Jamie Oliver's delicious but easy-to-prepare recipes for every day of the week (2024)

LACK of time, not knowing how to cook and the cost of fancy ingredients are just some of the reasons why people make the same recipes week in, week out.

That is why chef Jamie Oliver’s latest book, 7 Ways, is full of recipes that are simple to prepare.

He has chosen staple ingredients such as beef and chicken and created seven meal ideas for each.

Jamie, 45, says: “This book is about giving you solutions and breaking down any barriers you might be facing, while keeping things straightforward and giving you loads of inspiration on the food front for every day of the week.

“We know everyone cooks the same small repertoire of recipes, so I want to arm you with some new favourites using the ingredients we all buy most often.

“This is exactly the kind of food I enjoy at home with my own family and the kind of food I hope you’ll want to cook up every day for yourself and your loved ones.”

Here are seven great new recipes from the book.

Monday: Cauliflower cheese pasta

Serves four, time: 30 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 100g stale sourdough bread
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ head of cauliflower (400g)
• ½ tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 400ml semi-skimmed milk 300g dried spaghetti
• 70g Cheddar cheese

METHOD:

Tear the bread into a food processor. Peel and add the garlic, then tear in any nice leaves from your cauliflower. Add ½ tbsp of olive oil, blitz into fairly fine crumbs, then tip into a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes, or until golden and crisp, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, peel the onion, then roughly chop with the cauliflower, stalk and all. Tip the crispy crumbs into a bowl, returning the pan to the heat. Pour in the milk and add the chopped veg, bring just to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer.

Alongside, cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions. Just before the pasta is ready, carefully pour the cauliflower mixture into the processor (there’s no need to wash it), grate in the cheese, blitz until super-smooth then season to perfection and return to the pan.

Drain the pasta, reserving a mugful of starchy cooking water. Toss the pasta through the sauce, loosening with a splash of reserved cooking water if needed, then serve with the crispy crumbs for sprinkling.

Tuesday: Speedy chicken & chorizo

Serves two, time: 20 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 160g ripe mixed-colour cherry tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, ideally the flowering kind
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil​
• ½ good French baguette
• 2 x 150g free-range skinless chicken breasts
• 50g higher-welfare chorizo
• 1 clove of garlic
• ½ lemon
• 20g rocket

METHOD:

Quarter or slice the tomatoes, then mix with the oregano, 1 tbsp each of red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.

Cut the baguette into 2cm-thick slices and toast in a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat until golden.

Meanwhile, lightly score the chicken breasts on one side, then place between two sheets of greaseproof paper and bash and flatten to 1cm thick with a rolling pin or the bottom of a pan. Finely slice the chorizo.

Remove the toasts when golden and cook the chorizo in the pan for 1 minute, then add the chicken and fry for 6 minutes, or until golden and cooked through, turning halfway and sitting the chorizo on top of the chicken once crispy. Season with black pepper.

Peel and halve the garlic clove and rub over the toasts. Finely slice the garlic and sprinkle into the chicken pan for the last couple of minutes to get golden. Pile the dressed tomatoes and juices on to the toasts with the lemon-dressed rocket.

Slice the chicken and serve alongside, sprinkled with the crispy chorizo and garlic.

Wednesday: Easy prawn curry

Serves four, time: 20 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 1 mug of basmati rice (300g)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 4cm piece of ginger
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp mango chutney
• 320g raw peeled king prawns, from sustainable sources
• 150g natural yoghurt

METHOD:

Put 1 mug of rice and 2 mugs of boiling kettle water (600ml) into a medium non- stick pan with a pinch of sea salt. Boil for 10 minutes, then reduce to a low heat for 5 minutes, after which you’ll be able to turn it out as a rice cake.

Meanwhile, peel the garlic and finely slice with the chilli. Peel and matchstick the ginger. Trim the spring onions and slice into 2cm lengths. Put it all into a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat with 1 tbsp of olive oil and stir-fry for 3 minutes, then stir in the mango chutney.

Carefully pour half the mixture into a blender, returning the pan to the heat and adding the prawns to stir-fry. Add ½ mug of water (150ml) to the blender, blitz until smooth, then pour straight back into the prawn pan. Let it bubble and thicken slightly for 3 minutes then, off the heat, ripple through the yoghurt.

Serve the curry on top of your fluffy rice cake.

Thursday: A very British Bolognese

Serves two, plus six Bolognese freezer portions, time: 1 hour 30 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 400g chopped mixed onion, carrot & celery
• 250g chestnut mushrooms
• 500g lean quality beef, higher-welfare pork or veggie mince
• 500ml pale ale
• 2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
• 250g fresh lasagne sheets
• 20g Cheddar cheese

METHOD:

Put a large, shallow non-stick casserole pan on a medium-high heat. Pick and finely chop the rosemary leaves, then sprinkle into the pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil to crisp up.

