Jamie's Dinners

November 8, 2004
The Naked Chef grows up: Oliver, the ebullient British lad who enchanted the Friends
generation of Food Network viewers, turns his focus from throwing impromptu dinner parties to cooking family meals and school lunches. As always, the emphasis is on tasty food that anyone can prepare—and the book's best sections are devoted to simple fare such as sandwiches and pasta, where Oliver brings new life to staples like grilled cheese, with his Double-Decker Cheddar Cheese Sandwich with Pickled Onions and Potato Chips. The chef romps through shopping, kitchen tools, basic ingredients and core dishes, tying together his 120 recipes with the family-friendly theme of value for money. Readers already weary of Oliver's chipper British persona—the enthusiastic descriptions of everything from poached chicken to herb-infused salad as "genius" or "brilliant," the exhortations to eat more "veg," another "best" sausage and mash recipe—will not be won over by this fifth addition to the Oliver shelf. The extravagant package, which includes mouth-watering food shots, hand-drawn graphics and bright color text spreads, seems to include more photos of the chef and his family—photogenic wife Jools and children Poppy and Daisy—than of the dishes. But those who continue to be seduced by Oliver's infectious love of food and his cheerful narcissism will eagerly queue up at the cash register with a copy in hand.