I thought I would do my fair share to contribute to the demise of legitimate journalism by writing a book review. Never having written a book review, I’m not certain where to begin. Should I research other book reviews? Should I dig through my copious issues of Gourmet magazine (tear) and read others’ contributions to this discipline? In the spirit of this blog, I think I’ll wing it.
I’ve chosen my first review to be a book that embodies both food and garden, written by a progressive thought leader in organics, farm to table, and school nutrition. Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie at Home” is a combination of gardening and cooking through the seasons. A companion to his television series, also named “Jamie at Home,” both book and program take us to the beginning, his lush and abundant potager, where he selects the topic for the episode/season and then it’s into the kitchen to prepare meals with the simplest and freshest of ingredients.
Not limited to veggies only, there is a section devoted to eggs (he keeps chickens and takes on factory farming), all forms of meat and poisson, even a section devoted to hunting and game. He’s fairly passionate about barbecue (the season of summer, natch) and spends some time on the topic of fire building including the wood oven he had built in his garden. He shows that off in his chapter on pizza!
Along the way, Jamie reinforces the idea that simple food combinations utilizing quality ingredients will always yield a meal that not only looks inviting, tastes delicious, satisfies the diner and cook alike, knowing it came from the farm in a sustainable, responsible way.
While I have not cooked my way through the book, I’ve made two recipes that were deliciously wicked “proper chicken caesar salad” — don’t let the name fool you. You roast the chicken on top of the croutons and the bread soaks up the chicken fat (decadent) I’ve also made the pappardelle with slow-braised leeks and crispy porcini pangrattato (family voted 8 thumbs up, that’s out of 8 possible thumbs…)
I linger over this book whenever I pick it up. The images are beautiful and well, English country & idyllic and yet, having just had a taste of the garden to table life, I understand the strong pull. Since I’m relatively new to a proper garden, having just built a raised garden this year and planted my first veggies, I’ve actually used the book as a reference, synchronizing planting and trying veg that I wouldn’t have ordinarily. The section called, “useful stuff” is really, really useful — chocked full of resources.
“Jamie at Home,” more than a cookbook. If the series is available in your neck of the woods I highly recommend it as well. My thumbs, both of them, are way up!
www.jamieoliver.com
ISBN 978-1-4013-2242-7