I wish this had more veggie recipes. But anything Jamie writes is going to be great!

Don't use this one as much as Jamie's Italy

Fantastic recipes.

Beautiful food photography. Great recipes.

Rock on Jamie

First of many books I enjoyed of his

I love this book and use it all the time. My favorite recipe is the prawn and courgette salad. Yum!

Love the beauty of this book. If I never make one recipe from it, I'm still thrilled to have it on my shelves just so I can pull it out whenever I want and sip a glass of wine while browsing through it.

This has the best 2 pages of salad dressings, not to mention wonderful recipes.

Jamie's usual good stuff.

I'm sure it's a perfectly fine cookbook, if you happen to use or keep on hand or like some basic ingredients that I don't use or generally keep on hand (like lamb). Not keeping this one.

high 3s -- will possibly upgrade rating upon further use

a creative, healthful approach to cooking. as is often the case, jamie oliver's salad creations are the bomb (of particular note are his Fava Bean and Crispy Pancetta Salad with a Pea, Pecorino, and Mint Dressing and his Moorish Crunch Salad). but i also found his dessert selections approachable and helpful (especially the recipe for Perfectly Sweet Pastry, which offers a manageable technique that doesn't overwork the dough, as i so frequently do, and forms the basis for a number of his sweets herein; of further note are his candied almonds, for which i can already think of tens of uses beyond those he suggests off the bat).

other recipes are a delightful mix of technique (acid-cooking, braising, roasting, raw, etc.) and culinary origin (english, moroccan, chinese, italian, etc.), relying on fresh ingredients.

each recipe is well photographed -- usually in finished form, occasionally (and less helpfully) in medias res -- and has a light-hearted, engaging introduction, followed by easy-to-understand preparation steps comprised of mostly easy-to-obtain ingredients.

this cookbook is neither a basics cookbook (like Joy of Cooking or Mastering the Art of French Cooking) nor mind-bending and genre-defining (anything ottolenghi). but it's a lovely nexus of the two -- recognizable ingredients and beloved preparations with a twist -- and will make a fun palate challenge to beginning home cooks and those looking for a slight switch-up to their regular menus, alike.