As a raving locavore and huge fan of cooking, it's no surprise that Jamie Oliver's new book, Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life, is a delight on many different levels. Jamie has always emphasized using fresh local ingredients, but in this book he advocates getting as fresh and local as possible and uses his own organic garden and farm as inspiration.
The book is organized by season, with each section divided into chapters devoted to a main ingredient such as orchard fruit, winter vegetables, game, mushrooms, etc. Each chapter then contains a handful of recipes that showcases its star ingredient. The accompanying photos are gorgeous, showing dishes lovingly prepared (or still cooking!), often right where the food was grown or foraged. The recipes are classic Jamie: loose, rustic, and amazingly simple. He lets the food speak for itself, choosing combinations that showcase the glories of the earth and just how much a cook can do with a little manipulation and a generous amount of olive oil.
Home cooks not familiar with Jaime's style or those needing precise instructions may find themselves annoyed as the author's famously casual style often includes such measurements as "a knob of butter" or a "nice handful" of this or that. Even cooking instructions can get a little vague; I'm not sure what "preheat the oven to full whack" means, but I'm guessing it's somewhere around "really hot." Those who tend to use recipes as guidelines or launching points, however, will appreciate the freedom to experiment and improvise.
Jamie writes with a familiar chummy tone that makes the book fun and accessible. He's surprisingly intimate when talking about his garden, and the man clearly loves his 'winter veg' so much it's almost embarrassing. Even if you don't use any of the recipes, the lovely pictures, discussion of organic and local ingredients, and supplemental gardening information make this a worthy read.
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