Swedish Meatballs, Celeriac & Spinach Rice

Meal 10 - Jan 30th - Swedish Meatballs, Celeriac & Spinach Rice

Big night tonight. Not just because a romantic weekend away meant this was my first opportunity to cook a 15 minute meal for a week, but also because Lolz' fave football team, Norwich, were playing Tottenham and if things went badly, Lolz would not be getting any dinner. I decided to go for a quick, calming  pre-dinner run, but ended getting caught up amongst the Fulham fans making their way to Craven Cottage. Not the best start to the evening. And not only that, for once my food processor stood redundant as I picked possibly the only recipe in 15 minute meals which requires neither fine chopping, slicing, grating, whipping, liquidizing or indeed any of the other seven as yet unknown function which said processor can apparently perform. I was a little nervous.

Shortly after beginning my prep, Norwich scored the opening goal of the game. Despite Lolz' (admittedly rather sheepish) celebrations I put it out of my mind and, unlike the Tottenham defenders, focussed on the task at hand. First job was putting on the rice and I decided to test out the Jamie method of using 2 cups boiling water for one cup rice. Since the rice was the standard wholegrain stuff that takes 20-25 minutes to cook, I knew that the 15 minute cooking time was out the window... The peeling and chopping of the celeriac was also a more laborious task than expected. Anyway, before too long the celeriac was frying away, rice cooking and meatballs sizzling, and I psyced myself up for the next task: flambeing the meatballs! I was slightly dubious given the proximity of the cupboards to the stove, and having never flambed before I was unsure how big the flames would be, and exactly how big a danger there was of setting fire to the kitchen. Results can be seen below.

Thankfully Gareth Bale scored a spectacular equaliser for Tottenham so Lolz did get her dinner, although (secretly sulking at the late equaliser I imagine) did say that she would have appreciated some kind of cold yoghurt/ cranberry based sauce on the side. Personally, given that I did not set fire to the kitchen, and that the finished dish was one of the tastiest so far, I thought it was a bloody triumph.

Lolz gave the dish 9/10. Difficulty rating 5/10 - just need to make sure you regurlarly stir the celeriac to prevent burnage, and give the meatballs an occasional shake.

Sausage Fusilli, Creamy Garden Salad

Meal 9 - Jan 23rd - Sausage Fusilli, Creamy Garden Salad

As I type this latest post, I am literally munching my way through a rather impressive mound of leftovers from last night's latest attempt at a Ja-meal (does that work? No?), and to be honest that is where this dish scores highly - leftoverability. You can easily chuck it in a tupperware and heat it up the next day. Unfortunately though, it is this simplicity that is also the downfall of this dish: for me it is not drastically better than a hastily thrown together pasta and a jar of sauce, albeit a good quality jar of sauce. With the cost of putting the dish together (the jarred peppers cost £2.19 alone) and the mess created during the cooking process (sorry Lolz) I don't think I would be in any hurry to do this again.

I also thought the fennel overpowered the sauce slightly, and the salad was a little boring.

Lolz gave the dish a very generous 8/10, although later downgraded this to a 7 when she saw the state of the kitchen... Difficulty factor 4/10. The only real challenge was in fitting a griddle pan, large saucepan and frying pan all on the same stove.

Turkish Flats, Shred Salad, Feta and Herbs

Meal 8 - Jan 20th - Turkish Flats, Shred Salad, Feta and Herbs

With an important afternoon of Premier League football ahead, we knew that our usual Sunday afternoon lunch of soup would not cut it. Naturally we turned to Jamie and, having been yet to try any lamb recipes (I know, it's not really the season) I had had my eye on this one for a few days.

We'd bought the ingredients yesterday and substituted the tortillas for flatbreads. The cooking lamb, with all the spices and flavourings mingling away, briefly transported me to the bazaars of Constaninople before the smoke alarm brought me back with a bump. Fortunately no major damage was done, and with the salad taking all of 30 seconds to slice in the processor, there was at one point serious danger that I might actually cook this in under 15 minutes. I even had time to knock up some home made houmous.

With THFC scoring a last minute equaliser it turned out to be a very satisfactory afternoon indeed.

Lolz gave the dish 9/10. We both agreed that there was a bit too much lemon, while a bit more lamb wouldn't go amiss either. Difficulty rating 3/10. If using flatbreads, they only need a couple of minutes in the oven!

Steak, Liver and Bacon, Bubble & Squeak Mash, Red Onion Gravy

Meal 7 - 19th Jan - Steak, Liver and Bacon, Bubble & Squeak Mash, Red Onion Gravy

Liver. Conjures up memories of overcooked school dinners and mother's cooking, which is not a good thing. To be honest I have pretty much avoided offal in general for most of my life so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I began meal 7. And with the snow pelting down I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about hitting the shops. But, with the promise of a post-shopping pint, and remembering the enriching experience of last weeks trip to the market, we set out nonetheless.

