Happy Days with the Naked Chef (Hardcover)

by Jamie Oliver (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef is in the same mold as his bestselling cookbooks, The Naked Chef and The Naked Chef Takes Off: recipes for simple, comforting food. This time, however, he has some interesting additions from his travels to Australia, New Zealand, America, and Japan. There are three new ideas in Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Oliver has included a chapter on "Comfort Food"--the kind of cooking Nigel Slater and Nigella Lawson specialize in. There are recipes for British favorites like Toad in the Hole, Fish Finger Buttie, and Sticky Sausage Bap with Melted Cheese and Brown Sauce. In his "Quick Fixes" chapter, Oliver has selected dishes where saving time and minimal washing up are the key ingredients. These include a Steak Sarnie and Chicken Breast Baked in a Bag with Mushrooms, Butter, White Wine, and Thyme. He has also included a "Kids Club" chapter, which offers inspiration for parents trying to get their children excited about food. The new additions don't dominate the book as the remaining two-thirds contain Oliver's standard Italian-style fare: simple salads, fish, meat, vegetables, breads, and desserts. Don't miss the excellent recipe for Medallions of Beef with Morels and Marsala and Crème Fraîche Sauce. Oliver has also been traveling and you'll find recipes with bok choy, soy sauce, and ginger popping up here and there--delicious! --Elizabeth Murgatroyd, Amazon.co.uk

From Publishers Weekly
Big-energy, high-profile Food Network celebrity Oliver (The Naked Chef) says this book addresses what the average person wants to cook at home; and perhaps never has a personality cookbook ranged so far across high and not-so-high cuisine. Oliver proposes the best way to eat store-bought fish sticks (broil them and serve on a white roll with ketchup) and devises easy dishes he calls Quick Fixes, such as Chicken Breast Baked in a Bag with Cannellini Beans, Leeks, Cream and Marjora. He suggests how to get kids involved (make Chocolate Cookies with Soft Chocolate Centers) and then proceeds to mouth-watering adult fare: Pot-Roasted Pork in White Wine with Garlic, Fennel and Rosemary]; Lovely Pan-Baked Plaice with Spinach, Olives and Tomatoes; and Medallions of Beef with Morels and Marsala and CrŠme Fraiche Sauce. Oliver's impulse to wow an audience is reflected in such recipes as Whole Roasted Salmon Wrapped in Herbs and Newspaper, to be cooked on a camp fire or over a barbecue, and Flour and Water Crust Chicken, in which a whole bird is enclosed, baked and brought to the table in a pastry covering. Chocolate and Whole Orange Pudding is actually baked with a pre-boiled orange in the center. A small quibble, but home cooks should pay attention when assembling ingredients because they are not always presented in simple lists. The 11 components in Japanese Rolled Pork with Plums, Cilantro, Soy Sauce and Spring Onions, for example, are given in only six lines. Oliver concludes with some of his favorite beverages, which include Easy Peasy Ginger Beer and the Margarita. (Oct.)Forecast: Oliver's previous two entries from Hyperion have been very successful, and this will follow the pattern. The last week in October, he'll tour seven cities, conduct cooking shows in bookstores and throw in some drumming as well, a musical talent he practices in his spare time.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (October 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078686852X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868520
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #238,798 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Jamie Oliver (Naked Chef) Cookbook Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Happy Days Hits Home, October 3, 2002

By	Rebecca Leckman (Singapore) - See all my reviews

Jamie Oliver's third cookbook doesn't disappoint! Fans of his previous two cookbooks will be pleased with his latest offering which showcases Jamie's signature fare: fresh, snappy, elegant dishes that are actually very doable in your own kitchen. Chapters cover salads, soups, pasta, fish, meats, breads, desserts, as well as some welcome sections highlighting roasted veggies, some fun options for cooking for and with kids, beverages (soft and hard), "Quick Fixes" which covers fast ways to prepare your favorite basic entrees, and "Comfort Grub" - an international jaunt through a selection of hearty, homey comfort foods. Aside from the great recipes and sharp photography, Jamie's charm, zest for life, and pure appreciation of food shine through on every page.

Although I have known folks who cringe at Jamie's cavalier "handful of this, heap of that " style of measuring, I found that he has grown a little less ambiguous as time goes on and the recipes in this book reflect that growth and precision. Another small thing I found very helpful (as the wife of a vegan): the index of the book kindly flags vegetarian dishes, making it easy to sort quickly through options for restricted diets. Whether you're an old fan of Jamie's shows or a new convert, this is a great addition to any kitchen library.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jamie Does Cooking with the Family. Highly Recommended, October 3, 2004

By	B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In every way imaginable, this third Jamie Oliver cookbook proclaims that he has arrived as a celebrity chef, husband, father, and all around swell lad made good. His name on the cover is about three times the size of the book's title, `Happy Days with the Naked Chef', the book is dedicated to his two children, Little Henners and Jakey Bakey, and photos his nibs with his wife, Jools appear throughout the book. On top of all this, there is a much broader representation of international flavors in these recipes based on trips to the Orient, echoing the influence of Japan on the culinary thinking of Joel Robuchon.

