Jamie Oliver

Name: SKINNY CARBONARA SMOKY BACON, PEAS, ALMONDS & BASIL
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 200g freshly podded or frozen peas; 1 tablespoon flaked almonds; 1 small clove of garlic; ½ a bunch of fresh basil (15g); 15g Parmesan cheese; 1 lemon; 150g wholewheat spaghetti; 1 rasher of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon; olive oil; 1 large free-range egg; 100g fat-free natural yoghurt

May 30, 2016

The New Jamie Oliver Cookery School at Westfield, London

Hello, Happy Bank Holiday Monday!

It’s hard to believe that five years have flown by since I last took a fresh pasta class. Given that it had been quite so long, I jumped at the chance recently of brushing up my fresh pasta skills with the ‘pasta master’ himself, Gennaro Contaldo, ahead of the official opening of the brand new Jamie Oliver Cookery School within Jamie’s Italian at Westfield.

As you can imagine, with Gennaro as our tutor, there were lots of laughs and the evening whizzed by with great hilarity. Some of the regular Jamie’s Italian diners were also taken by surprise as they saw Gennaro and Jamie walking through the restaurant to greet a team of instagrammers!

Gennaro and Jamie by Giulia Mulè with permission

The new school is spaciously set out within a self-contained area towards the back of the existing Jamie’s Italian restaurant – which has its own space just across from Debenhams. I had eaten at the Westfield London Jamie’s before and whilst I had been as far as the open kitchens towards the back of the restaurant for a nosey, I was quite surprised that there was even more space beyond the kitchen where the new cookery school has been established. I really like the location – it’s great that you can be out at Westfield having a bite to eat or a shop, before popping along to a cookery class for a couple of hours.

Within the cookery school, there are two main teaching areas as well as a bar and a separate seating area where students can sit after the class and eat their creations. Our lesson took place in a bright, airy room with big windows overlooking Wood Lane. The second kitchen teaching area is within the centre of the school. It is very much kitted out in trademark Jamie Oliver style with plenty of Jamie tea-towels and books on display, funky chairs and fresh flowers. All the work stations are well-equipped and fitted out with ovens and induction hobs and everything you need to take part in a class, including aprons. Lessons are ‘designed to be informative and hands on, but easy-going so you can enjoy yourself while you learn.’

PASTA MASTER

During the ‘Pasta Master’ taster we watched Gennaro make and fill some fresh pasta before knocking up some quick and tasty sauces in real-time. Then we rolled up our sleeves and had a go at making and filling pasta ourselves. We used plenty of fresh ingredients for the filling, including peas, ricotta, fresh herbs and Parmesan. To make the sauces, we used a little olive oil, garlic, fresh tomatoes and herbs and some of us made a sage and butter sauce, too. All very simple and achievable to recreate at home. Gennaro advised that fresh tomatoes should always be left out at room temperature to ripen and shouldn’t be stored in the fridge.

COOKING WITH KIDS

Since it’s half term this week and with the summer holidays only a few weeks away, you could also book a couple of places for the kids to take part in a class. Children have to be 7 -14 years old to take part and one adult is required to stay and supervise up to 2 children. The Unbeatable Pasta Class is £30 per child, the Junior Sushi Master is £35 and Pizza for Kids is just £25 for a 2-hour class.

LESSONS

Over all there is a good range of courses and all the tutors are trained chefs. Classes are really well priced (approx. £40 for a class) and I think a 2-3 hour lesson is much less daunting that signing up for a whole day course at a school that could be tricky to find or get to – although there are a couple of full-day classes, such as the Ultimate Knife Skills Masterclass if you want to get stuck in for longer. The cookery school can also host birthdays, hen parties, kids’ parties and corporate events.

There are lots more classes I’d love to take – a Mexican Street Food Feast, A Taste of Japan, and the South Indian Prawn Curry class are all on my wish-list. The Showstopping Beef Wellington Class seems to have been really popular on social media this week – gift vouchers would make for a great present…particularly as Father’s Day approaches. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see a Modern Polish cookery class amongst the lessons on offer one day!

The Jamie Oliver Cookery School
Jamie’s Italian
1078, Westfield London,
Westfield Shopping Centre, Ariel Way,
Shepherd’s Bush,
London W12 7GB
The cookery school is situated within the Jamie’s Italian Restaurant at Westfield
Follow the cookery school team on Twitter @JOCookerySchool

There are lots of fresh pasta recipes here on JamieOliver.com

I attended the class as a guest for a preview evening ahead of the official launch of the school – with many thanks for the invitation. This is an unpaid/editorial post.

August 27, 2015

Recipe: Skinny Carbonara from {Everyday Super Food by Jamie Oliver}

Today sees the publication of Jamie Oliver’s brand new cookbook Everyday Super Food and I’ve been busy trying out some of the recipes for myself at home, beginning with Jamie’s Skinny Carbonara.

If you’ve been following Jamie on Instagram or on the You app, you’ll have noticed that this is the year he turned 40. He himself has enjoyed making some simple lifestyle changes, for example, by practicing mindfulness and by making some changes to his diet and lifestyle. Everyday Super Food is really his ultimate manifesto for helping you do the same.

I have four copies of Jamie’s new book to giveaway (see entry form below) with the recipe for Jamie’s Skinny Carbonara also shared below with the publisher’s permission.

The Skinny Carbonara was very tasty and quick to make – fifteen minutes at most. I didn’t see any instructions for juicing the lemon and I ended up adding in the juice of one whole lemon. Next time, I would use the juice of half a lemon. I had quite a lot of pea mixture left over, so blitzed it up with some chicken stock and had a an extra cup of pea soup for lunch the next day. The whole family enjoyed it and the addition of peas and ground almonds gave the dish an extra lift and a bit of texture, along with the crispy bacon. Nobody noticed the wholewheat spaghetti so that’s a permanent switch for us in the future!

I can’t wait to try the Mega Veggie Burger featured by Helen here, or the Baked Eggs with Popped Beans that Katherine tried here. I’m also looking forward to trying Jamie’s Grilled Corn and Quinoa Salad, shared by The Happy Foodie.

Skinny Carbonara Ren Behan — My version of the tasty Skinny Carbonara recipe from the book

The book ties in with a new six-part Channel 4 series, Jamie’s Super Food, due to broadcast this autumn and you can buy the book from today.

SKINNY CARBONARA SMOKY BACON, PEAS, ALMONDS & BASIL

Prep 10 mins

Cook 10 mins

Total 20 mins

Author Jamie Oliver

Yield 2

Humble little peas are a source of nine different micronutrients, and are especially high in thiamin, a B vitamin that helps our hearts to function properly

Ingredients

200g freshly podded or frozen peas
1 tablespoon flaked almonds
1 small clove of garlic
½ a bunch of fresh basil (15g)
15g Parmesan cheese
1 lemon
150g wholewheat spaghetti
1 rasher of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
olive oil
1 large free-range egg
100g fat-free natural yoghurt

Instructions

Put a pan of boiling salted water on the heat for your pasta, dunk a sieve containing the peas into the water for just 30 seconds, then put aside, leaving the pan on the heat.
Very lightly toast the almonds in a dry non-stick frying pan on a medium heat, then blitz until fine in a food processor. With the processor still running, peel and drop in the garlic, a pinch of sea salt, the basil leaves, the finely grated Parmesan and the lemon juice. Blitz until it comes together, then pulse in the peas, to try and keep a bit of texture.
Cook the pasta in the boiling salted water according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile, very finely slice the bacon and fry slowly in the frying pan with 1 teaspoon of oil on a medium-low heat until golden and crispy, then use a slotted spoon to transfer to kitchen paper, so the flavoursome fat stays in the pan.
Scoop in three-quarters of your pea mixture to heat through.
Whisk the egg and yoghurt together well. When the pasta’s done, reserving a mugful of cooking water, drain the pasta and toss straight into the pea pan, mixing well, then take the pan off the heat (this is very important, otherwise the egg will scramble when you add it, and we don’t want that).
Pour in the egg mixture and toss until evenly coated, silky and creamy, loosening with cooking water if needed. Taste and season to perfection, and serve topped with the remaining pea mixture and the crispy bacon.
It might be skinny, but it’s beautifully light and delicious. Enjoy!

