Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life (2007)

Jamie at Home at first glance looks a lot like Andrea Chesman’s Serving Up the Harvest. Like her book, it is divided into seasons, although Jamie uses the traditional four seasons, and further divided by main ingredient. Jamie also provides information about growing seasonal products. But that’s about where the comparison ends. Where Andrea’s book deals solely with vegetables, Jamie at Home deals with seasonal products – which include things like fruit, eggs, and certain meats like lamb. That makes this book very interesting for those who aren’t such vegetable lovers – or those who like to cook seasonal with more ingredients than just vegetables.

As for the recipes, like always with Jamie Oliver’s books, they are delicious. However, I must make the remark that although they look deceptively simple, the recipes are always is more work than they seem at first glance. No matter how delicious his recipes, most of them are of the ‘special’ variety – which means I cook them on weekends or on holidays when I have the time – but in my opinion they are not so suitable for normal, everyday, nine-to-five working days. Nonetheless, I’m very pleased with the culinary results from trying the recipes – the taste is superb and well worth whatever work the recipes take.

Aside from the recipes, there are amusing anecdotes that accompany every chapter, a list of Jamie’s favorite varieties of many vegetables and some fruits, and a very useable recipe index that includes an indication for which recipes are vegetarian (more than you’d think). All in all, a lovely book that I won’t mind cooking from more often. ( )

Jamie Oliver is a successful celebrity chef, deservedly so. That allows him to have a huge vegetable garden in his back yard and to enjoy dishes made with pheasant, venison, and other expensive ingredients. I do not have those resources, so I find many of the fine recipes in this book to be unusable. ( )

Jamie Oliver's cookbooks are always a joy to read, full of great stories, wonderful recipes, and beautiful photos. This is no exception -- and it comes with the added benefit of seasonal recipes (even if Britain's seasonal offerings don't quite match those in the US) and delightful book design. ( )

This book combines three of my favorite things to do: Reading, cooking, and gardening. What I have tried:
Tray-baked meringue with pears, cream toasted hazelnuts and chocolate sauce on page 39. The picture on page 38 is actually what made me purchase the book ! Great dessert. Next time I will try strawberries instead of pears, or banana, or pineapple, blueberries. (April 26, 2008) ( )