This week’s cookbook was Jamie Oliver’s first cookbook – The Naked Chef. We’ve had this book for years, and we’ve cooked lots from it, but this time we gave the book to our son, and he picked the recipes, which meant we tried things that we’d never tried before. There were some great little recipes that we hadn’t tried before and some we had. “My Perfect Roast Chicken” we served with Braised cabbage with smoked bacon and peas and Mashed Potatoes. A great roast chicken recipe packed with herbs. For me, it was a touch over, so I’ll revert to the Thomas Keller (Bouchon) method, but I did like the herbs that Jaimie’s recipe has. Next up was Dry Grilled Chicken with Ginger, Greens and noodles in a herb broth, which is not dissimilar to a Gordon Ramsay recipe we do regularly (Chicken Ramen from Gordon’s Quick and Delicious book). The Jamie recipe was good, but the Gordon one is better! Tray Baked Salmon with olives, Green Beans, anchovies and Tomatoes is a cracker of a recipe. You cook everything on one oven tray simultaneously; it was a delicious and effortless weeknight dinner.
Then back to an old friend Fragrant Chicken Green Curry, we’ve cooked this one hundreds of times over the years, and it never disappoints. Another new one to absolutely do again is Pork Chops with Thyme, Lemon and Pesto. Super easy and very, very tasty. Friday night had us making Ravioli with prosciutto, mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes. We’ve made “Ravs” before, and to be honest, they were a bit of a disaster but not this time. Wow. They worked really, really well, and we loved them. The final recipe of the week was our son cooking Jamie’s simple chocolate tart. We may have a little pastry chef in our midst. He nailed it. This week it’s Jamie again with his book, Jamie’s Kitchen.