Courses Healthy

Cuisine Italian

Jamie’s Skinny Carbonara {Image from the book, taken by Jamie Oliver}

Giveway – Enter Here
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Everyday Super Food by Jamie Oliver is published by Penguin Random House

ⓒ Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited (2015 Everyday Super Food) Photographer: Jamie Oliver

With thanks to Jamie’s PR team for the recipes, previews and review copy in the post.

July 10, 2015

The Ultimate Summer Party + Six new summer salads from Jamie Oliver HQ #summersalads

Summer Salads on JamieOliver.com

It’s not every day that you get to take a look behind the scenes of a set-up that you hugely respect and admire. So this week’s invitation from the team behind JamieOliver.com (the official website for Jamie’s recipes, books and TV shows) to an evening of #summersalads at Jamie Oliver HQ was really quite a special treat. If you haven’t explored the JamieOliver.com site recently, you’ll find, as I regularly do, that it’s a great source of recipe ideas for any occasion. The editorial team work very closely with Jamie and the food team to constantly find new ways to inspire. Fresh, seasonal produce is always at the forefront of recipe development and, as with all things Jamie Oliver-led, there’s a big emphasis on the dishes being achievable, simple to make and super tasty.

The food team have recently moved to a new home – a fantastic new space in London, full of light, food props and a mezzanine area perfect for holding very important meetings (and parties!)

For the #summersalads party, Peter, Jamie’s gardener was there to talk us through some of the produce from Jamie’s garden – much of it inspiring the summer salads that we tasted. Pete told me that whatever Jamie and the family don’t eat is sent straight to Fifteen to create their daily specials.

On arrival, we were welcomed with a huge array of fresh crudités, including rainbow carrots, chicory leaves, radishes, artisan bread, the smoothest and most wonderful hummus any of us had ever tasted and a fresh and lovely pea, mint and feta dip (you can find a similar recipe here).

The team had also mixed up some batches of summer cocktail recipes, which have also very recently been featured on Drinks Tube. I can personally endorse the Negroni cocktail and attest that it packed quite a punch!

Pete Wrapson @peterwrapson, my take away box and Jamie @JamieOliver

Jamie also stopped by to have a chat with us all. He told us that he was incredibly excited about the food team’s new home and that it is quite a challenge to find space for his growing teams!

Beautiful edible flowers by @greensofdevon

Now that the sunshine seems here to stay, for the ultimate summer party, why not invite your friends over and chose a few of these fantastic recipes to make at home?

Cocktails

Summer Fruit Punch – [Get the recipe here] – non-alcoholic with no added sugar (above)

Summer Cup – [Get the recipe here] – a pitcher of vodka, vermouth, ginger ale, cucumber and fresh fruit inspired by the tennis season

Negroni – [Get the recipe here] – a batch-made Italian cocktail with gin and bitters (strong!!)

Flavoured Water – simply made with fresh fruit, use any fruit that you have (try strawberries, slices of orange and fresh mint)

Six New Summer Salads (as featured on JamieOliver.com)

Click on the title of the salad for the recipe…

Prawn and Papaya Salad (GF,DF) – my favourite of the evening by far. If you can’t find papaya, use white cabbage. I think ‘spiralized’ courgette would be lovely, too.

Cracking Cobb Salad – made with roast chicken, pancetta, boiled eggs and a blue cheese dressing

Tasty tabbouleh salad (V, VG, DF) – Middle-Eastern inspired, bursting with colour and flavour, with bulgar wheat, pistachio and pomegranate

Cypriot-style potato salad (DF, V, VG, GF) – with waxy new potatoes, olives, capers and fresh coriander

Superfood salad (GF, V) – with quinoa and roasted sweet potato – this one was a revelation and it is very easy to throw together for a crowd

Waldorf Salad (V) with roasted grapes and walnuts (delicious!) and a light yoghurt dressing

GF = Gluten Free DF = Dairy Free V = Vegetarian VG = Vegan

To Finish

The food team presented a classic Eton Mess on a huge board with little mini-meringues, bowls of fresh fruit, including strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and a big bowl of vanilla-spiked whipped cream and Greek yoghurt so that everyone could help themselves. I’ll definitely be making this for the summer and you could also take all of these ingredients separately to a picnic.

So there you have it – hopefully this will inspire you to host a summer salads party of your own!

Thank You

With special thanks to the JamieOliver.com team, especially Abby, Merlin and Subi

@jamieoliver.com
@jamieoliver

The tables were decorated with some stunning flowers from London-based Augustus Bloom @augustus_bloom

Follow some of our photos of the evening as shared on Instagram or search the hashtag #summersalads

@clerkenwekkboyec1
@mondomulia
@issycroker
@charlottehuco
@mind_body_bowl
@renbehan
@allthingsmeaty
@upallhoursphotos
@heartdrive
@rawveganblonde
@mummyicancook – a special shout of to Shu Han Lee who has been an online friend and follower of my blog and who is writing her own book with Penguin!

Disclosure: I was a guest of the JamieOliver.com food & editorial teams. All opinions are my own and the decision to write about the evening for my own blog was my own. I am also a freelance contributor to the ‘News and Features’ section of the JamieOliver.com site.

Photo taken by JamieOliver.com

Comfort Food Book Launch and Christmas features for JamieOliver.com

It’s rare for me to venture out these days, juggling three children is proving to be, hmmn, quite a challenge. However, I did manage to jump on a train and head into the big smoke for a night out in London, getting home just before my carriage turned into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight! The event that lured me into town Jamie Oliver’s Comfort Food book launch at his cookery school, Recipease in Notting Hill.

As you may imagine, this was a party and a half, with a lavish display of Comfort Food-style celebration cakes, as well as a selection of savoury recipes from the book, including Irresistible Pork Buns, Polish Kiełbasa (there’s a recipe for how to make your own at home in the book), Beef and Barley Buns, Massaman Curry and hand-made Ravioli. There was also craft beer, wine and bespoke cocktails on tap. And if that wasn’t enough, we were also offered cured meats from Cobbled Lane Cured and following the success of the Truffle Cheddar experiment, we were treated to more Westcombe Dairy cheese.

…

May 14, 2014

Food Revolution Day 2014 – Join In With Your Kids!

