Books for Cooks: Improve cooking skills with Oliver’s ‘Guide’

My husband was not impressed.

“You know I hate beets, don’t you?” he asked, looking at the beets piled on the counter. When I murmured something like, “Just try it,” he grunted and wandered away.

Half an hour later, he was back for seconds. Thanks to Jamie Oliver.

This Raw Beetroot Salad with Feta and Pear is one of the 175 recipes featured in “Cook With Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook.”

True to the title, the British chef has gathered recipes to highlight techniques, ingredient selection and other tricks to improving our cooking skills.

Each recipe is accompanied by a photograph. Several of the techniques described, such as making risotto and homemade pasta, are illustrated with a series of photos to better show how it’s done. Oliver’s friend, sommelier and wine writer Matt Skinner, offers wine suggestions with many of the recipes.

Chapters are introduced with details about the topic and Oliver’s philosophy on shopping for and preparing the recipes. Thus, the meat chapter includes tips on how to be a better meat-shopper, information on the different cuts of meats available and his reasons why it’s better to buy higher-quality, organic and free-range meats.

The book’s chapters range from salads to dessert. The end chapter, “Some Bits and Bobs,” includes tips on food safety, storing, freezing and chopping food, how to sharpen a knife and information on his favorite herbs and spices. It all comes together to help make us readers better cooks.

Oliver, who rose to fame as a TV host on the BBC and Food Network, has a very casual way with his recipes that may irritate those who are into precision cooking. Cooks who can accept his calls for a knob of butter, a glug of olive oil, a handful of herbs and a wine glass of wine may find themselves inspired to try something new.

The vegetable chapter is especially inspiring. As a cook who struggles to get delicious veggies to the table, I now have many ideas to turn broccoli, carrots, squash and, yes, beets, into yummy and easy sides. Makes me wish the farmers’ market season wasn’t winding down.

People familiar with Oliver’s first TV show, “The Naked Chef,” know he’s all about stripping dishes down to their essentials, using the best ingredients you can afford. In this way, the recipes in “Cook With Jamie” are classic Jamie Oliver. None sports a monster ingredients list. None goes on for more than a page. Many are as simple as the one for Baked and Dressed Zucchini. Wash and dry eight small zucchini. Toss with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper, bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Drizzle with red vinegar, chopped fresh parsley and mint. That’s it.

Not everything here is that practical. I don’t think I’m ever going to need to know how to prepare a whole squid for cooking, for example, but it is fun to read about.

Besides, anything that gets my husband to eat beets is worth it.

Jools’ Favorite Saturday Afternoon Pasta

From “Cook With Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook,” by Jamie Oliver

Olive oil

1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 to 2 fresh red chilies, seeded and finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked and roughly torn and stems chopped

2 (14-ounce) cans good quality plum tomatoes

2 (10-ounce) cans good quality tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked (see note)

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

18 ounces good quality rigatoni or penne

1 to 2 lemons, zested and juiced

1 handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and cook the onion, chilies, cinnamon and basil stalks on medium to low heat for 5 minutes until the onion has softened and is slightly sweet. Turn up the heat and add your tomatoes, tuna and a good pinch of salt. Break up the tomatoes using the back of a spoon, then bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni in a pan of salted, boiling water according to the package directions. When al dente, drain the pasta in a colander, reserving some of the cooking water. Toss the pasta into the tuna and tomato sauce with the basil leaves, a glug of good olive oil, lemon zest and juice and Parmesan, and mix together well. Loosen the pasta with a little of the reserved cooking water if needed. Check the seasoning and serve immediately.

Note: I used three 6.75-ounce cans of the best tuna in water I could find. The finished dish was delicious.

Yield: 4 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving, using tuna in oil: 615 calories, 36 grams fat (7 grams saturated, 53 percent fat calories), 41 grams protein, 32 grams carbohydrate, 80 milligrams cholesterol, 4 grams dietary fiber, 1,190 milligrams sodium.

Crunchy Raw Beetroot Salad with Feta and Pear

From “Cook With Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook,” by Jamie Oliver

4 good-sized beetroots, scrubbed, peeled and cut into matchsticks (see note)

3 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into matchsticks

Lemon Oil Dressing (recipe below)

Fresh lemon juice, as needed

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

7 ounces feta cheese

Small bunch of mint, smallest leaves picked

Large handful of sunflower seeds (optional)

Dress the beets and pear matchsticks in a little of the lemon dressing and season with salt and pepper. Taste to see that the flavors are balanced and lovely, and add a little more lemon juice to check the sweetness of the pears and beets, if needed.

Divide the salad between four plates or put on big platter, crumble over the feta cheese and sprinkle over the baby mint leaves and sunflower seeds if you’re using them. Simple, but it’s a treat and a half.

Note: The julienne blades on my “I expect more for my $50” mandoline were no match for the beets. Unless you have a very sharp and sturdy mandoline, you may need to cut the beets into thin slices first, then cut the matchsticks by hand.

Yield: 4 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving, (using 1/4 of the Lemon Oil Dressing): 324 calories, 20 grams fat (8.7 grams saturated, 53 percent fat calories), 9 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, 44 milligrams cholesterol, 5 grams dietary fiber, 763 milligrams sodium.

Lemon Oil Dressing

3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (the juice of approximately one lemon)

10 tablespoons best-quality extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the lemon juice and oil into a jam jar and season. Tighten the lid and shake. Try out the dressing on a leaf of lettuce and adjust seasonings to taste.