Recipe # 19: Fresh Asian Noodle Salad

By Jamie Oliver:

• 300g/10½oz cellophane noodles or beanthread noodles
• 200g/7oz minced beef
• 2 teaspoons five-spice
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated
• 2 heaped teaspoons of grated fresh ginger
• 100g/5½oz cooked peeled prawns
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 1 bunch of spring onions, finely sliced
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
• 1 handful of fresh coriander, chopped

• 1 handful of fresh mint, chopped
• 2 handfuls of roasted peanuts
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

By Andrew Fernandez:

OK the instructions only mentioned soaking the noodles. However, you actually need to "cook" it in order for them to become translucent! Its a very refreshing dish and great served cold on a hot day! Don't skip on the mint, coriander or ginger. They do the entire job and bring the dish to life.

By the way, this dish doesn't really exist in Asia. I know, but YUM!

Recipe # 18: Roaster Chicken Breast with Creamy Butternut Squash and Chilli

By Jamie Oliver:

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Put 1 chicken breast, with its skin left on, in a bowl. Deseed and slice up half a fresh red chilli and add to the bowl with the leaves from a couple of sprigs of fresh marjoram or oregano and a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss together. Very carefully cut a medium butternut squash into quarters. Remove the seeds and slice one quarter of the squash as finely as you can. Place the chicken breast and flavourings from the bowl into the tray and snugly fit your squash slices around the chicken. Carefully pour a little double cream around the squash (not on the chicken). Season with grated nutmeg and salt and pepper then drizzle with some olive oil and cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 35 minutes.

By Andrew Fernandez:

Can I stress sticking with the original recipe? Making and substituting too much probably ruined this dish. But it looked great. I can't say much about the taste. I think I tried to "Spice it up" just a little too much. I still don't understand the double cream in this dish. It doesn't look appetizing when its cooked.

Recipe # 17: Paella

By Jamie Oliver:

• 6 boneless chicken breasts or thighs, preferably free-range or organic, skin on, each quartered
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• plain flour, for dusting
• olive oil
• 100g chorizo, sliced
• 6 slices pancetta or streaky bacon
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 litres hot chicken stock, preferably organic
• 2 large pinches of saffron

• 1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
• 500g paella rice
• small bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped, stalks chopped
• 2 handfuls peas, fresh or frozen
• 10 king prawns
optional: 500g mussels, scrubbed
• optional: 2 small squid, halved and scored

By Andrew Fernandez:

Hola! This was a great dish. Now this time I loved having the problem of making too much food at one time, cause there was lots of left-overs and loved it over an over again. I had Sterling over for lunch on Mother's day and we sat out in the patio.

Its amazing. All the "paella" taste, really resonates from the Chorizo. I am surprised at how easy this dish is to make and why I waited so long to try it out. Ugh! Writing this up now is making me hungry. :)

One of the ingredients in this dish had me going for a bit:

Question: What is the difference between Stock and Broth?

Answer: Technically speaking, Stock must contact bones in addition to any mean and seasonings. Broth is made from mean and seasoning without bones. So the next time you say broth or stock, you can say it with confidence and know what you really mean.

Recipe # 16: Chargrilled Pork Leg with Asparagus

By Jamie Oliver:

• 150g hard goat's cheese
• 8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 small bunch of fresh lemon thyme, leaves picked
• 4 x 225g pork escalopes, about 1cm thick
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g asparagus, finely sliced lengthways
• 250g green and yellow courgettes, finely sliced lengthways
• 4 tablespoons cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 1 bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked

By Andrew Fernandez:

I skipped the cheese. I have to admit. It still worked out great for me! I am still trying to learn when to or not use white wine vinegar. This dish has it well placed with the other ingredients. A very refreshing meal with the mint and lemon thyme. Heaven.

Recipe # 15: Pork Loin with a Great Herby Stuffing

By Jamie Oliver:

• ½ a pork loin, preferably the rib end, off the bone
• 1 small handful of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
• 3 heaped tablespoons fennel seeds
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 500g sourdough or rustic bread
• 2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 small handful fresh sage leaves, ripped up
• 1 handful of pinenuts
extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

By Andrew Fernandez:

This was a great tasting dish... The heavy accents of fennel tasted really good. This dish would be perfect for a fall/winter meal... I am very surprised with the balsamic vinegar in this dish. It worked out perfectly well. I did skip the fresh sage for the dried up stuff out of a bottle. It didn't make a difference. But, then again, I'm not really a big fan of sage.