Cooking with kids is something I feel really passionately about and raising awareness of good food is something I’m always happy to do and get behind. This year, Food Revolution Day – a global day of action – falls on Friday 16th May 2014. It’s a day entirely dedicated to raising food awareness and education on cooking supported by the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation. Beyond the day itself, the charity aims to deliver food education programmes though teaching kitchen skills, as well as educating kids on where their food comes from and inspiring kids and adults alike to enjoy cooking from scratch. It’s the ethos that pretty much fuels Jamie Oliver in most of what he does. The money raised by the foundation (and on Food Revolution Day itself) is also used toward helping disengaged teenagers to train to work in the food industry through the Fifteen Apprentice Programme, which I mentioned last week after a charity supper at Fifteen. You can support the cause here, whilst entering to win a cooking lesson with Jamie Oliver and a stay in London with dinner and spending money thrown in, too. Or, you can visit the official Food Revolution Day website for lots more ideas on how to join in and get involved on the day and beyond.

There’s generally a theme to Food Revolution Day and this year, the big emphasis is on getting kids excited about food by encouraging them to help out with food preparation and by helping them to learn how to make good food choices as early on as possible. We’re all very quick to blame the food industry and schools (although our school meals are amazing and are cooked from scratch every day even at state level) but we also have to acknowledge that teaching kids the very basics can begin at home. We live in a world now where even a baby’s first spoonful of food may come from a jar or a packet. There are so many food choices to navigate and so much of our food is now processed and stripped of it’s true nutritional value. Some of our food is so far removed from it’s natural state that at times, we can barely even recognise the basic ingredients. This makes me sad and it’s something I’d love to see changed and improved upon. I’m excited to see that food is coming back to the revised National Curriculum in 2014 at primary level and secondary level and I really hope it stays there and makes a big come back throughout school life through Home Economics/Design & Technology lessons. But I also really believe that despite the fact that our lives are so incredibly busy, there are lots of things that we can do ourselves and at home to help us all become more aware of cooking with real ingredients and making sensible choices.

To mark Food Revolution Day this year, I was asked to share some of my childhood cooking memories over on the JamieOliver.com site, which I did, along with an exclusive recipe for a tasty fresh plum cake, served with plenty of yogurt and fruit. A plum cake was the first recipe that I learned how to bake with my mum and it’s a recipe that my kids love to help me with in the kitchen now, too. There are plenty of ways for little hands to help and get involved along the way. My seven and four year old children were practically able to do much of the preparation for this cake between them, needing my help only with the electric whisk and with putting the cake into the oven and with taking it out once cooked.

There are some more child-friendly recipes and activity sheets to explore over on the Food Revolution Day website and it’s not too late to sign up and get involved. Simply fill in the form to say how many of you are going to be marking Food Revolution Day – whether by joining in with a live cooking lesson with Jamie, trying a new recipe or ingredient out for yourselves or perhaps even planting some potatoes or other vegetables in the garden with the kids. You can also share your ideas, activities or results via social media using the hashtag #FRD2014.

{Find my recipe for the plum cake here!}

Every year, awareness of how making better food choices and of cooking real food from scratch grows and grows with the help of Jamie’s Food Revolution Day campaign with over 74 countries taking part globally. I hope you can set aside a little time to join in this year in creating some little waves which may spark more action in the months and years to come.

Keep an eye out for my tweets @RenBehan to see what we’re getting up to on Food Revolution Day – we’ll be taking part in the live cookery lesson at 2pm at home (making a nutritious rainbow salad wrap) and planting some veggies shortly after that, too. I’m looking forward to sharing our mini kitchen garden progress with you as things start to grow over the summer. There are also many other food bloggers helping to spread the work about the day and campaign itself – take a look at some more posts here –

Mabintu at Recipes from a Pantry on Yogurt Dip

Louisa’s post over on Eat Your Veg, including a recipe for Easy Cheesy Muffins

The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1094536. All links editorially given and I have chosen to make a donation to the campaign as well as to raise awareness of Food Revolution Day through this post.

Other recipes to try with kids –

Pear and Plum Banana Bread

Turkey and Leek Meatballs with Tomato Tagliatelle

Swiss Scrambled Eggs with Croissants and Shakes

Are you joining in with Food Revolution Day this year? If so, let me know what you are doing and have fun!

May 1, 2014

Jamie, Tom and Jon & the Westcombe Truffle Cheddar Experiment

Spring has sprung and what better way to celebrate than to be invited to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen in London to sample a seasonal menu based around a very intriguing artisan cheddar experiment. It’s not every day that such an invitation comes along; particularly as the ‘experiment’ in question involved 1 kilogram of Italian white truffles, valued at around £3-£4,000 per kilo. The truffles had been given, some eighteen months earlier, to Jamie Oliver who passed them onto his friend Tom Calver at Westcombe Dairy in Somerset, whom Jamie describes as being one of “the best known cheese makers on this planet!” Tom’s challenge was to use the white truffles to make Westcombe Truffle Cheddar, based upon the hand-crafted cheese-making methods used by the Calver family over on Westcombe Farm. Jamie hailed the truffle-cheddar marriage as “a fantastically bonkers experiment” and extended the challenge to Fifteen’s executive chef Jon Rotheram and his team, to create a glorious Westcombe Truffle Cheddar tasting menu.

The menu itself showcased both the very best of British seasonal and artisanal produce, alongside the brand new truffle cheese, whilst raising money for the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation which also supports young trainees through the Fifteen Apprentice Programme. We were also served an impressive selection of British, Italian, French and Spanish wines. The tables were set, the lights were dimmed, Jamie introduced the evening and welcomed his guests and Tom told us about the cheese. Out came the courses (officially seven) on the tasting menu, although we were also treated to some additional truffle cheese tastings and some sweet chocolate truffles at the end of the meal. The only downside for me? At eight month’s pregnant I couldn’t sample any of the wines – though I did relish every mouthful of the accompanying truffle tasting menu!

To start, we tucked into cured meats from Cobble Lane, matched with a British wine; Nyetimber Classic Cuvee, 2009, made in West Sussex. The cured meats were also British made, in London, by Matt, Mat and Adam and they’d easily rival anything made elsewhere in the world. Next, my favourite course of the evening, featuring Wye Valley asparagus with a light and tasty mushroom mayonnaise and Westcombe Truffle Cheddar. This course was served with an Italian wine; Filipi Soave ‘Castelcerine’ (2012) from Veneto. The truffle cheddar, asparagus and a Venetian Soave made an exquisite trio. I adore Venetian wine having sampled much of it on a trip there last year, so I happily tapped into those memories whilst sipping my water.

Wye Valley Asparagus and mushroom mayonnaise with Westcombe Truffle Cheddar – photo credit Fifteen’s Jacques Dejardin.

Midway through the evening, we were served a slow cooked Roscoff onion, with almonds, nettles and smoked Westcombe Truffle Cheddar, whilst Jamie, Tom and Jon did the rounds and chatted to their guests. A little French wine was served with this; a Maison Deux-Montille Pouilly-Fuisse ‘En Vergission’ (2008) from Burgundy. This was also my first taste of British nettles this season – both whole and in a pureed form. Get out and grab them while you can! My grandmother always told me that she survived the war by making nettle soup, with just a handful of nettles and one potato.

More British seasonality, this time in the form of wild garlic, with sweet and sour Westcombe Truffle Cheddar, served with with ‘gnudi’ – a delicate type of gnocchi made with ricotta and flour. This course was accompanied by an Italian wine; Castello di Cigognola Barbera ‘1212’ (2011) from the Lombardy region that I’ve yet to visit.

