Book reviews by Mobilism's Book Review team
Sep 18th, 2017, 12:02 pm
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TITLE: 5 Ingredients - Quick & Easy Food
AUTHOR: Jamie Oliver
GENRE: Non-Fiction, Diets & Healthy Eating, Cookbooks
PUBLISHED: August 24, 2017
RATING: ★★★★★

PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon iBookStore
MOBILISM LINK: N/A

Review: Jamie Oliver is the second highest selling British author, after JK Rowling! Quick & Easy Food is Jamie’s 20th cookbook. I can’t believe it, but he is at it again, doing what he does best, making food approachable and simple to cook, using just 5 ingredients.

Describing Jamie's 5 Ingredients - Quick & Easy Food, I will quote Jamie...
'Welcome to the wonderful world of amazingly simple food. The simplest, simplest most delicious food ever!’
and that’s the theme that is running across the entire book. The bio reads,
'we're talking quality over quantity, a little diligence on the cooking front, and in return massive flavour.'

It’s his simplest book to date, with regards to no-fuss, no-frills cooking. Only a handful of ingredients, which includes pantry staples, are needed. I think it’s a very relevant style of cooking and a must-have, with the hectic lifestyles that people have today. The end of a busy day doesn’t leave much inspiration for most people to cook, as cooking is considered a time-consuming endeavour after a 10, 12, or 13 hour day!

There are more than 130 recipes, with chapters on Chicken, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Fish, Eggs, Veg, Salads, Pasta, Rice and Noodles, and Sweet Things. With every recipe you'll find a visual ingredient guide, serving size, timings, a short, easy-to-follow method, and quick-reference nutritional information.

You do not need a lot of things for each recipe, but pantry staples, such as jarred stuff, like chilli jam, lime pickle, hoisin sauce, black bean sauce, teriyaki sauce, sriracha sauce, kimchi, chocolate, miso sauce, red wine vinegar, olive oil, cheese or a jar of curry paste etc.

Most of the recipes in the cookbook are easily made under 15 minutes. I, myself have tried 3 recipes from the book which were super easy to make, the Super Green Spaghetti, Garlic Mushroom Pasta, and the Easy Rustic Gnocchi.

GARLIC MUSHROOM PASTA

SERVES 2 | TOTAL 16 MINUTES

150g dried trofie or fusilli
2 cloves of garlic
250g mixed mushrooms
25g Parmesan cheese
2 heaped tablespoons half-fat crème fraîche

Cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving a mugful of cooking water. Meanwhile, peel and finely slice the garlic. Place it in a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat with ½ a tablespoon of olive oil, followed 1 minute later by the mushrooms, tearing up any larger ones. Season with sea salt and black pepper, and cook for 8 minutes, or until golden, tossing regularly.

Toss the drained pasta into the mushroom pan with a splash of reserved cooking water. Finely grate in most of the Parmesan, stir in the crème fraîche, taste, season to perfection, and dish up, finishing with a final grating of Parmesan.

I love the desserts, i.e. the Sweet Treats section of the book. There are so many simple, easy to make desserts with just 5 ingredients. It doesn’t get any simpler than that. The Chocolate Orange Shortbread, Chocolate Rye Cookie made out of leftover bread!

5 Ingredients - Quick & Easy Food is Jamie Oliver’s simplest no-fuss cookbook yet. I like that the ebook index of the book also consists of a photo recipe index from which you can click and go to the recipe as well. This is a must-keep book for everyone, those who know how to cook or those who want to cook.
Sep 18th, 2017, 12:02 pm