][1]Scarily, it’s been fifteen years since Jamie Oliver was introduced to the UK as the Naked Chef.
His profile has peaked and troughed a few times since then but we don’t think we’re on thin ice to suggest that these days he is well on the way to national treasure status.
If his first books were a little bish, bash, bosh and lad about town, his latest opus, Jamie’s comfort Food, casts the man as a slightly bonkers uncle.
The first episode of the Channel 4 Jamie’s Comfort Food series went out last night and, if you caught a glimpse, then you will have a fair idea of the tone of his latest recipe book.
Chummy enthusiasm
It’s chummy, enthusiastic and brimming over with recipes which are simple but deliver good-looking and presumably tasty results.
Among the hundred recipes, there is nothing that would frighten the keen amateur cook but plenty of little tips and hints to elevate familiar perhaps everyday dishes into something more special.
For example, he advises cooks to butter the bread on both sides when making a cheese toastie and, if you have any leftover mashed potato, to add a layer of it to the toastie.
Other dishes, such as his two day bouillabaisse, are rather more complex affairs.
Kitchen dabblers and enthusiasts
In short, there are options for the kitchen dabbler and the enthusiast who reckons that they could do better than most of the Muppets on MasterChef.
As you might imagine, the photography is spectacular and the recipes are written in Jamie’s simple and eager style.
The 5pm Dining blog is loath to mention Christmas at this stage in the game but if you are looking for a present for the cook in your life…