Another highlight arrived next – grilled veal, with a Welsh truffle rarebit toast. Head Chef Jon had said earlier on that he would have happily eaten the Westcombe truffle cheddar as a Welsh rarebit alongside a good British beer – but that he thought Jamie’s guests would be expecting something a little more elaborate. The rarebit was indeed, very good. Interestingly, the veal was served with a red wine; an Aster Crianza Robera del Duero (2008) from Spain. Lots of guests asked for re-fills of this wine, so I take it from their requests that it was particularly smooth and drinkable. My partner-in-crime, Katie from Feeding Boys certainly told me so!

Just as we were getting full, along came an explosion of freshness, colour and flavour from a blood orange sorbet with a mint granita – definitely now on my ‘must make at home list’- I’d probably try something along the lines of this Lemon, lime and peppermint sorbet, substituting the lemon and lime for fresh blood orange juice.

Towards the end of the evening, now extremely well fed, we sampled some more of the Westcombe truffle cheddar, this time served with thin and crispy oatmeal biscuit and Isle of Bulk Honeycomb. Again, this took me back to eating and drinking in a small cantina in a small village in the north of Italy where cheese, cured meats and honey along with a good bottle of red wine were pretty much all that the locals needed in life. At Fifteen, this course was served with an Italian dessert wine; Pieropan Recioto di Soave ‘Le Colombare’ (2009), also from Veneto.

All in all, this was a truly enjoyable evening; the white truffles had a very intriguing effect on the cheese, breaking it down and giving it a really lovely texture. The flavour wasn’t too overwhelming and was matched perfectly with a menu bursting with seasonality; in keeping with the daily-changing and creative menu at Fifteen.

For more of a glimpse of the evening in photo form (I must learn how to use my camera in low-light settings!) pop over to read Matthew’s account over on The List.

Although the Westcombe Truffle Cheddar is unlikely to be available to buy, original Westcombe Unpasturised Mature Cheddar is stocked by Waitrose and by Neal’s Yard, as well as being available in the Westcombe Dairy Farm Shop.

With thanks to the editorial team at JamieOliver.com for the kind invitation to this event.

April 11, 2014

Homemade Citrus Infused Vodka for JamieOliver.com

It’s all going on! As Easter approaches, I’m happily marking the one-year milestone of writing a weekly blog for JamieOliver.com. My very first post was published just before Easter last year and focused on the Italian dish of lasagne as an alternative to a traditional Easter Sunday lunch, with a second Easter post focusing on the perfect roast. Since then, I’ve been able to settle into my ‘home-from-home’ writing about a whole host of foodie topics, which have included ideas for cooking with kids, as well as themed round-ups and highlights of some of my favourite hand-picked recipes from Jamie’s site. I’m marking my second year by taking a slightly new direction – my blog posts will now often feature some of my own exclusive recipes and photos. There are always plenty of exciting things going on at Jamie HQ. Most recently, the team marked the launch of a brand new site dedicated to all things drinkable Drinks Tube and so in my latest post, I’ve joined the party by contributing an exclusive recipe for a homemade citrus infused vodka – based on my Polish favourite Cytrynówka. I hope you’ll be able to pop over and read some of the posts over in the News and Blogs section of the JamieOliver.com site in the weeks (and hopefully) months to come!

Citrus-Infused Vodka - Cytrynówka for JamieOliver.Com — Citrus-Infused Vodka – Cytrynówka for JamieOliver.Com

I’d love to say a big thank you to Jim Tanfield for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the team and for guiding me editorially throughout the year. A second shout-out goes to Merlin Jobst, as well as to my fellow bloggers, who are all brilliantly placed to share some of the coolest content on the web.

Get the recipe here –

You can find my recipe for Homemade Citrus Infused Vodka and follow the rest of my posts here on JamieOliver.com

Ren Behan is a freelance contributor to JamieOliver.Com

Other infusions/cocktails you may enjoy –

Pomegranate and Vanilla Vodka

Rumtopf or Rum Pot

Ren’s Gin and Rhubarb Fizz

What’s your favourite cocktail or sunshine tipple?

November 18, 2013

A seasonal pheasant masterclass

It was all things pleasant and pheasant inside the Fifteen training kitchen last Tuesday evening. I must have been reasonably well-behaved at the last blogger’s supper at Jamie Oliver HQ, to receive a second invitation, this time to a pheasant masterclass with Jon Rotheram (Head Chef Fifteen London), Andy Appleton (Head Chef Fifteen Cornwall) and needs-no-intro, Gennaro Contaldo. Very rarely do you get the chance to watch three great chefs at work at close call and so when the invitation arrived to celebrate British game, I was intrigued and immediately hungry.

British game is in season right now and the JamieOliver.com team were keen to cast away any game-related fears and open our eyes and our taste buds to some great British pheasant; wild, naturally organic and free range. I recently visited Borough Market in London, where I saw plenty of pheasant and rabbit on offer. I confess to wandering straight past it without giving it much thought. And that’s what many of us do; walk straight past it, perhaps at the butchers or in the shops, which means that so much game is being shot and then wasted.

Many of us are also quick to dismiss game, perhaps because of fears that the meat may taste too ‘gamey’ or simply because we don’t really know what to do with it or how to cook it. Happily, the pheasant masterclass did much to dispel many of my previously held misconceptions and I now have a better idea of flavour combinations that I know will work. I learnt that game works with many well-known flavours; chilli, garlic, fresh herbs, such as rosemary and thyme, or sweet and sour combinations, such as a sprinkling of raisins steeped in balsamic vinegar, or a red wine reduction spiked with cinnamon – as showcased within the three dishes we tried. Whilst the breasts need hardly any cooking at all, the legs benefit most from being slow-cooked.

A pheasant masterclass at Jamie Oliver HQ — Gennaro Contaldo demonstrates his pheasant dish

First to cook for the intimate crowd of hungry food bloggers was Gennaro Contaldo; the man noted for mentoring and now business-partnering with Jamie Oliver – soon to return to our screens as one half of the Two Greedy Italians. I adored watching Gennaro and Antonio Carluccio as they foraged, cooked and ate their way around Italy and can’t wait for them to reunite in the third series. As animated and exuberant as he is on-camera, Gennaro invoked his deep-rooted love for hunting, foraging and simple food, inspired by his childhood in Italy. Gennaro is most at home when cooking with game and he was quick to thank and credit Jim, Jamie’s Website Editor, for shooting the birds in Essex ahead of the masterclass.

A quick quip about ‘Essex Birds’ ensued, whilst Gennaro prepared a side dish of sliced potatoes, de-seeded tomatoes, salt, oregano and olive oil for the oven, called Patata Arragante. We were then shown how to remove the breasts from the bird, ready to be flattened out and seasoned up with rosemary, sea salt, garlic and chilli. The pheasant was quickly pan-fried in a very hot pan. The only extra ingredient needed was a splash of good-quality white wine to deglaze the pan and to create a little sauce. As he served up his homely and rustic dish, Gennaro humbly added:

“When I am 100 years old, you can call me a chef!”

