Easy to Make: Haloumi kebabs are just one of the delights you can learn to make at Recipease.

Jamie Oliver must get very little sleep. Either that or the ingenious chef has an army of worker bees constantly turning over ideas for his consideration.

His latest venture, Recipease, is about to launch in the UK. Like so many of his ideas (the school canteen overhaul and Pass it On recipe movement, for example), the concept is brilliant, yet oh, so simple you wonder why it hasn’t been done before. (Or maybe it has, and they just don’t have the profile of this knockabout lad.) 

This one-stop food shop-cum-cooking-school takes away many of the barriers to eating freshly-prepared, good quality meals, providing, of course, you happen to be lucky enough to live nearby. The emporium becomes your kitchen, complete with personal shoppers and assistants. All you need to do is book ahead.

Don’t know what to cook tonight? Choose from hundreds of delicious Jamie offerings on the website. Don’t have time to shop for the ingredients? Jamie’s staff will have it all chopped and prepared for you when you arrive in store. Not sure if you’re doing the right thing? His staff are on hand to assist. Don’t have time to cook it? With all the preparation done for you, it should only take about 10 minutes to cook the dish up in Jamie’s kitchen and the staff will pack it for you to take home. Jamie calls it Easy To Make.

If you want to take it a bit further, there are cooking classes, Easy To Learn.  Choose from Get Learning, one hour sessions covering useful skills such as how to chop,slice and dice to making a basic tomato base; Get Cooking, one and a half hours of learning to make a Jamie recipe from scratch; or Get Creative, a two-hour session that helps you take your skills in the kitchen to a whole new level.

Like the man says, “If you’re going to eat three times a day for the rest of your life, you might as well learn to cook properly and enjoy it.”

In keeping with Jamie’s community spirit, Recipease is also promoting Easy to Know, which basically means the shop wants to be a source of inspiration for ideas and recipes as well as sharing what’s going on in the local area and with food in general.

For those of you too busy to spare even in a few minutes in the kitchen, or simply grabbing some food at the last minute on the way home, there is a range of freshly prepared meals in-store to take away. This is, of course, called Easy To Go.

And, Jamie promises, that all food at Recipease will be sourced with the utmost responsibility. “For us, an ingredient doesn’t just have to taste amazing, it has to be have been grown or raised, then delivered to our shops, in a way that we can all feel good about.”  In other words, with the chef favouring organic, locally grown, fresh and in-season produce you can forget processed foods chock full of additives and preservatives.

Yes, as I’ve written before, he has his critics, but you have to admire a chef so passionate about getting people to spend a little time thinking about something so central to our lives – and our livelihoods – and making it as accessible as possible. Just wish he’d open a Recipease around the corner from me.

The first shop, in London’s Clapham Junction, opens on February 26. Stay tuned for more to follow – it will go gangbusters. See Jamie Oliver’s official website for more details on Recipease.

Jesse Ziff Cool is a passionate advocate for organic, sustainable food. But she doesn’t beat you over the head with it. She’s a cook, a mother and a very down-to-earth soul (in more ways than one).

She knows she was blessed to be raised in a family where a love of real food was fostered. She knows not everyone has access to organic or even fresh produce.

Her aim with this book is simply to share some of the wisdom she has garnered over 35 years in the organic food business and encourage you to get into the kitchen and go for it.

She engages the reader with a little of her history, tells us the reasons why organic and sustainable food are so important and then lets rip with page after page of mouthwatering recipes.

This beautifully designed book is divided neatly into seasons, for eating fresh produce at its peak is at the heart of Jesse’s cooking philosophy. Try steamed bok choy with water chestnuts in spring; fresh corn bites with tarragon in the heart of summer; pork chops with dried berry-port sauce in autumn; or a heartwarming chicken vegetable soup with noodles in winter.

None of the recipes are terribly long, some only have a few ingredients, and Jesse offers variations on how to spice up or alter many of the dishes, depending on what’s available. There are also useful tips galore, from how best to wash leeks to making the perfect granita.

Each section is broken up with an inspirational story from others who share this cook-come-food-advocate’s passion. Learn a bit about the Seeds of Change, hear how Paul Newman’s daughter Nell started Newman’s Own Organics, and sample the delights of an organic winery.

If this doesn’t inspire you to buy the best food you can afford and actually cook it, nothing will.

