Reviewing Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals, Day 5: Grilled Pork Chops with Broccoli and Beans

by Elizabeth

Grilled Pork Chops with Broccoli and Beans

When we're feeling rich and fancy, we throw in a hearty meat dish into our dinner rotation. At first glance, this meal sounds a bit boring, but it's actually very tastey. I was not able to locate the Purple Sprouting Broccoli that the recipe calls for, so I just used regular 'ol broccoli.

Once again, I wasn't able to get my meal on the table in 20 minutes. It was more on the side of 40 minutes. My pork chops were really thick, and they took significantly longer to cook that the recipe stated. Again, I don't think 40 minutes is bad for a great dinner, but the advertised 20 would have been nice too!

This meal was the second most expensive, $12.35—$8.00 of that was the pork chops. We could have gone cheaper with them, but like I said earlier, we were feeling rich and fancy. Still, the price isn't too bad, we made 3 pork chops, so my husband has a good hearty lunch to take to work today.

I'm not a big meat-eater, but this was very good. I think my favorite part was the Cannellini Beans sauteed in oil, garlic, and chile. They were so creamy and rich - the perfect side for a gnarly pork chop! The broccoli is finished with a squeeze of lemon juice, which keeps it bright so it can hold its own with the rich beans and grilled meat. Time aside, I'll be making this one again.

Reviewing Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals, Day 4: Gorgeous Greek Salad

by Elizabeth

Gorgeous Greek Salad

Once a week we usually throw a "big salad" in the mix for our weekday dinners. It's a great way to keep things light, fresh, and fast. Jamie's Gorgeous Greek Salad is full of flavor, colors, and just plain yumminess.

Even considering this meal was a salad, it took me about 40 minutes to get it on the table. Again, I'm mostly being slowed down by prep. There are a lot of items to chop, but this meal is well worth it. The dressing is made bright with lemon juice, and red onions marinated in red wine vinegar give an additional burst of flavor to the salad.

So far, this has been the most expensive meal coming in at $14.65. The pricey items were the avocados, tomatoes, feta cheese, and ciabatta bread. The ciabatta was $3.50, but it was a delicious grilled treat within the salad.

This salad has lots of fun ingredients, loads of flavor, and can stand alone as an actual meal. I did make one little change—I know, already making changes to a recipe—I added sliced cucumber. Cucumber is one of my favorite salad ingredients, and I couldn't stand to have a Greek Salad without it!

Reviewing Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals, Day 3: Szechuan Stir-Fry with Jasmine Rice

by Elizabeth

Szechuan Stir-Fry with Jasmine Rice

Stir -fries are one of my favorite meals—they're healthy, relatively fast to make, and are a fun way to change up the weekly dinner menu. Jamie's Szechuan Stir-Fry makes use of chicken thighs, which is the perfect meat for this dish! The dark meat has more flavor, and really holds up the the spices and herbs in this dish.

This meal didn't make it to the table in 20 minutes, it was a bit more like 45. I'm just not as fast at the food prep as Jamie Oliver! Once all of the food was chopped and ready, the stir-frying was really fast. Jamie once again busts out the use of chopped herb stalks—I gotta say, I'm a fan. It adds so much flavor to the food—try it next time you're working with fresh herbs.

The price of this meal was $9.50, which only came out to two dinners. No leftovers this time, but still, where can you get a fresh and healthy dinner for $5 per person?

Taste-wise, this meal was superb! The use of dried red chile, Szechuan pepper corns, and sweet chile sauce compliment the chicken and red bell pepper wonderfully without overpowering your taste buds. Then you get the background flavor of garlic, ginger, and scallions, oh my...a great thing. Not to mention the lovely aroma of Jasmine Rice as it all comes together.

I'm pretty sure I'll be revisiting this meal in the not-so-distant future—I think it has also taught me some other tricks to try on my standard broccoli, carrot, and tofu stir-fry.

Reviewing Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals, Day 2: Spicy Cod with Lemon Zucchini Couscous

by Elizabeth

Spicy Swai with Lemon Zucchini Couscous

When it comes to fish, I tend to get stuck in a rut where I limit myself to baking it in a dish with some lemon and butter or pan-frying it for tacos. I've never cooked fish fillets like this before, and I'm so glad I did!

Time-wise, it took me about 50 minutes to prepare. I set a timer for 20 minutes, and it was half-way through, and I was still fiddling with my cilantro stalks. I found that the prep for this one took longer than I expected. Also, the step where you fry up the onion and zucchini took longer than it alluded to in the recipe.

The recipe was also incredibly inexpensive to make, coming in at $7.75, it made enough food for two dinners and muchos leftovers. Jamie notes that you don't have to use cod, any white fish will do. Our grocery store was having a special on Swai, and it worked out just great. In this recipe, Jamie once again makes use of the stalks from the herbs. This is something I've never done, but by adding chopped herb stalks to you sauteing veggies is a great thing!

Time aside, I will definitely be using this recipe again. The fish was so delicious in the tomato-based sauce, and lemony zucchini couscous was a great base to catch all of the goodness.

NOTE: If you are viewing this recipe from your Android, I noticed an error in step 10 (for 4 people). It says to add 3/4 cup of boiling water to your 14 oz. of couscous - it should be 1 /1/2 cups of boiling water.

Reviewing Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals, Day 1: Tuna and Tomato Rigatoni

by Elizabeth

Jamie Oliver's Tuna and Tomato Rigatoni

Being a pasta-loving Italian-American, it's of no surprise that my first recipe from Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals app is a pasta dish: Tuna and Tomato Rigatoni.

This dish was so simple to make, yet the use of red onion, red chile, and chopped basil stalks made it complex and delightful. That's right—chopped basil stalks! The best part is, it was very much done and on the table in 20 minutes—5 minutes of prep time, 12 minutes of cook time, and about 3 minutes to get it plated and in front of a hungry husband.

Price wise, this meal cost $9.75—not counting items usually in the average pantry, such as olive oil, spices, etc. Not bad for a dinner and leftovers for lunches too! All of the ingredients were easy-to-find items that you can get at your grocery store. Jamie's recipe calls for a jar of tuna in olive oil, but I was able to locate tins of tuna in olive oil at Trader Joe's. I'm sure regular tinned tuna at the grocery store would work just fine in a pinch.

The pasta looked beautiful and appetizing—I was proud to put it on my table. It was even better to eat, we tucked into it like nobody's business!