Gennaro’s top tip:

Use a ceramic bowl, with just a little olive oil rubbed into the bottom, to push down the pheasant once it hits the pan. This helps the chilli and fresh herbs to penetrate the meat. You can use whatever you have to hand – a brick will even work fine!

We quite literally devoured Gennaro’s dish and it was a huge privilege to taste his flavour-charged yet uncomplicated food first hand.

Pheasant Masterclass (12 of 26) — Gennaro’s Flavour Packed Dish

Next to cook for the group was Jon Rotheram, whom some of us had met at the previous supper club above the restaurant itself. Jon showcased an example of the sort of dish he happily cooks at Fifteen, always ensuring that he maximises the bird. Jon said that he always makes use of the legs and the breast and that he very often pan-fries the hearts. He also made a pork and pheasant sausage from the offcuts. Jon served his pheasant and sausage with kale (cooked in the same pan that he’d roasted the bird and cooked the sausage in), onions that had been slow-roasted overnight in a low oven, game chips, pickled quince and a smooth and very moreish bread sauce.

Jon’s top tip:

Ask the butcher or your local game supplier for pheasant hens, as they have a little more fat on them. Jon prefers his game to have a shorter hanging time (up to a week), but to be hung with the guts in to improve the flavour of the meat.

A pheasant masterclass with Jon Rotheram — Next to cook, Jon Rotheram, Fifteen London

Third to the stove was Andy Appleton, who had travelled all the way from his kitchen at Fifteen Cornwall to impress us with his dish of pheasant with Cornish squash, fresh thyme, cherry tomatoes and chestnut caponata. Andy’s cooking is largely inspired by the Italian kitchen and his flavours were equally stunning. Andy had soaked some raisins in balsamic vinegar and also pan-roasted his pheasant on the crown to keep the flavour in. He also made a red wine and cinnamon jus.

Andy’s top tip:

Game goes really well with sweet and sour flavours, so try some fruity sauces, or add some raising seeped in Balsamic vinegar to your finished dish.

Pheasant Masterclass — Andy Appleton, Fifteen Cornwall

As if we needed any additional treats, Jamie’s editorial team had also set out some fine cheeses, pâté, fresh sourdough and rye bread and charcuterie with plenty of red wine to accompany our pheasant-led feast. Of course, the ladies flocked around Gennaro, catching a few shots for our photograph albums, whilst Gennaro shared his personal iPhone albums of seasonal chestnut and mushroom hunting with his family. I think we can safely say that we left with a warm glow, eager and more confident in experimenting with some game recipes during the season and in particular, over the Christmas period ourselves at home.

JO4 — Left – Leyla Kazim, Top – Jim Tanfield, Gennaro and me!

If you are looking for some game recipes to inspire you, look no further than Jamie’s selection here. Likewise, there is a great scast of Christmas recipes on offer to inspire you over on JamieOliver.com, too.

Jamie's Book Shelf — Inspiration in the Fifteen Training Kitchen

Where to buy pheasant and game

I spotted plenty of pheasants at Borough Market recently. More locally in Hertfordshire, I can recommend my local butcher, A&C Meats. I also read an article on The Foodie Bugle recently using produce from The Wild Meat Company, although I’ve yet to try their service. Game, including venison, rabbit, quail, partridge, pheasant and grouse is also becoming more widely available through supermarkets. The pheasant season usually runs from October to April.

For more hints and tips, search the hashtag #pheasantmasterclass on Twitter or follow the team on @JamieOliverCom

Other #PheasantMasterclass posts

Leyla – The Cutlery Chronicles

Annie – Mamasaurus

Rachel – The Food I Eat

You can also catch my weekly blog for JamieOliver.com here.

With many thanks to Jim, Merlin, Subi, Jon, Andy and Gennaro for the invitation to join them for the evening for the pheasant masterclass. All thoughts and opinions my own.

September 28, 2013

A Sneak Peek of Jamie’s Mothership Sunday Roast Lamb Recipe

Everybody in our house loves roast lamb, particularly when it has been slow roasted, making it perfecty tender and soft. I’ve been given special permission to share a recipe by Jamie Oliver from his latest book, Save with Jamie, for his Mothership Sunday Roast Lamb, accompanied by a great photograph by David Loftus (I’m a huge fan!) This recipe is perfect for the weekend and I’m sharing it here ahead of it being shown on Jamie’s Money Saving Meals on Monday night on Channel 4 at 8pm. The idea is that you make a huge roast on a Sunday and then use the leftover meat as the basis for more meals throughout the week.

The recipe itself is one of my favourite’s from this latest installment by Jamie Oliver and there are even a couple of bonus recipes within it, too. You also get the instructions for perfectly crispy rosemary and garlic roast potatoes, an easy fresh mint sauce and a quick Savoy cabbage and streaky bacon dish for the side.

Slow roasted lamb is something that you really can’t go wrong with – you’ll need around 3-4 hours to get this lamb cooked to perfection and literally falling off the one, but I promise you’ll have a really tasty Sunday roast with plenty of meat for leftovers throughout the week. Plus, using a cheaper cut of lamb from the shoulder means you’ll end up with a more flavourful and cost-effective end result.

Other than this Mothership Sunday Roast Lamb recipe, I’m not sure which other recipes Jamie is going to highlight on the show this Monday, but after my recent trip to America where I ate plenty of Tex-Mex rolls and wraps, I’m really hoping that the Bad Boy BBQ Burritos on page 196 of the book will make an appearance at some point as well. This recipe along with a few other recipes from the book will then be featured on the Save with Jamie recipe page over on JamieOliver.com.

Jamie Oliver’s Mothership Roast Lamb

Serves 6 plus leftovers
Total time: 4 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 bulb of garlic
1 bunch of fresh rosemary (30g)
olive oil
1 x 2.5kg shoulder of lamb, bone in
3 onions
1.5kg potatoes
1 bunch of fresh mint (30g)
1 teaspoon golden caster sugar
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
1 large Savoy cabbage
1 tablespoon plain ﬂour
500g frozen peas

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°C/gas 3. In a pestle and mortar, bash
4 peeled garlic cloves, half the rosemary leaves and a pinch of salt and
pepper into a paste, then muddle in a good lug of oil. Stab the lamb ten
times, then stick your ﬁnger in each hole and massage the marinade in and
all over. Peel and quarter the onions and place in a snug-ﬁtting roasting tray
(this is important), with the lamb on top. Add 50ml of water, cover tightly
with tin foil and cook for 3 hours. Remove the foil, pour away all the fat
(save as dripping – see page 158) and add another 200ml of water to the
tray. Cook for 1 hour more, or until the meat falls away from the bone,
adding another good splash of water, if it starts to dry out.

Meanwhile, peel the potatoes, halving any larger ones, and parboil in a large
pan of boiling salted water for 12 minutes. Drain and shake to ﬂuffup, then
tip into a roasting tray. Strip in the rest of the rosemary leaves, drizzle with
oil, bash and add the remaining unpeeled garlic cloves, and toss with salt and
pepper. Place in the oven under the lamb tray for the ﬁnal 1½ hours. With
20 minutes to go, pick and very ﬁnely chop the mint leaves, scrape into a small
jug and mix with the sugar, vinegar and 1 tablespoon of boiling water. Chop
the bacon and cook in a large frying pan on a medium heat until
golden. Trim, roughly slice and throw in the cabbage with a splash of water,
cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until softened, then season to perfection.

Remove the lamb from the oven, transfer to a platter and cover. Put
the tray on a medium heat on the hob and stir in the ﬂour, then pour in
600ml boiling water and any lamb resting juices. Stir well and simmer until
you’re happy with the consistency. Pour the gravy into a jug, or if you
prefer it smooth, pour and push it through a sieve ﬁrst. Quickly blanch
the peas in a pan of boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drain.
Serve everything in the middle of the table, with all the usual trimmings.

Taken from Save with Jamie, published by Michael Joseph
Recipes @2013 Jamie Oliver
Photography @2013 Jamie Oliver Enterprises Ltd. Photos by David Loftus

For more lamb recipes, take a look here.

More related posts on RenBehan.com –

Jamie Oliver Warmly Welcomes Food Bloggers

Recipe – Almost Spring Lamb HotPot – also great with roast lamb leftovers

Disclosure – this is an unpaid post. The recipe and photograph is reproduced with permission. I write a weekly blog for JamieOliver.com

August 12, 2013

Latest Video: Strawberry Picking and Summer Fruit Treats

I love strawberry picking. It’s a throwback to one of my earliest childhood food memories – we used to go almost weekly during the summer months to a local fruit farm and even today, the very smell of strawberries elicits happy memories. Not such a rose-tinted memory for my mother, since on one occasion I jumped onto the back of a tractor for a ride and was missing for quite some time. Still, those long hazy, lazy days of summertime will always be sweet to me.

You may have noticed a new video on my sidebar. It’s our second video, filmed again by the very talented Michelle Becker of Pink Soul Photography. Our first video, Cake Creation made it into the first St Albans Film Festival and was shortlisted in the documentary category. This second video was filmed for fun and was inspired by a piece I’d written for Jamie Oliver.com on Quick ‘pick your own’ fruit desserts. I wanted to show how easy it is to throw together a fruit recipe right on the field – a few of the props were even found on arrival!

We are lucky enough to have a few local fruit farms. My closest has unfortunately had a bit of a problem with its strawberries this year, but still has plenty of other fruits. It was also unfortunately closed on the day we went to pick , but we did find another farm close by called Bullscroft Farm. I was interested to read that their strawberries have almost all gone this year, but that they do have ‘tayberries’ – a raspberry hybrid. So, we’ll have to go back and pick some of those. My little girl loved it and made a fine helper – needless to say that fruit picking is a fantastic activity to do with the kids over the summer.

The recipe that we filmed was one of Jamie Oliver’s called Summer Fruit with Amaretti Biscuits and Hot Chocolate Sauce {Click Here} – it really does take minutes to make and it’s a delicious treat.

We’ve had over 6,500 plays of Summer Fruit Treats so far but we’d love even more support and feedback – so please do take a peek and feel free to like and share 🙂

Summer Fruit Treats from Michelle Becker on Vimeo.

With many thanks to the ever-talented Michelle Becker for bringing along her camera and putting together such a lovely piece and to JamieOliver.com for featuring our short film within one of my blog posts.

Video shot at own expense.

Have you managed to find a local pick your own fruit farm? Or, perhaps you are growing your own at home?!

August 7, 2013

Jamie Oliver Warmly Welcomes Food Bloggers

The summer is in full swing and it’s been so hard to ignore the sunshine in order to sit down and write. There have already been many food-related highlights to share with you, but one sunny evening that stands out in particular was an invitation to a ‘blogger supper’ above Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen. The evening promised to be an exclusive event with “eating and drinking and merriment” – with the JamieOliver.com team very keen to extend a friendly hand to some of their favourite food bloggers. Needless to say, it was a huge privilege to have been on the list and to be able to spend the evening finding out a little more about the team behind Jamie’s ever-flourishing empire.

Jamie Oliver is many things, but he’s no fool. For a boy who left school with just two GCSE’s, his success in building such a vast and globally-recognised ‘brand’ is nothing short of phenomenal. Ever since hitting our screens with The Naked Chef, Jamie’s mission has been clear and very specific – to help people to become better cooks. Staying true to his original character, he continues to share his message in his very own relaxed, laid-back, Essex-boy trademark style. I very much remember watching some of his earliest episodes and most, if not all, of his books have been used and splattered with sauce in my kitchen in one way or another over the years. In a very pleasant twist of fate, I’ve recently found myself writing for the JamieOliver.com site – something which still fills me with both a sense of fear and excitement each time a post gets published.

Jamie has always struck me as someone who is keen to keep up with current trends and so it was perhaps by no accident (with my food blogging hat on this time) that I found myself sitting at a mismatched chair at one of his tables. Although Jamie himself was unable to attend, we watched a specially pre-recorded message from him, during which he welcomed us all and wished us an enjoyable evening. It was nice to learn that Jamie has a good amount of respect for food bloggers – recognising perhaps that we’ve helped change the traditional food writing landscape – if nothing else, into something instant and very fast-paced that he’s keen to keep up with!

Jamie was very happy to place us into the capable hands of Merlin Jobst, who had bravely taken the lead in organising the evening. I had already met Merlin once before on another sunny day at Food Blogger Connect and it was great to see Jamie’s online Editor Jim Tanfield again, as well as meeting lots of other new and equally friendly faces.

It’s always exciting to get a little peak behind the scenes of where ‘things happen’ – if not a little surreal to be helping ourselves to food from a table perhaps used in a food shoot by David Loftus (a food photographer I adore) or standing by the kitchen counter used by Jamie in some of his video’s and TV shows. I can happily say that we took very well to our new environment for the evening. It was, at times, as though the food paparazzi had descended upon the floor-to ceiling windowed room, as we poked our heads around the corner into the side kitchen to see some of Jamie’s ‘Fifteen’ graduates – zooming in and snapping away at every detail. Luckily, we were surrounded with people who seemed to ‘understand’ us and who didn’t mind our food blogging focused curiosities and appetites.

The recipes that we tried throughout the evening were simple recipes that can be found on the JamieOliver.com website. I’d made a couple of them before, but it was nice to try some of the other recipes that were new to me. The starters included a huge plate of sustainable prawns (Jamie’s Pint of prawns recipe with a flavourful Marie Rose sauce) served alongside a tasty Herb salad with goat’s cheese. Both recipes I’d say are really easy crowd-pleasers. I was inspired to pick up some lovely fresh prawns by the Llyn Peninsula just a few days after my visit to Fifteen to make a similar recipe myself.

Whilst nibbling, we were introduced to Jamie’s new head chef Jon Rotheram, who had popped in to see us from the recently refurbished Fifteen restaurant downstairs. Jon demonstrated his recipe for deviled lamb’s kidneys and talked to us about his experience of working as a sous-chef to Fergus Henderson at St John. Whereas Jon had previously faced the challenge of nose-to-tail dining (a concept he’s keen to expand upon at Fifteen) he now faces an altogether different adventure; heading up the team of apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds at Fifteen – a restaurant from which all the profits continue to be poured into the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation charity.

A little later on, we took to devouring some more of Jamie’s recipes – a Keralan veggie curry and a very moreish Southern Indian crab curry, both served with aromatic Lemon rice. I’d made the Keralan curry before (from Jamie’s Fifteen Minute Meals) and even the kids loved it. I whizzed mine a little with a handheld blender so that the veggies were more manageable for the kids. The crab curry was new to me and was probably the stand-out dish of the evening – definitely on the ‘make for friends list’ – along with the cheesecake – more about that later!