Add the chopped mixed veg and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, while you trim and finely chop the mushrooms. Stir them into the pan with the mince, breaking it up with your spoon. Cook for 15 minutes, or until golden and caramelised. Pour in the ale, let it cook away, then stir in the tomatoes and a tin’s worth of water, mashing it all with a potato masher. Simmer on a medium-low heat for 1 hour, mashing occasionally to thicken the texture. Season to perfection.

For two portions, either cut the lasagne sheets into 2cm slices or, for a bit of fun, stack up your sheets and cut 2cm slits into them at 0.5cm intervals all over. Cook in a large pan of boiling salted water for just 3 minutes, then scoop out and toss with 2 portions of Bolognese, loosening with a splash of pasta cooking water if needed. Grate over the cheese and serve right away.

Batch up your leftover portions, cool and pop into the fridge or freezer for another day. Happiness.

Friday: Mushroom & beef stir-fry

Serves two, time: 20 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 6cm piece of ginger
• 125g fresh lasagne sheets
• 1 x 150g quality fillet steak
• 1 tspn olive oil
• 250g oyster mushrooms
• 1½ tbsp chilli oil
• 1½ tbsp low-salt soy sauce
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

METHOD:

Trim the spring onions and chop into 3cm lengths. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Peel and matchstick the ginger. Slice the lasagne sheets into 2cm-thick noodles.

Rub the steak with 1 tspn of olive oil, a small pinch of sea salt and a pinch of black pepper. Put a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat. Dry-fry the mushrooms for 3 minutes on one side only. Meanwhile, mix the chilli oil, soy, 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar and a pinch of black pepper in a large bowl. Tip the mushrooms straight into the bowl of dressing, returning the pan to the heat.

Cook the steak to your liking in the hot pan, turning every minute, with the spring onions, garlic and ginger alongside, stirring them occasionally. Meanwhile, cook the pasta noodles in a pan of boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Remove the steak to a board to rest for a moment, then use tongs to drag the noodles straight into the frying pan, letting a splash of pasta cooking water go with them. Remove from the heat, pour in the mushrooms and dressing and toss together.

Divide between bowls, then thinly slice and add the steak, drizzling over any resting juices to finish.

Saturday: Sausage & mash pie

Serves four, time: 1 hour 30 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 1.2kg potatoes
• 6 higher-welfare Cumberland or veggie sausages
• 2 large leeks
• 2 eating apples
• ½ bunch of thyme (10g)
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 600ml semi-skimmed milk
• 3 tspn English mustard

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel the potatoes, chop into even-sized chunks and cook in a large pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, brown the sausages in a large non-stick casserole pan on a medium heat, tossing regularly (if using veggie sausages, add 1 tbsp of olive oil), while you trim the leeks, halve lengthways, wash and slice 1cm thick. Peel, core and chop the apples into 1cm chunks.

Once golden, remove the sausages to a plate, put the leek and apple into the pan and strip in most of the thyme. Add a splash of water, season with sea salt and black pepper, then cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the potatoes, mash with half the flour, then season to perfection. Lightly rub a 20cm x 28cm baking dish with oil.

Once the mash is cool enough to handle, use your fingertips to spread two-thirds of it evenly across the base and sides of the dish. Stir the remaining flour into the leeks, then gradually stir in the milk, then the mustard.

Simmer for 5 minutes, or until thick and creamy. Slice the sausages 1cm thick and stir most of them into the pan, along with any juices, then evenly spoon into the mash-lined dish.

Press the remaining mash on to a sheet of greaseproof paper until just bigger than your dish, then flip over the top of the dish, peel off the paper, trim any excess and crimp the edges with a fork to seal. Poke the reserved sausage slices into the top, then gently brush with 1 tbsp of oil. Bake at the bottom of the oven for 40 minutes, or until golden, adding the remaining thyme leaves for the last 5 minutes.

Sunday: Easy salmon en croute

Serves four, time: 55 minutes

YOU NEED:

• 1 onion
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 500g frozen spinach
• 1 x 320g sheet of all-butter puff pastry
• 4 x 130g salmon fillets, skin off, pin-boned from sustainable sources
• 2 large free-range eggs
• 1 heaped tbsp red pesto
• 1 lemon

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 220C. Peel and chop the onion and place in a large non- stick pan on a medium heat with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Peel, finely slice and add the garlic, then cook for 10 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly. Stir in the spinach, cover and cook for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes, or until all the liquid has cooked away. Season to perfection.

Unroll the pastry and place it, still on its paper, in a baking tray. Spread over the spinach, leaving a 5cm border all the way around. Sit the salmon fillets on top, 1cm apart, then use the paper to help you fold in the pastry edges to snugly encase the salmon, leaving it exposed on the top. Beat the eggs and use some to brush the exposed pastry, then bake at the bottom of the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the pesto into the remaining egg. When the time’s up, pull out the tray and pour the egg mixture over the salmon and into the gaps. Return to the bottom of the oven for a final 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the egg is just cooked through.

Serve with lemon wedges, for squeezing over.

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