Jamies's 30 Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver's television shows are characterised by his demonstrated passion for his craft and the food that he cooks and his down to earth attitude to presentation. He uses colourful language such as "smash" and "hammer" to describe what he is doing to food and "killer" as an adjective to describe one of the dishes he offers. All of this makes him a very popular television cook and most people enjoy his cooking along with him.

His latest series, the television show and the accompanying book, is no exception. His challenge to himself is to prepare delicious meals in just 30 minutes in the hope that his recipes will demonstrate that tasty, healthy and home cooked meals can be prepared in probably less time than it takes to order and pick up a takeaway or heat a readymade one in the oven and that this home prepared food is so much better for you. He is known for being an evangelist about eating fresh, healthy food and this latest series is an extension of that philosophy. He indicates, in a list of ingredients that he recommends to buy his preferences for organic and free-range products.

Oliver encourages his audience and his readers to feel that it is okay to use short cuts, which he teaches us to do. He makes us feel comfortable to use stock cubes and frozen puff pastry instead of the homemade versions. He is quite happy to use a microwave if appropriate and frozen fruit and vegetables, arguing that they are usually frozen at the peak of freshness. The foundation of his very efficient organisation is a rather specific list of utensils and how they are set out in readiness for each meal, as well as getting the brain focussed on the task ahead before the 30 minutes begin.

The procedures and timing for each meal are clearly described both on television and in the book. The instructions for each meal are contained on one page with the ingredients at the top of the page and photos of Jamie preparing the meal on the opposite one. While the instructions themselves are clear and replicate what Oliver says on television, they are in rather small and faint print and the photos are random and are not related to the stages of the recipes. Between one meal and the next are usually two pages of photos of Oliver cooking. It may have been more useful to use this space to enlarge the printing of the instructions and to have provided identified photos linked to the recipes. Nevertheless the book satisfies in that it offers a comprehensive series of 50 meals, all of which are quite obviously delicious and healthy.