Jamie's 15-Minute Meals Hardcover – 27 Sept. 2012

This book is brilliant. 15 minute meals is filled to the brim with interesting, different and very tasty meals. We have tried about 8 of them now and each one has been of restaurant quality according to my family. They are getting involved in cooking the meals too which is great.We have a 15 minute meal once a week now and some of the recipes will come into regular use. Some of the ingredients are a little expensive but as long as we can cook a family meal for less than £20 we will try. Its building up the base of ingredients from which to cook the recipes that is sometimes expensive too, but my cupboards are beginning to look like Jamie's which is great. I can now pick a recipe and usually only have to shop for the fresh ingredients now.Okay, 15 minutes! I have to say, I have seen Jamie interviewed about this and he says the recipes have been given to teenagers and pensioners and they all managed to produce something in 15 minutes. Well we haven't. I am a regular cook and enjoy cooking but I am no chef. We have managed times from 25 minutes to 50 minutes. I estimate once I know a recipe I can probably knock 10 minutes off the time taken initially, so we have one recipe that I could cook in 15 minutes.When we first started we would set the clock and race to make 15 minutes, now we are much more relaxed and don't bother, we don't really care about the 15 minutes. It is undoubtedly quick food, its tasty, unusual and innovative. I have tried things I never would have dreamed about and so have my children, that is great. Also the meals (there's always more than one dish for a recipe) are balanced and usually have vegetables and other things in them which has opened my children's eyes to a wider variety of ingredients.The book itself is a delight, its great to browse and you never get bored as there are so many recipes. Summary pages at the end show every meal with details like saturated fats and calories. Even my son's enjoy browsing it. I would recommend you buy it (if you like Jamie), you won't be dissapointed.

This book is fabulous! It is packed full of wonderful appetising recipes. My favourites so far are Arnold Bennett Frittata, Chicken Dim Sum and Crispy Parma Pork. But to be honest I could go on and on. Jamie's cooking inspires me so much. The flavours he uses are fabulous and the recipes in this book are no exception. He combines flavours that I wouldn't consider yet they taste amazing. He is using mostly available and affordable ingredients in a stylish manner, that are very easy to prepare but do not lack in taste.I watched many poor cooks learn to create wonderful things in the kitchen through Jamie's 30 minute meals. This takes the whole philosophy further, showing that anyone can make speedy, nutritious but absolutely delicious food that is far better in every way than take out and it is so easy to do. In this book Jamie has further simplified cooking and is making good home made food accessible to absolutely everyone now, no excuses!As always, the book contains far more than the many many recipes; it is full of storecupboard ideas, nutritional advice, great photography and lots of wee tips. What I love most, however, is Jamie's conversational unique style and enthusiasm and it shines through in this book along with his wit and his ability to make everything simple and everything seem worthwhile doing.I am convinced that even the accomplished cook will learn loads from this book but it truly is for everyone.Thanks again Jamie for this other gem; I look forward to trying all the recipes with my friends.A MUST BUY!

Ill save myself some time as other reviewers put all the list with Jamie's dishes already. Theres no point to repeat myself.The book is great and I dont mind it takes more than 15min. If you smart enough you would know it takes time and practice to do it quickly, otherwise the only thing you can do in 15 min is to put some frozen ready meal from Iceland into the oven ;)For those who complain that Jamie states you need to have your all ingredients out otherwise it will take more time to cook... Of course! If you complain about that, why didnt you add the time spent in a supermarket searching for the ingredients? It would take more than an hour ;)Anyway, back to the point:Recipes are great, easy and clear. A lot of ingredients (pantry list) often repeat thru all the book, so you dont have to buy everything every time you open the book.What I have tried so far:GOLDEN CHICKEN - page 48 - delicious dish, I will defo repeat it soon. Looks amazing on a plate too.GLAZED PORK FILLET - page 90 - again, very nice and delicious dish. My rice didnt look so yummy, but it did look good tho. And this barbecue sauce mmmmmmROSEMARY CHICKEN - page 40 - chicken perfect BUT... ready made polenta? When I asked about it in the closest superstore, people welomed me with their blank eyes... nobody knew where to get it, so I went to the World Food aisle and found polenta... not ready made. It may be nice, but it took ages to make it hard and it sticked to my griddle pan. If you are not from Italy, or never did polenta in your life - i dont recommend this to you :) Anyway it is very hard to find in Morrison, Waitrose, Tesco and Asda - no ready made. My curiosity told me to check it on Amazon - it is one... out of stock :)I dont know where Jamie get ready made polenta from... I even check his forum - people in USA have the same problem :DI GIVE IT ONLY 4 STAR OUT OF 5 BECAUSE:when I added all ingredients from one recipe to my online basket it gave me total of £35... Three dishes, three recipes and I ended up with total of more than £160 (okay, okay, I had one bottle of whisky in a basket too ;) )What I mean is, it is not a cheap way of cooking. It says it is, especially in our climate, where we spend more to feed our cars than families, but Im afraid its not. I spend around £30 in Nandos to feed myself, my man and my child... So this book its not good for every day cooking (it states otherwise, nevermind), but 2-3 times a week we can pamper ourselves... depend on our bidget :)and... I believe it will be better if I have my pantry list fulfilled in my cupboards :)