiction with this one.  Creamy and smoky and deliciously addictive.  That's what this "paté" is all about.  And come one, who can resist little baby Yorkshire Puddings?  Not I.  I ate a whole bunch for breakfast.  And I loved it.

further info: website | youtube | facebook | twitter

*I received a free copy of this book to review from the publisher.  All thoughts and opinions stated in this post are 100% mine.

Cheerio, Mate! ...wrapping up 6 months with Jamie Oliver.

Six months!  I swear, time flies.  We've spent the last six months cooking the recipes of the Naked Chef over at IHCC, and while I've always adored Jamie Oliver, I think it's probably fair to say that I adore him just a little bit more now.  From his crazy antics and down-to-earth attitude to his tasty food and awesome sense of style (I looooove the dishes and plates and even the kitchens he uses)...he's got it goin' on.  Needless to say, just because this six months is over, I won't stop cooking with Jamie.  I own most of his cookbooks (just missing two, I think)...and I don't see them losing their place on my bookshelves any time soon.  So, in honor of our final week with Jamie, I decided to share ten (no, I couldn't narrow it down any further than that) of my favorite Jamie or Jamie-inspired posts from the past six months.  

But first, I'll start out with a couple of recipes that never made it to post, but are still worth mentioning...

Just yesterday I made this Roasted Garam Masala Cauliflower w/ Almonds, which I adapted from this Jamie recipe.  He used cumin and coriander, but I subbed in 4 tsp. of garam masala, because I was in the mood.  Everything else pretty much stayed the same...I used 2 chiles de arbol.  

Another dish, simple but worth mentioning (because I love trout), was this Baked Trout w/ Lemon & Thyme.  I think it came from Happy Days w/ the Naked Chef, but I'm too "in the zone" to go look now, so if you really want to know, just leave me a comment and I'll go look.

Okay, now we go on to my ten favorite Jamie or Jamie-inspired posts of the past six months, starting with the Amazing Date Shake.  Who'd have guessed that something so simple would be so flippin' delicious!?  Sweet, thick, cold, and creamy.  Have can you resist?  I know I can't.

Next up is the fish dish that could charm anyone...even those leary of seafood, Bacon-Wrapped Cod w/ Rosemary and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes.  I mean.  Look at it.  Gorgeous!  This is probably one of my favorite meals of the whole past six months.

As a girl who loves breakfast anytime of the day or night, this Midnight Skillet Breakfast is pretty much my idea of perfection.  Whether soaking up the alcohol from a long night of fun, or fueling the day you have in front of you, it's a winner.

This was the dish that kicked off my six months...the dish that inspired me to "get naked and eat breakfast"... Oatmeal w/ Bananas, Poppyseeds, Cinnamon, & Toasted Almonds.  Who says oatmeal has to be boring?

As a self-proclaimed breadie, I fell head over heels for Jamie's basic bread recipe that can be transformed into so many different types of amazing loaves...like these irresistible Onion Baguettes, for example.

I fell in love with pineapple all over again when I had it dusted with some surprisingly fabulous, flavorful crystals in Jamie's Pukka Pineapple w/ Mint Sugar.  It's sunshine on a plate.  No, it's sunshine in your mouth!  Oh, and I found out that pukka is an actual word.

Dark, sticky, fantastic for making a grilled cheese sandwich, this Raisin Rosemary Bread was a surprise front-runner that tickles all of your senses and keeps you wanting more long after you've finished your first slice.

Seductive, tantalizing, and possibly the best jam in the whole universe.  That is exactly what I was left with after I transformed Jamie's quick jam into one that took a couple hours longer (but mostly unattended), Roasted Strawberry Vanilla Bean Jam.

I was inspired to make Sesame Seed Toffee Snaps by the fact that I love any sort of brittle, especially ones packed-silly with sesame seeds.  Keep me far away from it, though.  I will eat the whole batch if left alone with it.

And lest you think I'm all about hearty meals and bread and sweets {ahem}, let me assure you that I also love a good salad.  One that is more than just lettuce and dressing on a plate.  Take for example this Warm Bread, Pancetta, & Poached Egg Salad w/ Parmesan.  That's the stuff, baby.  That's the stuff.

I am really going to miss having so much Jamie in my life, but at the same time, I am totally stoked to cook with our new chef, Tessa Kiros for the next six months!  I hope you join us over at I Heart Cooking Clubs to cook more often with a chef you already love, or to get a fabulous introduction to somebody completely new to you!  Tessa Kiros is introduced tomorrow...

