Jamie's 30-Minute Meals: A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast Hardcover – 30 Sept. 2010

Right first things first - the only way any of these meals are going to take 30 minutes is if you are a chef or you have a helper, Jamie also fails to mention that each meal takes at least 30 minutes of washing up too. That said I love the book and if theres two of you it is much easier. I did find it easier to make the meals that I had watched on the TV series as you knew exactly what your doing, before you start make sure you take a leaf out of Jamie's book and relax, if you try and keep to his timings you'll get very stressed out.I love the concept of a recipe for a whole meal with instructions in time order,the only downside is if you want to omit an element or use just one of the dishes it is a bit of a pain. The meals are generous and great for big groups.My favourite meals:Curry Rogan Josh, fluffy rice, carrot salad, poppadoms, flatbread, beer - real winner with the lads, personally I think the carrot salad is the star of this one.Killer Jerk Chicken, rice & beans, refreshing chopped salad, chargrilled corn - I particularly love the rice and beans in this one.Chicken Skewers, amazing satay sauce, firey noodle salad, fruit and mit sugar - packed with flavour a real taste tingler.Piri Piri Chicken, Dressed Potatoes, Rocket Salad, Quick Portuguese Tarts - great mid-week mealSticky Pan-Fried Scallops, Sweet Chilli Rice, Dressed Greens, Quick Brownies - the Brownies are great and really quickRoast Beef, Baby Yorkies, Little Carrots, Crispy Potatoes, Super Quick Gravy - this is a great recipie for those who love roast dinner but can't be bothered with hours in the kitchen on a Sunday morning, even includes easy yorkshires.Tapas Feast, Tortilla, Glazed Chorizo, Manchego Cheese, Cured Meats & Honey, Stuffed Peppers, Rolled Anchovies - real winner if your havinng a summer garden party.The book is well laid out with lot's of pictures of all the food, just make sure you read the recipie first and know what equiptment you'll need. The food tastes amazing just make sure whoever your cooking for agrees to do the washing up!

Jamie Oliver should be stuck all over with praise stickers for his achievements in the advancement of the average British cook's repertoire. I am a Home Economist in my 50's, in my twenties I nearly wept with frustration when trying to teach at a large comprehensive school & instil good cooking & eating habits in future generations, an uphill struggle as witnessed by Jamie's programmes of the same. This book is easily an inspiring & different approach to cooking for anyone from teens to OAP's, it would be super to use when teaching cookery in a school. Beautifully photographed & laid out with step by step pictures, but importantly a recipe book which will be used. It is inspiring & makes you want to get into the kitchen & throw a delicious meal for family or friends together, as there are so many tempting recipes to choose from, there is something for everyone, it really is packed with ideas & menus. Even an old hand like me has been ooh-ing & aah-ing & drooling over the recipes.Jamie, you deserve a medal for all that you have done for food & cooking in the UK & beyond. Well done, this is a marvellous book. It is an entirely new type of format & approach for a recipe book, it makes such sense to approach cooking a meal from this angle. Every menu has the method for cooking each of the courses intertwined, so you prep a part of one dish move on to another course then back again, in the end the whole meal is cooked & ready on time. This skill of timing & planning to have a meal ready is lacking from many people's cooking abilities, this book will therefore be such a help to very many aspiring cooks or even people returning home from work tired yet wanting to eat well.Edited on 12/10/10 to add: having now viewed the first 2 programmes in Jamie's series which complement the book, I strongly feel this is ground breaking stuff. How Jamie comes up with so many refreshing new ideas, I do not know. His programmes are inspiring & just what the nation needs to get on with cooking great food which tastes fab, is good for you & gets the family back sharing their days chat over & super meal. This is a young man with a real talent.Katy Thompson - Home Economist & Aga Cookery Demonstrator

I have really decided to try this book out instead of just enjoying the pictures and then leaving it on my cook book shelf. It has been a lot of fun to get out all of the ingredients and then set about cooking together with the whole family. Because of the clear instructions my husband and daughter helped get the meal on the table because we could each follow our own part of the instructions. It meant that while I am cooking I did not have to delegate with an explanation to anyone who wanted to help out. So that was a fun added bonus. Also we tried the jerk chicken which was delicious and the tray baked chicken was also easy to make and tasty really nice. It was fun to see my husband who doesn't normally cook be so proud of what he had produced. I also found that the ingredients were easy to get. This is a fun book to use and you get good results. There are a lot of ingredients to collect together so requires a trip to the shops where you have carefully noted all of the ingredients and then once you have lined up all of the ingredients it is more or less possible to cook the dish in about 30 minutes.