Jamie Oliver and his new series begins but what our favourite recipes
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8 favourite Jamie Oliver recipes in time for The Great Cookbook Challenge on Channel 4

We're already salivating...

Jamie Oliver and his amazing recipes have tantalised us for over two decades.

Now the celebrity chef is back on Channel 4 for a new series, but this time he isn’t cooking.

The dad-of-five, 46, hosts The Great Cookbook Challenge With Jamie Oliver on Channel 4 and he’s looking for the next great chef  to offer them a publishing deal.

But it got us thinking – about food again – what are our the all-time great Jamie Oliver recipes?

How to Cook Roast Chicken | Jamie Oliver

1. The ultimate roast chicken

The great thing about Jamie is that he’s not afraid to bang out the family favourites.

Here Jamie gives us his take on the humble roast chicken, and takes it up “three notches”.

Read more: Jamie Oliver children: What are all their names and ages?

Inspired by the fact Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met over a roast chicken dinner, Jamie scores the breasts and the legs and smears it and stuffs it with herb-flavoured oil.

He also puts some of the oil and some butter beneath the chicken skin.

And for a final touch, he inserts a boiling hot lemon into the cavity and roasts it on a bed of garlic and red onion.

Meatballs | Jamie Oliver | 20 Years of The Naked Chef

2. Pasta and meatballs

To celebrate 20 years of the Naked Chef, Jamie decided to cook up one of the recipes that appeared in the series that made him famous.

And it’s the kind of pasta dish that Mamma used to make.

But, as ever, there are Jamie’s special twists – he adds a pinch of cumin and chilli into his minced pork and beef mixture.

He then puts the browned-off meatballs and tomato sauce into the oven with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese before mixing with the pasta.

Easy Prawn Curry | Keep Cooking Family Favourites | Jamie Oliver

3. Easy prawn curry

We do love a good curry and here – from his Keep Cooking Family Favourites series – Jamies rustles up one of our favourites.

Aside from teaching us how to cook rice in an interesting way, he also adds a secret ingredient that lifts the whole dish.

Mango chutney.

Add a spoonful or two to the onions, garlic, chilli and yoghurt and suddenly you have a super-easy and yummy-looking home-cooked prawn curry.

One Pot Chilli | Jamie Oliver & The Lean Machines

4. Jamie Oliver chilli

Jamie has always been health-conscious and promotes leaner versions of classic dishes.

Here he cooks a one-pot chilli with the help of the guys from The Lean Machine.

He adds smoked paprika and cumin to tinned tomatoes, vegetables, butterbeans and leftover chicken.

Jamie also adds a cap-full of a secret ingredient: vinegar (in this case white wine vinegar, but he says balsamic is great also).

Homemade Pizza | Keep Cooking & Carry On | Jamie Oliver

5. Jamie Oliver pizza

During lockdown, people were rediscovering their love of cooking.

As ever, Jamie caught the mood of the nation with his Keep Cooking & Carry On series for Channel 4.

One recipe from the show that especially went viral was his version of a stove-top pizza.

Jamie simply mixed up self-raising flour and water into a no-yeast dough, smushed into a frying pan, whacked on a topping and put it in the oven for 10 minutes or so.

Take it from us – we tried this and it was a lockdown winner!

Fish Pie | The Naked Chef | Jamie Oliver

6. Jamie Oliver fish pie

In this recipe, we go back to Jamie’s Naked Chef days to see him whizz around the kitchen as a young whippersnapper.

This time he makes one of the best-loved comfort food of all time – fish pie.

He makes a creamy, cheesy sauce and adds wilted spinach to chunks of cod and smoked haddock.

But instead of topping with a silky, smooth mashed potato, he goes for a more rustic, smashed potato covering.

As the young Jamie says, “well classy”.

Pan-Fried Salmon with Tomato Couscous | Jamie Oliver

7. Jamie Oliver salmon

Sticking with fish, here Jamie cooks a quick, colourful mid-week meal.

Using couscous as the base, he pan-fries some salmon fillets and cooks it skin-side down so it crisps up the skin.

As for the veg, he throws in some asparagus to the pan and whips up a quick, zesty tomato salsa.

Jamie's Easy Slow-cooked Beef Stew

9. Jamie Oliver stew

For his ultimate stew, Jamie uses oxtail as the meat.

After roasting the oxtail he adds the meat to a sauce that includes vegetables, woody herbs such as rosemary and thyme, a few cloves and some porter.

Read more: Jamie Oliver: Together: Chef on how sleeping problem left him ‘struggling to function like a normal person’

He sticks it back in the oven for five to six hours.

A quick splash of Worcestershire sauce after pulling the meat away from the bone, and job’s a good ‘un.

The Great Cookbook Challenge With Jamie Oliver starts on Channel 4 on January 31 at 8pm

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor