I Made Chef Jamie Oliver’s Recipes For A Week And My Life Will Never Be The Same

Hey! My name is Natalia and I love to cook. I love preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner at home, and I also love watching cooking shows. One of my favorites is by chef Jamie Oliver. I never tried to reproduce his dishes, thinking I wasn’t good enough in the kitchen.

Especially for the awesome.club, I decided to do an experiment, and for a week I cooked one dish a day with recipes from Jamie Oliver’s show, Jamie’s Quick Easy Food, in which he uses only five ingredients in total, not counting auxiliary products like oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Check out!

Ingredients: hamburger bun, fresh ground beef, mozzarella cheese, pesto sauce and peeled tomatoes.

Preparation mode:

Take 400g of minced meat, add salt, pepper and 4 teaspoons of pesto sauce Shape the meat into meatballs and fry them in olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes, turning occasionallyAdd a can of peeled tomatoes (400g ) with the canned food and mozzarella cheese. Let it boil Cut the mozzarella into circles and place on top of each meatball. Cover the skillet with a lid and cook until the cheese has melted Cut the bread and brown it a little in the pan Grease the bread with 1 teaspoon of pesto, place 3-4 meatballs and close Serve with the rest of the tomato sauce

Jamie made the recipe in 21 minutes, but it took me about 40. That’s because, like a chef, he can do a lot of things at once. For example, he can deftly flip all the meatballs, whereas I had to flip each one individually with a spatula.

I liked the recipe because you don’t need to add a lot of ingredients. The meatballs did not fall apart during frying and did not lose their juiciness. I never imagined using preserves with cheese.

The tomato sauce is especially yummy for dipping bread before another bite. I think you can use any type of tomato sauce, from homemade to industrialized. But I don’t recommend removing the pesto: it gives the burger a very unique taste.

Ingredients: chicken fillet, peanut butter, chili pepper, lemon and garlic.

Preparation mode:

Make lemon zest Take two fillets and cut them slightly on the side Season the chicken with olive oil, salt, pepper and half the lemon zest Place the fillet cut side up in a hot skillet. Roast over medium-high heat. Mix two teaspoons of peanut butter with the juice of one and a half lemons. You can add a little water: the sauce should be slightly thin. Add four grated garlic cloves and 2-3 chopped chili peppers to the sauce. Stir Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake for 6 minutes Drizzle with olive oil before serving and sprinkle with the remaining lemon zest

When Jamie took his out of the oven, it had a VERY golden crust. In my case, after the 6 minutes, the chicken was still mushy, so I kept it for another 10 minutes. As a result, the cooking time increased from 12 minutes, as the chef had said, to 22. Needless to say, there was a strong aroma of roasted peanuts throughout the apartment, right?

As for the presentation, it was a total failure, as you can see in the photo. But appearances are deceiving. I had never eaten something like this before. Peanut paste, lemon zest and pepper create a show of flavors. But I had to eat this dish alone because no one in my family likes very spicy food. If I make it again, I’ll use less pepper.

Ingredients: carrot, pomegranate, fresh mint, feta cheese and pre-cooked cereal mix (barley, rice, quinoa).

Preparation mode:

Sauté 350g of carrots in olive oil for 15 minutes, stirring constantly. If the carrots are small, it is not necessary to cut themCut the pomegranate into two halves, squeeze the juice from one of them and place in a salad dish. Add salt, a little olive oil and wine vinegar — the sauce is ready! Take a handful of mint, pluck off the stalk and chop very finelySlightly fry the cereals to remove moisturePlace the mint, carrots and cereals in the sauce and mixTake the other half of the pomegranate and squeeze the fruit over the saladPull the feta cheese by hand and put it in the salad too

Jamie made the salad in 18 minutes. However, the chef used a ready-made mixture of the pre-cooked cereals, and I had to do this process myself, so it took about 40 minutes.

I was looking forward to this salad, as the combination of foods is not at all trivial. But I was disappointed: it’s edible, but I wouldn’t say it’s very tasty. I would argue with Jamie about this salad actually being a main dish. To the people at my house, it’s just a side dish—and the mint ruined that.

Ingredients: pork loin, potatoes, cheddar cheese, prosciutto and fresh sage.

