Book reviews by Mobilism's Book Review team
Nov 5th, 2019, 11:14 am
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TITLE: Veg: Easy Delicious Meals for Everyone by Jamie Oliver
AUTHOR: Jamie Oliver
GENRE: Non-Fiction, Cookbooks, Vegetarian & Vegan Cooking
PUBLISHED: 22 Aug. 2019
RATING: ★★★★☆

PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon iBook Store
MOBILISM LINK: Read Here UK Version US Version

Description: Veg: Easy & Delicious Meals for Everyone is the 23rd cookbook by Jamie Oliver, and it also is the one I have been looking forward to! Jamie originally announced the book 6 to 8 years ago but, for some reason, it didn’t come to fruition until now. Jamie Oliver is one of those authors whose books I buy as he always includes sufficient vegetarian recipes in them; he has for years been encouraging incorporating more vegetables during daily cooking both in his cookbook and shows. I don’t eat meat but his recipes always include veggies; and are easy to substitute some veggie for the meat or just exclude it from the recipe altogether.

I think now was the right time for his publishers to finally give a go-ahead to an all-vegetables cookbook as vegetables are the new ‘IN’ thing everywhere. People are becoming aware of the environmental impact of meat consumption as well as how healthy it is to include more vegetables in one's diet. Jamie has been inspired by a lot of middle-eastern countries that incorporate a lot of vegetables in their recipes. (India ranks highest in the world with 38% Vegetarian population.)

The reasons I enjoy Jamie and his cookbooks are simple: His recipes work, are easy to follow, and do not require hours to prep time. With 11 chapters there’s something for everyone, definitely empowering everyone with the confidence to increase their fruit and veg intake to the recommended five portions a day. Curries & Stews, Brunch, Pies Parcels & Bakes, Soups & Sarnies, Traybakes, Rice & Noodles, Pasta, Salads, Burgers & Fritters, One Pan Wonders, Brunch, Friday Night Nibbles, and Hints & Tips.

He uses a lot of shortcuts, such as store-bought pastry sheets, breads, chutneys, canned items, jars of a variety of pastes that are pantry staples in their various countries. (Many of them are now available in your ethnic/world food section of the supermarket.) Though he fell short with one recipe requiring the Sardinian ‘carta di musica bread’ aka Music bread as…he said it’s a bit hard to find except in good Italian deli except I would have preferred if he had given substitute for the same or rather made it with some sort of readily-accessible breads, as it’s not available anywhere near me.

He also uses Basmati rice to make Indian dosa, a fermented gluten-free batter made from soaking rice and lentils overnight and then grinding it and leaving overnight again for fermenting before use. No one in India uses Basmati rice to make Dosa, it’s usually made from a variety of short fat parboiled grain easily available; in fact, many people use broken rice too for making it as its eventually ground into a paste. Basmati is the most expensive variety of rice, thereby making it a waste of money to use Basmati rice to make Dosa. At the bottom of the page is a nutritional content table as usual with his books. One format change that would improve the cookbook is if he included how the vegetables need to be chopped in the ingredients list versus just including it in the instructions.

In addition, he did not include a sweet section in this book, maybe some simple desserts involving fruits would’ve been appreciated, There are 30 pages worth of Hints & Tips and nothing for people with a sweet tooth! The cookbook is full of many nice recipes but the one is one of my faves, Kimchi + Cheese sounds odd but it works!
CHEESY KIMCHI TOASTIE
EPIC BRITTLE CRUNCHY CHEESE CROWN
SERVES 1 | 10 MINUTES

2 slices of soft bread
40g mature Cheddar cheese
40g quality kimchi

Place one piece of bread on a board and grate over a third of the cheese. Finely chop the kimchi and spread it over the cheese, right to the edges of the bread, then grate over half the remaining cheese. Place the second piece of bread on top, then transfer to a large non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until beautifully golden, then remove from the pan. Grate the remaining cheese and scatter over the surface of the pan, then place the toastie back on top. After around 30 seconds (or when the cheese is nicely golden), confidently lift the toastie up using a fish slice – the cheese from the sides will hang down and will harden after about 20 seconds – then carefully turn it over to reveal your handsome cheese crown.

Of course, you can serve this for one, but I usually cut it up into soldiers and share it as more of a nibble, with a cold beer.

Veg: Easy Delicious Meals for Everyone is a must-add to your cookbook library for quick, easy, and convenient recipes as well as a trove of veggie recipes that you can make once or twice a week even if you are a non-vegetarian. This book should definitely appeal to the meat-free Monday crowd as well!
Nov 5th, 2019, 11:14 am