Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* What else would you expect from someone who entered the food biz as the Naked Chef ? Restaurateur, author (Jamie's Food Revolution, 2009, et al.), TV celebrity, and chef Oliver is bent on getting everyone in the English-speaking world to cook and eat more healthily. And, by gosh, with his enthusiasm and skills, he might just succeed in revolutionizing the way we prepare food. After all, he took on the Los Angeles school district to change its menus, and no doubt, he is right this minute contemplating another such assault. In his eleventh book, he targets families by streamlining menus, with preparation times from stove to table of 20-30 minutes. He teaches readers by way of hundreds of color photographs, a front section explaining how to best organize their kitchens, and a list of the most essential tools and equipment. From that, he launches his 50 meals, intended for four to six people, each featuring three to four recipes. Instead of highlighting each individual dish, with home cooks expected to figure out multitasking, he whips each meal preparation into one page: ingredients listed at the top and then recipes explained in timing-steps. Plus, he liberally taps into various world cuisines Thai, Korean, British, Spanish, and others to create one wondrous melting pot: satay sauce, sausage cassoulet, mackerel pate, and a tapas feast, for instance. Moreover, he's not ashamed to propose shortcuts (even labeling his recipes as cheats), whether that item is prepared puff pastry or prewashed baby spinach. Enjoy the experience!--Jacobs, Barbara Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Oliver's bold foray into 30-minute meals challenges busy families to trade their "heat-and-serve" dinner routines for one of 50 carefully choreographed multicourse menus. While each menu instructs readers to make multiple items concurrently, it is easy to pick out steps for individual dishes. These recipes are quick but not necessarily healthy or inexpensive, and readers will need an assortment of electric appliances to reap all the promised time savings. Loftus's beautiful photography may convince skeptics to get in the kitchen and try Oliver's intriguing concept. Highly recommended for busy, uncompromising foodies but less so for picky eaters. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
(Jamie's Food Revolution, 2011, etc.) doesn't want to hear your excuses for not preparing home-cooked meals. None of them are true anyway, and he sets out to prove it. The author provides an eclectic assortment of recipes for 50 entire meals--not just single dishes--that can be prepared in around 30 minutes. The key to foolproof success, Oliver writes, is smart preparation of the kitchen workspace, having the right tools on hand and learning to excel at multitasking. If readers find the system a bit intense at first, the author promises that it becomes easier with experience, and, he warns lightheartedly, possibly even a little addictive. Oliver provides simply stated and easy-to-follow instructions for every aspect of the process, from getting started to serving. He lays out the steps for each meal like a lavishly illustrated road map; which dish to start first with, when to begin the second dish, when to start dessert, etc.--it's all plainly indicated on the page. Those who might prefer to prepare a single dish rather than the entire meal will find that easy to accomplish, as all the individual dishes are indexed at the back of the book, with vegetarian dishes designated. It's difficult to imagine the average home cook not gaining wisdom, skill and confidence from this worthy addition to the Oliver Empire.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