Jamie’s Ministry of Food
Anyone Can Learn to Cook in 24 Hours
By Jamie Oliver

People seem to either love or hate Jamie Oliver. Personally, I can’t understand why anyone who cares about food would fall into the latter category. Sure, his laddie patter might irk some, but the guy is passionate about getting us to eat smarter and better, no matter our budget or cooking skills. And he doesn’t simply preach at us from some high-falutin “chefdom”; he gets off his butt and out there with the masses (often copping abuse for his trouble) to show us how it’s done. Now, how can you hate that?

His latest book is timely, given the need to tighten belts on two fronts – economically and health-wise. Jamie’s Ministry of Food takes its name from the British ministry set up during the Second World War to show people how to cook healthily on a budget, and the book (and related TV series) has a similar purpose.

Jamie believes we all should “know how to cook simple, nutritious, economical, tasty and hearty food from scratch” and he’s on a mission to make it a reality for as many as possible. He wants everyone who buys the book to make a pledge to learn just one recipe from each chapter and pass it on – to friends, family and work colleagues.

For beginners, he describes what kitchen tools to buy, as well as what to stock in our pantry and freezer. There are 14 chapters full of dishes, many accompanied by step-by-step pictures, that are no less tantalising for their simplicity. Try a basic stew with four variations, a hearty sweet potato and chorizo soup, a sizzling stir-fry, Moroccan lamb with couscous or, if you’re pushed for time, there’s a selection of 20-minute sensations. There are also clear instructions for basic sauces, gravy and dressings so that you can make something out of nothing every time.

Jamie wants home cooks to embrace fresh, local and organic (particularly for meat) ingredients, but reminds us that there is nothing substandard about tinned tomatoes or frozen fruit and vegetables, either. “Unless you’re picking from your garden you’ll have to go a long way to get a tastier and more nutritional pea than a frozen one.”

Ministry of Food is all about discovering the joy of real food cooked well – by you! Judging by the book’s potted interviews with new converts to the kitchen, and the million-plus who’ve visited his site to find out more since the launch, Jamie has once again struck a nerve. As he writes, “Good food and good eating aren’t a class thing – anyone can eat good food on any budget as long as they know how to cook.”

Nice One Jamie.

Cool eats: Jesse believes fresh, organic ingredients make all the difference.

What are your favourite ingredients? Eggs; onion; bacon; avocado; great cheeses.

What do you always have in your fridge? Eggs; cheese; milk; yogurt; onions; smoked tofu; sun-dried tomatoes.

And in your pantry/larder? Canned organic soup (breakfast!); organic granola; flour; herbs; spices; canned tomatoes; organic chicken and vegetable stock.

What’s your after work standby meal? Eggs from my chicken, fresh herbs and veggies from my garden…maybe bacon or cheese.

What dish to you prefer to cook for those you love? Short ribs; organic chicken soup; meatloaf; fresh vegetables with olive oil/herbs.

What do you like to drink with friends? Martinis, then great wine.

What is your favourite cookbook? I used to list Joy of Cooking (by Irma S Rombauer, it has been in print since the 1930s). But, as of late, I am totally inspired by (Australian cooks) Donna Hay and Bill Granger’s books. Their food is very close in style to mine in the uncomplicated way their traditional style blends with little twists of bright, fresh, simple innovation. (Can I come to Australia and cook with them?) 

Where do you draw your inspiration for cooking? From my farmer friends.

And your secret foodie indulgence? Fresh, perfect gnocchi that are as light as cloud puffs with truffle oil, butter and parsley and a little shaved parmesan or sprinkle of chilli; or really good chopped liver; or really moist, buttery turkey stuffing.

My Favourite Ingredients by Skye Gyngell

Garlic, olive oil, beans and cheese…. these are a few of my favourite things. By happy coincidence, they also happen to be up there for restaurateur and food writer Skye Gyngell, which means more fabulous recipes in which to explore their taste sensations. Chicken with garlic and fennel? Yes, please. Carpaccio of beef with red pepper relish (and lashings of extra virgin olive oil)? Absolutely. Borlotti with garlic, sage and olive oil? Yum. As for the bruschetta of sheep’s milk ricotta, lemon oil and bresaola, the dish is for four, but I confess I could gobble the lot.

Like all good cookbooks, Skye’s recipes make you hungry and eager to head to the kitchen. Among her other favourite ingredients – 16 in total – are cherries, chocolate, leaves, tomatoes and vinegar. In keeping with this Australian-born, UK-based chef’s philosophies, all recipes hinge on what is fresh, local and, importantly, in season. Her award-winning restaurant, Petersham Nurseries Cafe, is driven by fresh produce, so much so that her menus are composed daily and are determined by what arrives in the kitchen at its best each morning. “I believe that food eaten in its right season and grown as close to home as possible tastes far better than food flown in from afar,” she writes in the introduction.