Our first destination was Dickenson's Butchers, highly recommended by other middle-class types. We bought a good hunk of fillet steak, a large pack of streaky bacon, a slab of calves liver and some lamb mince (for tomorrow's meal - it's all about the pre-planning) all for less than £12. Most of the remaining ingredients came from the Lebanese supermarket we discovered last week.

The cooking of the dish is relatively straightforward. After a few minutes, I had the steak frying, the potatoes and sprouts boiling away and the gravy on the go, and had nothing to do. I even considered tidying up the work surface but dismissed the idea (Lolz loves tidying up after me). Once the steak was cooked to what I thought was approximately medium rare, I began on the liver. Having never cooked it before it was mostly guesswork and it did arguably come out overcooked. All in all though, the final dish was comfort food at it's finest and I will certainly be looking to refine my liver cooking skills at some point in the future. The gravy was deeeelish.

Lolz gave the dish 8/10. Thought the steak was somewhat superfluous and wanted more veg! Difficulty rating 5/10.

Pork Steaks, Hungarian Pepper Sauce and Rice

Meal 6 - 16th Jan - Pork Steaks, Hungarian Pepper Sauce and Rice

Looking in the fridge, Lolz decided the fact we had half a fennel bulb left over meant I had to attempt this rather hearty and rustic looking pork fillet number. Finding no reason to object, I got my "15 minute meal head on" as Jamie puts it and realised that, just 17 days and 5 meals into this challenge, I really have developed a 15 minute meal head. Thinking back to my attempt at Rosemary chicken back on the 6th, I remembered cooking equipment and discarded packaging strewn all over the kitchen and numerous health and safety guidelines being willfully flaunted. Today the kitchen is a picture of calmness, ingredients and equipment ready, and various space saving solutions implemented.

The recipe is very simple; cook the rice, chuck all the sauce ingredients in to a pan and let it simmer while you griddle the pork. My only mistake was not sufficiently pre-heating the griddle pan before slapping on the meat. Lesson learned. The end result is basically sweet n sour pork with a twist, with the sauce packed full of veggie goodness. Would probably also work well with sausages in place of the pork fillet.

Lolz gave the dish a "surprising" 9/10. Difficulty factor 3/10.

Greek Chicken, Herby Vegetable Couscous and Tzatziki

Meal 5 - 13th Jan - Greek Chicken, Herby Vegetable Couscous and Tzatziki

Clearly on a roll, I decided to attempt a third meal in just 24 hours. I should confess however that I had already made this dish before, and that this was in fact the dish with which I christened my new food processor and I guess inspired this challenge way back on December 30th. I decided to attempt it again as we happened to have most of the ingredients in the fridge/ cupboard.

On the face of it, it looks a very simple cous cous and chicken recipe, but having cooked it before, I was aware that it was actually quite fiddly with lots of ingredients and lots of multi tasking, so I decided to cheat a bit and prepared the tzatziki in advance and stashed it in the fridge ready to serve. I have a few minor issues with recipe. Frist, two chicken breasts between four people is a little stingy. Second, 1 mug of cous cous is not equivalent to 300g. I used 300g the first time around and ended up with about twice as much as was needed. Third, the whole dish is just a little soggy - using 2 cups water for one cup cous cous is excessive, and the chopped veg also produces a lot of liquid.

Overall though, the dish is a success. The feta works well and adds another flavour and texture dimension, and whoever knew tzatziki was so easy to make?! Looks quite fancy too.

Lolz gave the dish 9/10. Difficulty factor 8/10. Definitely some potential as a next day lunch. Sadly on this occasion though, it all got eaten up...

Avo & Smoked Ham On Toast

Meal 4 - 13th Jan - Avo & Smoked Ham On Toast

It dawned on me that I may be slightly behind schedule in my challenge and if I'm going to see it through I will need to take advantage of lazy weekends at home. And so, still buzzing from yesterday's trip to the market, I embarked on my second 15 minute meal in 12 hours. Well 14 hours maybe. I selected a rather simple looking avocado and ham on toast breakfast number. And simple it so proved. I had already purchased some really fresh tomatoes and avocadoes from the aforementioned market trip, so it was a simple matter of toasting the bread (we went for soda bread) and then stacking on the tomato, ham and avocado. The tangy lemon and olive oil dressing was a perfect contrast to the rich creaminess of the avocado. Delish.

Lolz gave the dish 10/10 - said it could not be improved in any way!

Flashy Fish Stew, Saffron Sauce and Garlic Bread

Meal 3 - 12th Jan - Flashy Fish Stew, Saffron Sauce and Garlic Bread

If my previous pork dish was venturing into "slightly less well know territory", then this Flashy Fish Stew was breaking new frontiers. The challenge was not in the execution of the recipe (it was probably the easiest of all I had done so far) but in procuring the ingredients. I decided to embrace the Jamie ethos, don an aura of middle-class-ness (well, my gilet, which apparently is kind of the same thing) and negotiate North End Road market.