Raisin Rosemary Bread

This bread is what I would call a little bit unexpected.  It uses bread flour...regular old white bread flour...and yet it is dense and chewy, deeply flavorful and brown!  And while it's true that the heady, piney rosemary threaded throughout the bread is a major contributor to the "deeply flavorful" factor (not to mention the intoxicating smell it emits), it's actually the humble raisin that plays the star in this loaf.  Bruised and battered into submission, the pulpy raisin spreads its stickiness...its essence...to every last inch of this bread.

Unexpected.  In a glorious way.

Raisin Rosemary Bread
As I've been doing a lot lately, I turned this recipe around a bit so that I could let my bread machine do all of the heavy work in the beginning.  You can just as easily change the order of things to mix it by hand (since that was how the original recipe was written).  If you do it by hand, you may will want to run your knife through the raisins a few times to "open them up", so that they still give the bread that gorgeous color, perfume, and flavor throughout.
adapted from Jamie's Kitchen
yield: 1 loaf

2 c. tepid water + more as needed
1 Tbs. honey
just over 1 lb. (3-4 c.) bread flour + more as needed
1 Tbs. salt
scant 2 Tbs. instant yeast
~⅓ c. fresh rosemary leaves
~9 oz. (~1½ c.) raisins

Add the ingredients in the order listed from water through yeast to the pan of your bread machine and select dough cycle.  Adjust water and/or flour as needed until your dough is neither sticky nor dry...it should be just "tacky".  Add raisins and rosemary to pan just once everything is mixed correctly and just as it starts to knead the ingredients together.  Let cycle run (and rise).

Turn dough out onto a floured counter and knead for a few minutes by hand.  Form into either a free-form round or long loaf and place on a baking sheet that has been dusted with flour.  Alternately, oil a loaf pan really well, form dough into a cylinder and place in pan.  Cover lightly with a greased film of plastic or a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size, ~45 minutes - 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350° F during last 15 or 20 minutes of rise time.

Score the length of the bread with a sharp knife, stick a sprig of rosemary in (if you wish) and slide into preheated oven.  Depending on how  you formed  your loaf, bake for anywhere from 25-50 minutes, until golden and crisp.  It seems to take longer to bake if it is in a loaf pan.  If I had to recommend a shape, I'd go with a free form or banneton-formed loaf (it has a tendency of sticking to the pan if baked in one).

This loaf is extremely fragrant and somewhat dense.  It reminds me of brown bread.  Very moist and satisfying.  Jamie recommends serving with a Ploughman's lunch or with a Cheddar cheese sandwich and tangy pickles.  I decided to make a grilled cheese using Extra Sharp cheddar.  I ate it with tangy pickles and washed it down with some dark ale.  It was heaven!  The salty, gooey cheese was the perfect compliment to the sweet, yet herbaceous, hearty bread.

I am also sharing this post with:
*Ott, A's Iron Chef Challenge: Red Star Yeast
*Yeastspotting!

Roasted Strawberry Vanilla Bean Jam

Can I get a show of hands from everybody who likes fruit leathers?  Both of my arms are raised high.  Hands waving, jazz fingers shimmy-ing.  I don't know what it is, but I have always been nuts for the flavor of slow cooked fruit.  That deep, rich, complex flavor that slow roasting coaxes from fruit is like a silent bomb invading your mouth.  I remember a time when I had to hunt down a "natural" food store or a "health food" store to find some of these sheets of tacky fruit.  I have made them at home before, but I get lazy.  And I have to be in the right mood to do it.  I haven't been in the right mood for a number of years.  Fortunately I can find individually wrapped ones in awesome flavors that I never had when I was young (like MANGO!) and good old standby's like strawberry.

Fast forward to the past couple of months.  I've seen some different recipes floating around with the words "roasted strawberries" in them.  I haven't been able to stop the daydreaming.  Roasted strawberries are haunting my thoughts.  Interrupting my menu plans.  Roasted Strawberry Ice Cream.  Roasted Strawberry Muffins.  Roasted Strawberry Cake.  Roasted.  Strawberries.  I give up!  So, when I saw Kim's Fresh Strawberry and Vanilla Jam last week, I knew right then and there that I would be making a version of it...but I would be roasting my strawberries!  So imagine a jam with the concentration of flavor that a fruit leather has and then imagine it flecked with sexy little specks of vanilla.  It's rich and dynamic.  Consider me seduced.