It’s a mantra Skye returns to time and again as she explores the merits of the short-lived but delightfully sweet asparagus; the evocative smell of tomatores ripening on the vine; and the powerful flavours of an array of citrus fruit. Even nuts, something many of us keep in our cupboard for months (ahem, if not years), deserve respect. “They are fragile and perishable, soon losing their freshness and turning rancid,” Skye tells us. “So, wherever possible, nuts should be bought in their shell, in small quantities and kept in a sealed container in a cook dark place. They really need to be eaten within a couple of weeks of purchase, at the most.”

This is a delightful cookbook, packed with valuable information about each ingredient as well as enticing recipes. Work you way through them and by the time you get to the final entry – a mouthwatering chocolate and hazelnut cake – there will be one more convert to the wisdom of eating by the seasons. (And, if you love this, make sure you pick up her previous book, A Year in My Kitchen, which has picked up numerous awards, including Best Food Book at Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards.)

Coming Home to Eat: Wholefood for the Family,
by Jude Blereau

If you care about flavour, family meals, nutrition, your budget and a sustainable food culture – this is your book.  Jude Blereau’s desire to feed both heart and soul manifests itself in these meticulously researched and tested recipes.  No one could ever accuse Jude of being shallow or lacking in passion.

All this attention to detail would be worthless, however, if the food failed to get the thumbs up from the very picky family I cook for.  No problems there, they love the food – it’s that simple.  They have second helpings.

What could be more satisfying than seeing your children enjoy healthy food?  So far my favourite recipe is Cupboard Love Stew, which I have served at two extended family gatherings.  My husband’s favourite is Pirates Pie, which is well worth a trip to the fresh fish market.  We have all enjoyed the cannelloni as well as Mushroom and White Bean Cacciatore.

If you have concerns that wholefood might be too bland or earnest to be enjoyable, this book will make you think again.

Dining dilemma: Homegrown brings its own challenges. Picture: yourpatchorganic.com

It is a humbling day when you realise you can’t feed yourself. No, I haven’t had a stroke or any health crisis.  I am staring at a vegetable garden and I don’t recognise the plants.  This happened to me earlier this year when an organic vegetable patch was installed – yes, installed in my garden.  Not recognising the plants was just the first shock.

Harvest time was the second moment of awakening.  I would watch the vegetables ripen and look so handsome and I didn’t pick them.  I was proud of them – I admired them – like a little art show in my garden.  I seemed to be missing the pathway in my brain that said, “Pick and eat girl”.

Cam our garden man told me not to feel too bad.  He said that it takes a little while to get into the habit of harvesting.  I felt grateful for his generous comments.  Inside I felt like a child.  My vegetables were like a sign in the front garden saying: “Look everybody this woman is as lost as a human can get.”

I am used to a very different path.  The page in the recipe book tells me what I need from the supermarket.  It might be expensive or out of season but hey, it’s in the supermarket and I need it.  I cook, I enjoy.  I am accomplished at this way of preparing and eating food. Until recently I felt safe and confident in the rhythm of modern eating.

Now the garden is telling me what to eat.  Here are my silverbeet, carrots, beans, and lettuce.  This is where the meal needs to begin.

I have no recipe books like this.  I want my garden to come with a recipe book of its own.  What are the 10 ingredients I need to make this a meal?  That is what I am used to.  In my past, the produce has been an incidental part of a blend called meal.

Now I need to cater for a different type of food – the star performer.  It is fresh, it is tasty and it wants to be the main act.  Over a few months of playing this new game I finally come to understand – it deserves to be.  A wise woman told me, “when you cook with organic produce you don’t have to work as hard to make a great meal”.  I learn that she is so right.

It takes me a little while but I start to gain confidence in this more minimalist form of preparing food.  A splash of that, a pinch of this and there is delicious food.  At the same time I start to hunt down other organic ingredients that are recommended to me by wise elders in this mysterious new world.  My family begins a new way of eating.

One morning I am standing in the kitchen chatting to my teenage daughter.  It is the end of winter and I have lost weight.  I show her that my jeans are falling down.  “I just don’t get it, we are eating real butter and full cream milk and I have lost weight.”  “Well Mum,” she replies, as if I asked her the simplest of questions, “When you eat a whole food you don’t need to eat as much.”  I feel like a beginner in my own life.

It is a humbling day when you realise you can’t feed yourself. Surely there is nothing more basic to survival than knowing how to eat.   Like so many other points of transition it takes a low moment to recognise that something needs to change.  A wrong path has been taken. The road to survival is in a different direction.