Preparation mode:

Chop 800g of potatoes and place in the oven to cookSeason 400g of pork loin with salt and pepper and roast in olive oil over high heat for about 3 minutesAdd the sage to the liquid that the pork has released for one minuteGrate about 40g of cheddar cheeseMake it a puree with the potato, season with salt, add a little olive oil and 20g of cheddar cheese. You can add a little water to “air” Place the mashed potatoes and the loin in the middle on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top and bake for 10 minutesPlace the prosciutto slices around the meat, add the sage and bake for a few more minutes

On this day, I was expecting guests for dinner, so I decided to bet on this dish. I got some more pork loin, I also swapped the sage for fresh rosemary because I didn’t have the first one in the supermarket. Jamie advises not to peel the potatoes. And the result was amazing! The dish was a success, they complimented the gratin cheese and asked how long I left the meat marinating, because it was so soft. But I didn’t marinate anything!

Jamie made the dish in half an hour, including the 10 minutes for baking. He didn’t say the temperature, so I set it to 190°. I knew that in 10 minutes the meat would still be raw, plus I added more sirloin. I increased the recipe time by another 10 minutes, and it took me longer to cut and cook the vegetables. It took me 45 minutes to prepare this dish.

The crispy prosciutto adds an Italian flavor, but I think you might not use it if the mission is a delicious and inexpensive family dinner!

Ingredients: peeled squid, avocado, wholemeal flour, lemon and pepper sauce.

Preparation mode:

Pour the vegetable oil into a pan making a layer of about 1 cmCut 250g of squid into 2 cm thick strips to get ringsDip the squid in flour until it covers the entire surfaceFry for about 3-4 minutes and add saltMaze an avocado with a fork to make the puree, add zest of one lemon and squeeze the juice out of it. Season with salt and pepperPlace the puree on the base, the squid rings on top, drizzle with pepper sauce and garnish with a slice of lemonEat with your hands, dipping the rings in the avocado puree

Jamie made the dish in 20 minutes, I — in about 27, because I divided the squid into three parts and fried them separately because I didn’t have a big frying pan. I also substituted all-purpose flour for regular flour, which probably didn’t make my frying as golden.

Adding the juice of a whole lemon seems a bit controversial to me — it turned out pretty sour, and maybe you don’t like the taste. But when combined with the chili sauce, that acidity is really nice. My overall impression of the appetizer was positive: the squid is not tough, the crust is very crispy, and the avocado perfectly complements the flavor of the seafood.

Ingredients: chicken wings, teriyaki sauce, sesame seeds, pepper and spring onion.

Preparation mode:

Brown two tablespoons of sesame seeds. ReservePlace the chicken wings in the same skillet, fry each side over medium heat for about a minute.Add two finely chopped seedless peppers and four tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. Add hot water to cover the wings. Cook for about 30-40 minutes, turning the chicken occasionally. When the water starts to boil and the sauce is bubbling, add a tablespoon of vinegar. This prevents the teriyaki from sticking to the panTo finish, sprinkle finely chopped chives and toasted sesame seeds

Jamie made the dish in 46 minutes. It took me a few minutes longer as I couldn’t get the right measurement between the sauce and the sesame seeds.

Everything came out as the chef promised: tender meat and a tasty crust. My family devoured the wings in a heartbeat and raved about the recipe. I will do more in the future. I find that store-bought teriyaki sauce can be substituted for a simple homemade version. There are many recipes online with the sauce made from soy sauce, ginger, honey and vinegar.

Ingredients: rye bread, chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar.

Preparation mode:

Break a bar of chocolate (100g) into pieces and melt in a water bath. Using a food processor or blender, crush 100g of bread. No need to remove the shellPlace two eggs in the crushed bread, add 50g of sugar and mix wellAdd 100g of butter to the chocolate and stir until completely meltedMix the chocolate and bread dough, place in a pastry bag and make the cookies on a greased surface with olive oilBake in a preheated oven at 200° for about 10 minutesSprinkle fleur de sel on each biscuit

It took the chef 28 minutes to make the recipe, while I spent about 40. He baked two trays of cookies at once, while I had to do it in two steps. This is perhaps the easiest recipe in terms of the availability of ingredients. And the method of preparation is not difficult.

While the cookies were in the oven, there was an unimaginable aroma of chocolate in the kitchen. Jamie also promised that using bread instead of flour would ensure a soft dough. And so it happened: the cookies turned out to be delicate inside and with a crispy crust. And the fleur de sel enhances the flavor of the chocolate.

I will definitely make it again, as it is a great recipe to use up leftover bread and have a delicious dessert to have with your tea.

The recipes worked well. All seven dishes were eaten to the last crumb. My least favorite was the warm carrot salad, but we ate it all the way through. Jamie promised easy cooking and kept his word. There was no difficult process, as I am not an experienced cook. In terms of time, neither…