The Return of the Naked Chef - Softcover

Oliver, Jamie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141042966 ISBN 13: 9780141042961

Publisher: Penguin, 2010

Synopsis

Jamie Oliver's bestselling The Return of the Naked Chef is filled with all the techniques and tips you'll need to become a pro in the kitchen and produce delicious, healthy food

The Return of the Naked Chef guides you through basic techniques for making a variety of breads and pasta, and shares some of Jamie's favourite recipes including a light Prawn and Pea Risotto with Basil and Mint and seared Beef Carpaccio with roasted Baby Beets, creamed Horseradish, Watercress and Parmesan.

Jamie Oliver has captured the heart of the nation with his passion for simple, delicious, home-cooked food. The Return of the Naked Chef is filled with fresh ingredients, 'pukka' recipes and boundless enthusiasm. Get stuck in with Jamie Oliver!

'Simply brilliant cooking, and Jamie's recipes are a joy' Nigel Slater

'There's a joyously clear, no-nonsense desire here to create simple but delicious food' Heat

About this title

Review:

He's back. Can anyone remember why they called Jamie Oliver the Naked Chef first time round? No matter. The Return of the Naked Chef is a quite brilliant collection of smart-casual food, simple, sexy, sophisticated, sharp as a tack and bang up to the moment. Oliver (or his editors, stylists, whoever) certainly has his finger on the pulse: there isn't a duff recipe in the book. This is food designed to be cooked in the home, but informed by the professional skills and commercial instincts of a working chef.

So what do we get? First off, ingredient perfect pitch. Seared scallops, grilled squid, baked beetroot and squash, roast Jerusalem artichokes, braised lamb shanks, crispy sea bass, carpaccio of beef, pancetta, lots of herbs, goats' cheese, Asian influences--all exactly what everybody seems to want to cook at the moment. There isn't perhaps anything blindingly original in his recipes, but the combinations are nudged this way and that to maximum effect: "Potato and Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Thyme, Mascarpone and Hazelnuts", "Risotto of Radicchio, Smoky Bacon, Rosemary and Red Wine", "Braised Pigeon Breasts with Peas, Lettuce and Spring Onions", "Orange and Polenta Biscuits" give something of the flavour of the style. It's modern, fresh and not in any way intimidating. On the minor matter of personal appeal, where Oliver really scores is the intriguing contrast (the "tension", as literary critics would say) between the skilled and imaginative professional on the one hand, and the laddish Essex boy on the other, who always manages to look as if he's just crawled from under a companionable duvet. This book will scarcely need recommending, but it is a highly appealing and skilful package. --Robin Davidson

Review:

There's a joyously clear, no-nonsense desire here to create simple but delicious food (Heat)

Jamie Oliver goes from strength to strength...the main attraction is that he does not seem to want to be, or know that he might be, a star: the food is what matters (The Times)

He looks like a rock star, sounds like a yob and cooks like an angel (Daily Telegraph)

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0141042966
• ISBN 13: 9780141042961
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288