Recipe #14: Beef Tagine

By Jamie Oliver:

• 600g stewing beef
• olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• a small bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 800ml vegetable stock, preferably organic
• 1 small squash (approximately 800g), deseeded and cut into 5cm chunks
• 100g prunes, stoned and roughly torn

• 2 tablespoons flaked almonds, toasted

For the spice rub
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 level tablespoon ras el hanout spice mix*
• 1 level tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 level tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 level tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 level tablespoon sweet paprika

By Andrew Fernandez:
Spicy? Yes. Great stewing dish. Ingredients? Hmm No, McCormick does not have "ras el hanout" spice mix. Who would have thought? I had to google and wikipedia that sucker up to find out his little secret spice mix. Needless to say, it varied from one person to the next. What, you might ask is "ras el hanout"? "top of the shop" in English. Yeah! I think there is a patent on this mixture and nobody is telling the truth. Like all the fake handbags in the world, I came up with my on version!

Recipe #13: Hunter's Chicken Stew (Pollo alla Cacciatora)

By Jamie Oliver:

• 1 x 2kg chicken, jointed, or use the equivalent amount of chicken pieces
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
• ½ a bottle of Chianti
• flour, for dusting

• extra virgin olive oil
• 6 anchovy fillets
a handful of green or black olives, stoned
• 2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes

By Andrew Fernandez:

I have to start really reading the recipes instructions before I begin to cook. Needless to say on a Sunday night, its not good to think that you have dinner all set when the instructions call out for "marinate overnight". I ended up with dinner out of a box - Tuna Skillet Dinner.

I don't really know why this dish called out for anchovy fillets. It did somewhat destroy the chicken flavors and masked the Chianti. Also never cook 12 pieces of chicken, especially a dish that you have no clue what its going to taste like. Finishing the food began to feel like a never ending chore.

I'm not exactly the greatest culinary photographer, but it really didn't taste as bad as it looks.

Recipe #12: Roasted Carrots and Beets with the juiciest Pork Chops

By Jamie Oliver:

• 750g carrots, mixed colours if available, peeled
• 750g beets, different sizes and colours if available
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bulb of garlic, broken apart, half the cloves smashed, half left whole
• extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 orange
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
• 5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 4 thick organic pork loin chops, skin on
• 8 fresh sage leaves

• 1 lemon

By Andrew Fernandez:

OK! OK! I admit... I skipped on the sage. I am not a big fan and I think it went well without. Now for the multi colored carrots and beets, seriously? All I have seen are orange carrots and the purple magenta beets, so thats all I got!

And a little note of advise, unless you are planning on coloring all your white plastic lunch boxes to a nice shade of Magenta, use glassware!

The food? Yum!

Recipe #11: Hamilton Squash

By Jamie Oliver:

• 1 small handful of dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 butternut squash, halved and seeds removed
• olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, pounded
• a pinch or two of dried chilli, to taste
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 5 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 100g basmati rice
• ½ a handful of pinenuts, lightly roasted

By Andrew Fernandez:

Two years ago, I stepped out of my comfort zone and picked up a butternut squash and grilled it. I was amazed with my experience. I think there is no way you could mess this ingredient up in any way. Having tried this recipe, I was actually impressed that it could be an entire meal by itself. Porcini mushrooms was quite the adventure to find. I know, most people probably know what it is, but from a person who always thinks mushrooms are sold in cans, it was quite hard to find. Oh! and pinenuts are are not in the nut aisle, but the bakery!

Recipe #10: 1 Steak 2 Sauces

By Jamie Oliver:

For the steak:
• 4 x 200g sirloin or rib-eye steaks (approx• 2.5cm thick)
• olive oil
• a sprig of fresh rosemary
• 1 clove of garlic, halved
For the peanut sauce:
• 100g roasted monkey nuts, shelled, skins removed
• 50g sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 1 smoked chipotle chilli, crumbled (or 1 teaspoon smoked paprika)
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced

• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• a swig of rum
• juice of 1 lime
• 1–2 fresh green chillies, stalks removed, seeds left in
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Mexican salsa verde:
• a small bunch of fresh coriander
• a small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled

• 1–2 fresh red or green chillies, deseeded
• 4 large spring onions, trimmed
• 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
• juice of 1–2 limes

By Andrew Fernandez:

Recently, I have had this thing about steaks! The weather has been unusually warm in the Midwest and it has felt quite a bit of steak weather. In this recipe, the two sauces were great, however it also meant that I had to share this experience with two sauces. They were both great sauces, and could have functioned independently from each other.

I have never heard of Monkey nuts, so I just used ground nuts. I'm not a nut guy, but I think it worked out just fine. I went easy on the Rum, (if you know me well enough) and that was good! The salsa verde was slightly more labor intensive and all that chopping... was work. But it was good. However, I'm pretty sure that this salsa verde recipe was different from another one I had tried before.