I was surprised and delighted to find the market chock full of bargainous delights, such as saffron for about a third of the Waitrose price and shell-on king prawns for 25p each! 25p!! I bought two red mullet from the fishmonger who happily gutted and scaled them for me (I was only cooking for two people, so assumed this would be enough...). Getting home I did encounter a few problems - the fish, when fully prepared into fillets (the fishmonger did not fully debone or remove the heads from the mullets) were a little on the small side, while a good proportion of the mussels (bought from Waitrose I might add) were unusable. I also broke the garlic crusher with some over enthusiastic garlic crushing, while Lolz later broke the pestle / mortar (not entirely sure which is which) in what can only be described as an evening of mixed fortunes.

Fortunately the finished dish was hearty and flavourful if lacking a little in seafood. The garlic bread was simple and much needed for mopping up the copious amounts of sauce. The real triumph of this dish though was that I really learned that the buying and preparing of seafood is not as scary as I once thought, and to really make it as flashy as the title promises, you probably need to buy a bit more seafood than you might imagine.

Lolz gave the dish 7/10. Said it would have been an 8 with less chilli and more fish. Difficulty factor 3/10.

Something fishy going on...

A sneak preview of what my next effort will involve...

Crispy Parma Pork, Minted Courgettes and Brown Rice

Meal 2 - Jan 9th - Crispy Parma Pork, Minted Courgettes and Brown Rice

Ooh brown rice healthy. After making a "safe" chicken dish first time round, I decided to venture into slightly less well known territory for meal 2: pork fillet. It's a cut of meat that to me always looks a little scary in the butchers. My first difficulty was sourcing different coloured courgettes. I knew yellow ones did exist but could not find anywhere that stocked them. Waitrose do a variety of round/baby courgettes in addition to the more traditional variety but none that are not green. I decided to go half and half with aubergine (that's egg plant for all my American fans out there).

In another minor diversion from the book, I used standard brown rice as opposed to the pre cooked option (with brown rice taking some 25 mins to cook this does admittedly defeat the 15 minute object of the recipe). Lolz was out running (seriously!) so I cooked the rice in advance and left it to cool. When Lolz returned from her run I began the recipe proper. The pork got prepped, veg sliced. You need a very big pan for all that veg! It all went rather smoothly. Warming the rice through in the pork pan with a bit of lemon juice and sundried tomato paste was a fantastic touch.

Once on the plate Lolz was immediately requesting extra yoghurt (Jamie seems to have adopted natural yoghurt as his condiment-du-jour) saying the dish was a little dry (although she was at pains to point out that this was not due to my cooking skills/ interpretation of the recipe, but down to the lack of any kind of sauce item in the recipe). She also thought that the chilli/ garlicky-ness of the courgettes overpowered the flavour of the meat, and on this point I would have to agree.

Lolz gave it 6/10. Difficulty factor 4/10. Leftover courgette and rice warmed through made a good next day lunch (although come to think of it I should probably not be reheating the rice so many times...)

Liquid Refreshment: I accompanied this meal with a bottle of St Peters Golden Ale. I can't really claim to be any kind of ale connoisseur but I did like the shape of the bottle and it was on offer in Waitrose.

Golden Chicken, Braised Greens and Potato Gratin

Meal 1- Jan 6th - Golden Chicken, Braised Greens and Potato Gratin

Is it unlucky that my first meal supposedly contains 666 calories? Probably not so I press on (incidentally, in this book Jamie gives detailed nutritional breakdowns on each meal - probably because previous books have received a backlash due to overuse of cream, olive oil and other delicious things).

I turn the dial on the stove and the heat, literally and figuratively, is on. The onions go into the roasting tray. Unfortunately it is a rather battered, non-non-stick (?) tray so requires regular attention to avoid burnage. Chicken and potatoes get prepped. All goes well until by the time I get to the point in the recipe to add the bacon to the chicken, the chicken is already cooked. I remove the chicken from the pan and fry the bacon alone, adding the chicken for the final 30 seconds or so.

To be honest this was all a good few days ago so details are a little hazy, but got it all out on to a plate and it went pretty well. Onions were slightly overcooked (mainly due to lack of non stick tray, but not to any significant detriment to the dish). Chicken was very tender although slightly plain with only rosemary leaves for flavour. Replaced the spinach with savoy cabbage (sorry Jamie) which worked a treat.

Lolz gave it 8/10. My Difficulty factor 7/10. I have used the greens dish as a side for other non-Jamie meals I have made since.

The Challenge

I've always had a soft spot for Jamie Oliver and his zany cooking skills and pseudo-Essex-wideboy stylings. The Day before New Years Eve, we happened to be in Debenhams and found a rather bargainous multi functional food processor and a challenge was born. This year I will be attempting to cook every recipe in the Jamie's 15 minute meals book. I will blog about the results of my challenge here.