At the risk of laying it on just a little too thick, I really believe Oliver shows the kind of passion about good food and cooking which I have seen in very few other TV culinary personalities. Stopping short of a comparison with Julia Child, as Saint Julia did say she couldn't quite understand him most of the time, I would compare his enthusiasm with that of Mario Batali and Jacques Pepin, although he does not have the depth of technique of Jaques or the extensive knowledge of local Italian cuisines as Mario.

Oliver does not simply dedicate to his children for schmaltz value as he devotes a sizable section of the book on the value and attitudes to use when cooking with your kids. These few pages alone are worth the price of the book. Emeril just published a whole book on techniques for cooking with your kids, and as good a job as he did in telling you how to do it, Jamie does a much better job of telling you why you do it and what benefits will arise from the effort. Jamie also gives a few insights into his cooking with Jools as well when he says that once upon a time, every little suggestion on Jools' cooking from world famous chef Jamie was taken as a criticism and tended to dampen her enthusiasm for doing something she did not especially enjoy anyway. The whole picture changed when Jamie simply praised everything Jools did in the kitchen. The quality of her cooking and her attitude improved dramatically. I can think of a few of my relatives I would love to feed the wisdom in this book.

In reviews of Oliver's other books, I have warned that while Jamie preaches simplicity, this is not the same as quick or easy. Jamie does lean a bit toward quicker and easier in some chapters in this book, keeping to the cooking with the kids theme. He has a chapter on `Quick Fixes' and `Comfort Grub' plus `More Simple Salads'. And, he leaves out any recipes for homemade pasta, with all pasta dishes being based on dried pasta, which he always says is not inferior to fresh, just different. There is also a very short chapter just after the introduction on using fresh herbs, which for the entire world sounds like a sermon from Pastor Oliver exhorting you to use fresh herbs. This homily is understandable if you recall that Jamie Oliver's writing and televising about food is all about lifestyle, not just how to cook. His lesson is that fresh herbs are necessary to good cooking.

As always, Oliver's most appealing recipes are for salads, pasta dishes, and seafood. I sometimes wish that all of his books would be reissued collecting all like chapters into individual volumes and I would buy the salad and pasta volumes simply to have all these recipes together. They are by far the most original of his dishes, although there is one pasta dish Jamie attributes to Mario Batali and there are a few in his books that are attributed to his experiences at the River Café.

Bread is one of my favorite culinary subjects and Jamie is one of the very few superstar chefs who gives special emphasis to bread baking. His basic bread recipe is a classic fast method he probably got from Gennaro, as Contaldo uses a very similar recipe in his book `Passione'. The recipe violates the recommendation from experts like Peter Reinhart who promote little yeast and long rise times, but I have made Jamie's bread and I find it just fine, especially as a medium for rolling in savory additions such as onions and salami. To atone for his fast yeast bread, Jamie adds a recipe for artisinal sourdough bread with natural yeast and a classic Italian bega. Read this recipe very carefully before starting, as it takes a FULL WEEK to complete. If you are serious about bread, check out books by Reinhart, Joe Ortiz, or Nancy Silverton, but you could do a lot worse than getting your first taste of bread baking from Sir Jamie.

When someone has an engaging TV personality, I fear their enthusiasm may not transfer to a skill with the written word, especially with Jamie, as I have heard him say he dictates all his books into a tape recorder, as he never really learned to write properly in school. Let me assure you here that even his chapters with low culinary interest such as his chapters on mixed drinks are a joy to read.

Jamie has a habit of labeling certain recipes as `the best ever'. Well, I have made his `best ever' recipes and I agree with him. They have all become standards in my repertoire. He continues to match or exceed the very high quality of recipes you will find from the River Café or even from Signoir Batali himself.

On the remote chance that Hyperion editors read this review for constructive criticism, I will point out that the layout of ingredient lists makes reading the recipes a bit annoying, as does the absence of ingredient lists from some of the simpler recipes.

If one wishes to get more out of their cooking, they could not do much better than to work their way through Jamie Oliver's cookbooks.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars happy cooking with the naked chef, October 1, 2002

By	Kasey M. Moctezuma "parisgirl" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

this is a really fun cookbook and there is something for everyone here. For those who like Jamie Oliver's first two books, this is more of the same nice stuff - good rustic recipes that are tasty and some of which are very fast and easy to make. The recipes are a mixture of Italian, British fare from Jamie's childhood days, and a mixture of a few other cuisines. What is nice about this book is that there is also a section about cooking with kids and getting kids interested in helping with food preparation and to make meals more interesting and interactive for them (and you!). Also, at the end there is a section of drinks as well, some alcoholic (like the sidecar) and some non-alcoholic (like mango lassi). All in all this is a really nice book and it will make you realize that making your own bread, soups, tarts, etc is not really hard, and is really rewarding and fun. And... as a wife who cooks every day, it has given me a lot of fresh ideas for new meals. check it out!