Roasted Strawberry Vanilla Bean Jam  

inspired by/liberally adapted from Jamie Oliver
makes ~1¼ c.

2 lbs. strawberries, hulled & halved
1 vanilla bean
½ c. sugar
freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place your strawberries in a bowl, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean onto the strawberries, then throw the pod in the bowl, as well.  Add the sugar and stir everything around.  Let sit for ~10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 250° F.

Pour the strawberry mixture out onto a sheet tray that has been lined with foil or parchment in a single layer.  Squeeze about a quarter of a juicy lemon over the top of everything.  Slide into the oven and bake, stirring a couple of times, until the berries are very soft and look a bit withered ~2 hours.

Remove from oven, scrape everything (especially all of the caramelized juices) into a bowl and let cool a bit.  Remove the vanilla bean pod.  Mash everything up with a potato masher for a chunkier jam, or whiz it in the food processor if you like it smoother.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a few weeks, if needed.  I LOVE this jam when it's warm, so I heat it up a bit before spreading it on something.

And uuuuhhhhh...is anybody else's cat this nuts?  He was sleeping.  Even when the hubs and I couldn't stop laughing...uncontrollably...while taking his picture, the tongue stayed out.  Oh yeah, he even woke up and I gave him a good-natured shake/petting, the tongue remained out.  Just looking at the picture now, a giggle or ten escape.

We're making Condiments! at IHCC this week...

I am also sharing this post with:
Katherine Martinelli Friday Blog Hop: Strawberries

Sweet Corn and Shrimp Chowder

I'm not complaining, but I seem to have cobs of corn coming out the wazoo.  I actually look forward to my wazoo overflowing about this time every year.  I've been a corn on the cob fiend ever since I was able to pick it up with my own two hands.  I can still remember how distraught I was when I was able to eat it because my teeth were either too loose or missing altogether.  My youngest is experiencing that right now.  I do think it's kind of fun to break out the knife and shear sheets of corn from the cob, though.  But it's so much more fun to go typewriter on a few good cobs.  While the whole family prefers it over an open fire or on the grill, there are times when we cook it inside, as well.  Preferably under the broiler (just something about that smoky, charred taste), but occasionally steamed or simmered.  The other day, with a dozen and a half ears waiting to be eaten, my neighbor handed a huge brown bag over the fence...and it was filled to the rim with more corn.  She said she couldn't look at another cob for awhile.  I will happily be on the receiving end of that!  So, we've been not only eating it from the cob, but slicing it off to make creamed corn and casseroles and soup!  

While I had high hopes for this bowl of chowder, it wound up being just okay.  We liked it.  We ate it.  But it probably won't be something we make again.  But if I do, I'll use at least double the shrimp and the corn.  It wasn't the pretty yellow I imagined it would be either.  Oh well.  It wasn't our favorite meal of all time, but it was pretty good...totally edible.

Sweet Corn and Shrimp Chowder
adapted liberally from Jamie's Food Revolution
serves 4-6

1 medium onion, diced
1½ lb. potatoes, peeled & diced
1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded, & diced
1 tsp. dried thyme (or 1 Tbs. fresh thyme)
1 quart + 1 pint chicken broth
~7 oz bacon, diced
2 c. fresh sweet corn (from ~3 cobs)
½ lb. shrimp, raw
1¼ c. heavy cream
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
oyster crackers
cilantro or parsley, chopped

Peel, clean and tail your shrimp and cut the corn from the cobs.  Place the shrimp shells and tails, and the cobs (milked with the back of a knife) into a pot with the chicken broth.  Bring it to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer ~15 minutes.  Strain out the solids and return to heat to keep warm.

Heat a large Dutch oven (or other heavy soup pot) over medium heat and add your bacon.  Cook until done, and lift out with a slotted spoon to drain on a paper towel-lined plate.  Set aside.  Pour off all but about a tablespoon of the bacon grease, then return pot to the heat.  Add onion, potatoes, jalapeño, and thyme to pot and cook, stirring, until onion is softened, 3-5 minutes.  Add corn and about a quart of the hot broth.  Bring to a boil, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  Add shrimp and cook another five minutes.  Stir in the cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.  If you wish, pulse with an immersion blender a few times.

To serve, ladle into serving bowls and sprinkle each with the reserved bacon, some oyster crackers, and some fresh parsley, cilantro, or other green herb of your choice.

It's Soup, Salad, and Sammie week at IHCC!

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