The evening was very much a group effort – with Jamie’s online team, including Jim, Merlin and Danny having done much of the prepping and cooking, with help from Jamie’s graduates, Joe, Merci and Tyrone.

Jamie’s former online editor, Danny McCubbin also took the floor and spoke to us about his latest role heading up the San Patrignano UK London association – a ‘not for profit’ organisation providing support and counselling to anyone struggling with drug addictions. The UK branch of this organisation echoes the amazing work done at the original San Patrignano Institute in Rimini, Italy. In fact, the wine we had been drinking that night had mostly been made by the trainees at San Patrignano in Italy, as part of their rehabilitation programme to learn new skills and artisan trades.

We also heard from Joe Gray, a former graduate of Jamie’s Fifteen, who has also been encouraged to spread his wings, starting a catering business of his own and now a second business called Slovely. Joe now imports products from San Patrignano in Italy as well as from Slovenia, including some of the hand harvested, unrefined Slovenian sea salt, or piranske soline that we tasted and were given to take home. You can buy the salt in Selfridges.

To wrap thing up (well, for the evening upstairs at least – a number of us made it downstairs for a cocktail at Fifteen) we demolished Merlin’s recreation of Jamie’s Bloomin’ easy vanilla cheesecake with a boozy cherry compote. This was such a treat – as you would expect, a smooth cheesecake, with the perfect crumbly base, jazzed up with a cherry compote. I’d actually recommend trying any of Jamie’s cheesecakes – I’ve got my eye on the cherry and chocolate cheesecake recipe, particularly as British cherries are in season now, too.

All in all, this was a really enjoyable evening with lots of us making new friends and the JamieOliver.com team showing great keenness to build relationships with food bloggers. I can also recommend the ‘Run n Tings’ cocktail at Fifteen – complete with a striking treacle-rimmed glass!

You can read some other accounts of the evening here –

Sally Prosser for My Custard Pie
Leyla Kazim for The Cutlery Chronicles
Selina Periampillai for Yummy Choo Eats
Amy Jones for She Cooks She Eats
Rosana McPhee for Hot & Chilli

More to be added…

If you find yourself making any of Jamie’s recipes – whether from his books or online – the editorial team at JamieOliver.com (@JamieOliverCom) are always keen to re-tweet, share and connect with us all so do make sure you say ‘hi!’ and let them know.

With many thanks to Merlin Jobst, Jim Tanfield and the JamieOliver.com editorial team for the invitation to join them for the evening and to Jon Rotheram at Fifteen, Danny, Joe, Merci and Tyrone for their tasty cooking. All thoughts and opinions my own.

Are you a fan of Jamie Oliver’s recipes? Do you have a favourite?

June 5, 2013

A postcard from Italy

I’m back from a truly memorable family holiday with husband and children to Italy, visiting the relatively undisturbed, food-filled region of Emiglia Romagna, offering an abundance of local produce, stunning panoramic mountain landscapes, quaint local villages and nearby striking Adriatic coastline. We were also able to take in some of Veneto, flying into Venice for an overnight visit, before driving down towards Bologna and Bagno di Romagna. We were utterly captivated by the charm of Venice with its Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge and famous Rialto Market, along with tranquil gondola rides and the views of the Palazzo Ducale from the balcony of St Mark’s Basilica.

After Venice, we spent the majority of the week in the pretty spa town of Bagno di Romagna, about three kilometers from where my gorgeous sister and her family live. After making ourselves at home in a 17th century apartment called ‘Casa Biozzi’ we continued to explore the region. This was a wonderful base from which to strike out across the border into Tuscany and to re-visit Florence. We also spent the day exploring the capital of Emilia Romagna, Bologna, where I was simply enthralled by the backstreets, shops and food markets beyond any comparable measure – lots more on Bologna to come. We also managed to track down the sleepy town of Forlimpopoli, the birthplace of Pellegrino Artusi, author of famous Italian cookbook “La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiare bene” where we found Casa Artusi housing a delectable restaurant, a library with 4,500 cookery books as well as a renowned cookery school. And of course, we were blown away by the array of local delicacies, such as spring ‘prugnoli‘ mushrooms, porcini fritti, red wine from the region and lots of unbeatable home cooked, Italian food and hospitality. The children were very happy too and in their element eating spaghetti pomodoro, tagliatelli al ragu, pizza and gelato every day!

It’s hard to pick a highlight; the whole week was full of fun; famiglia and laughter.

As you can imagine, I have enough memories now for at least a thousand blog posts and I’m very sad to be back at home. I’ve no doubt that my Italian adventures will inspire my writing and cooking for many months to come.

I’ve hit the ground running with a post over on Jamie Oliver.com on Vegetarian Pizza Ideas. You can read some of my other featured pieces, currently to a vegetarian theme here.

The @JamieOliverCom team are also new to Twitter, so pop over and say ‘hi’ with a tweet.

In the meantime, thank you so much to everyone who entered Simple and in Season this month for its second birthday! I was blown away by the number of entries and promise to round up very soon. The June blog event will be open shortly, too.

Hope you enjoyed your half term or late spring break, if you had one. Let me know what you did.

Note: This was a family holiday, all expenses and experiences were our own.

April 26, 2013

British Asparagus Season 2013

The British asparagus season has begun – it was officially marked by St George’s Day on 23rd April and by signs of the first few spears of British asparagus for sale. I’ve found some already at my favourite local Italian deli, Buongiorno Italia in St Albans, grown on Barfoot Farms on the South Coast. I’ve already raved about it this morning on a new local radio show, Out and About, on Radio Verulam with Ellie Ophira and I also wrote a post all about how to cook asparagus for Jamie Oliver.com – pop over and have a read! I love supporting British growers and local produce and asparagus is a really healthy vegetable, packed full of vitamins, iron and soluble fibre. It is, by far, my favourite spring ingredient!

For me, the simplest things are often the best. My first British asparagus was also marked by my first outdoor lunch. I quickly pan-friend the chopped asparagus with some lemon olive oil, garlic and mushrooms. Keep the pan nice and hot and you can toast your bread in there, too.

The kids love using asparagus spears to dip into soft boiled eggs – just pop the spears in the pan at the same time as boiling your eggs for 3 minutes and you’re done.

I’m sure I’ll be back with lots more ways to use asparagus. In the meantime, here are a few more of my favourite recipes and articles.

Asparagus and Mozarella Toasts – Ren’s recipe

Pasta with Asparagus, Goat’s Cheese and Lemon – Ren’s recipe

Asparagus, Tomato & Mozarella Salad – Ren’s recipe

Asparagus Ribbons & Pomegranate Pearls Salad – by Regula, Miss Foodwise -recipe

Asparagus: Worth its weight and all the wait in gold – by The Patient Plotter for The Foodie Bugle – feature

Asparagus: Gorgeous but not here for long! Ren Behan for Jamie Oliver.com -feature

What’s your favourite way to eat asparagus?

Don’t forget to link up your asparagus recipes and stories to Simple and in Season!

