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Jamie's Dinners, Jamie Oliver
Michael Joseph
Reviewed by John Whelan (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

In this his fifth book, Jamie Oliver focuses on family meals. Hence we are treated to lots of photos of him with his wife and kids eating food, but more importantly a recipe book you can actually use.

Love him or loathe him, both in his TV programmes and previous cookbooks, the man has the ability to make cooking a meal look easy, he strips away the mystique and simply shows you how to do it. I guess a test of any cook book is to flick through it and see how many of the recipes you wouldn't attempt. There are very few in this one, most look really good, are explained well and use ingredients you don't have to get mail-ordered from Paris. My personal fave so far is the Sticky Date Pudding, it's soooo good.

The meals are fresh, simple to prepare and tasty, and for the most part not too expensive. They could do just as easily for a run-of-the-mill midweek meal or for that dinner party you've always been planning.

Accompanying the usual chapters arranged in food groups, Jamie's Dinner's has sections on sandwiches, lunchboxes and "Five Minute Wonders" – a neat concept.

On the downside, however, he should definitely stick to the cooking and do as little writing as possible – you would be well advised to ignore the off-putting drivel in the introduction and the "chatter" before each recipe. As for the section on the layout of a kitchen, it's a statement in the bleeding obvious. Ignore the gibberish, the recipes are a winner.