February 8, 2012

Restaurant Review – Jamie’s Italian, The Bell, Chequer Street, St Albans

Last weekend saw the opening of a new branch of Jamie’s Italian in St Albans, taking over the space that used to be The Bell Public House on Chequer Street. The Bell becomes Jamie Oliver’s 25th restaurant in the Jamie’s Italian chain and since it’s on my doorstep, I was eager to visit. I joined fellow St Albans food blogger Heidi Roberts for a pre-opening lunch on Saturday, ahead of the official opening on Sunday 5^th February.

The Bell is a listed building, with a chimney dating back to the 18th century and other areas dating back to the 19th century. Having followed the press reports, it would seem that Jamie has had to work very hard to jump through strict regulatory hoops, whilst sticking to a brief of ‘enhancing the character and appearance’ of the St Albans conservation area. He has succeeded, and The Bell now stands proud again, offering 150-seats to discerning St Albans diners.

My first impressions were that many of the building’s original features have been kept, whilst being given the ever-more familiar ‘Jamie’s Italian’ stamp. As you walk in, on show is a fresh pasta station (all pasta is made in the house) and a long drinks bar to the left, stacked with Italian wines and Jamie’s organic house wine, stored in eco-friendly Tetra Pak cartons – it is later decanted. There is also fresh bread, tins of Italian tomatoes, and of course, the obligatory levels of Jamie merchandise and cookery books to buy.

At the front of the building (along Chequer Street) are two separate dining areas, both with exposed brick walls and restored fireplaces, offering a more traditional and cosy atmosphere, a bit more like a pub. The main dining area has a more urban feel, sitting directly underneath a large glass roof through the middle and a timber-vaulted ceiling to the right-hand side, with windows looking out into the ‘premium-retail’ area known as The Maltings. Tables are a mixture of wood with metal chairs, or metal with wooden chairs, with bright red benches around the perimeter and gun-metal, painted walls.

As well as the bar, there is also an open dessert and cold-starter preparation area, adorned with chillis and garlic, market-style vegetable crates and hanging salami and San Daniele hams, and further on, a very busy, semi-open kitchen. The service area is bustly, but diners are kept well out of the way.

Onto the menu, the very first thing I spotted was Burrata with chilli and mint (£6.25), a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. It’s all the rage, don’t you know?! In any case, it is very welcome in St Albans and I hope it stays here.

Ahead of that, there was, in fact, a selection of Nibbles or small bites that I had missed, such as an Italian bread selection (£3.75) or the ‘World’s best olives on ice’ (£3.75) – which did look quite cool.

I had to go for the Burrata (and I wasn’t disappointed) but I was hugely tempted by the Autumn Bruschetta – Beetroot ripple, smashed pumpkin, scamorza and cavalo nero (£8.95 to share), so I’ll have to go back for that. We also tried the Crispy Squid (£5.75) – not especially crispy, but the garlicky mayo was indeed, as described, very garlicky! Because we were feeling greedy, we also tried Jamie’s Funky Chips with fresh garlic and parsley (£3.25) but our waiter told us that the Famous Polenta Chips (£3.45) were his favourite.

The planks (£6.85 a head) seemed particularly popular too looking around, small piles of cured meats, Italian cheeses, or sliced, char-grilled, seasonal vegetables served with pickles and chilli jam. I also noted the Artisan meat boards (£4.45 each) of English wild boar salami, Truffle salami and Levonetto tondo, again, to try next time. The planks themselves are long wooden boards, held up by two tins of tomatoes on your table, creating a little bridge ideal for picking at and sharing.

Mains are divided into Pasta and Secondi (Meat or Fish.) We tried the Meatball carbonara, which was made with a fresher, lemon-cream sauce, San Daniele ham, meatballs and rigatoni pasta (£7.25/£11.25.) I enjoyed it, I was happy with the flavour, I didn’t find it too lemony or too salty and the pasta was perfectly cooked. Heidi ordered the Prosciutto spaghetti (£6.25/£9.75) which was a little dry, but well-flavoured with Sicilian lemon, fresh parsley and strips of San Daniele ham.

Making a nuisance of ourselves again and peering across onto other tables, we spotted the Seaside risotto (£8.95/£15.95) which was served on a very large plate, and garnished with clams, mussels, prawns and Gurnard. The Truffled Turkey Milanese (£12.25.) is highlighted as ‘Jamie’s Favourite’ on the menu and was a hit amongst diners. It looked like a huge piece of flattened turkey, stuffed with Fontina cheese and Prosciutto ham, topped with a soft fried free-range egg. The portion sizes all seemed to be generous and crucially, plates were taken away clean!

Jamie’s Dolci, or desserts were flying out fast, too. We wanted to order the Amalfi lemon curd slice (£4.95) but they were out, so instead we went for the Peach and almond tart (£4.95) and the JI Warm Brownie (£4.95) served with fresh raspberries, crushed Amaretti biscuits and vanilla ice-cream. Both desserts were substantial, and in typical Jamie Oliver-fashion, pretty tasty.

Overall Impressions

Having visited the old Bell, which was a dark and dingy alco-pop filled noisy pub, I’m pleased to say that Jamie’s Italian is a vast improvement. Jamie himself stopped by earlier on Monday to give the place a once over, showing that he is not as far removed from his business ventures as some might say. Gennaro Contaldo, Jamie’s long-standing mentor also popped in on Thursday. Gennaro is credited for training the chefs at Jamie’s Italian, making sure they are up to speed and ready to go. The restaurant itself, as with all the others in the chain, will be managed by Jamie’s team.

Upstairs has also been renovated to a high standard, with posh toilets (Crapper, no less), white washbasins with vintage taps and grey-polished tiles. There is a disabled toilet and baby-change on the ground floor and though the main entrance is at the front, there is a ramp at the back for disabled access, too.

We did find it to be extremely busy and whilst the entire restaurant was packed, the tables in the centre of the dining room were particularly crowded, with, as you would expect in St Albans, lots of parents with kids. I’ll have to go back with mine to try out the children’s menu as I was too busy being a lady-who-lunches and forgot to ask!

On Saturday Jamie’s Italian was well staffed, although this was pre-opening, so the staff were technically still in training and the restaurant itself may have been artificially busy. We lunched for over two hours, so it wasn’t by any means a quick lunch, but we did have three courses. Our waiter was friendly and knowledgeable, at one point, he started telling us about the village that the pigs had lived in that were now the San Daniele ham hanging above the counter! The tables at the front (looking out onto Chequer Street) appear to offer a little more room, but you don’t get to see as much of the action.

Despite the fact that St Albans is already saturated with chain restaurants, I have a feeling that Jamie’s Italian will be a popular local hang-out, particularly if Jamie’s cheeky charm is allowed to shine through his team and his staff are able to relax into service as the hype subsides. I’ll definitely be going back, I admire the ethos behind the restaurant (fresh food, house made pasta, seasonality in the menu, reasonably priced) and I’m pleased we have a Jamie’s here now.

It is possible to book at table at Jamie’s Italian on-line, though they also operate a walk-in policy and will try and seat you, if possible.

We paid for our own meals, though we were given a 50% discount on our food as a soft-opening. With wine, starters, mains, an extra side and desserts the price would have been around £35.00 a head.

Thanks Heidi for taking me along!

Jamie’s Italian
22 Chequer Street
St Albans
Herts
AL1 3YD

Tel: 01727 221 266

Monday – Saturday
12.00 noon – 11.00pm

Sunday
12.00 noon – 10.30pm