Jamie Oliver recipes...

I bought Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook..Jamie at Home..it's big, beautiful hardcover with beautiful color pictures and has this fascinating new book smell. Anyways I love it but at first glance didn't think it was very useful, some of the recipes look intimidating and he uses a lot of fresh ingredients and herbs, which I usually don't buy because they go bad.

Anyways after a few recipes, I'm enamored with Jamie Oliver. His recipes are so so simple, use few ingredients and are really reliant on the quality of the items in the dish. He's taught me to respect and love fresh ingredients and vegetables and that simplicity is king.

Take this soup for example: it's stellar in taste! And so easy my friend's 4 year old kid was helping her make it. Afterwards, he ate bowls and bowls of it. Try not to love this soup. You might think salt and pepper is not much for taste, but try this soup out without any of your own touches at first. It's a perfect recipe.

The book it comes from can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Jamie-Home-Cook-Your-Good/dp/1401322425/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225218475&sr=8-1


Jamie Oliver's asparagus leek soup

p.s. i omitted the eggs

serves eight

1 3/4 lb asparagus, woody ends removed
olive oil
2 medium white onions, peeled and chopped
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped (after chopping, drop in a big bowl of water to wash)
2 quarts good quality chicken or vegetable stock
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
eight slices ciabatta or other fresh bread
extra virgin olive oil (for drizzling)
eight small eggs
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chop the tips of the asparagus stalks and put aside

roughly chop the rest of the asparagus

in a large deep pan, add a good glug of olive oil and gently saute the onions, celery and leeks for 10 minutes, until soft and sweet. do not brown

add the asparagus and stock and simmer for 20 minutes with a lid on it
remove from heat and blitz with an immersion blender or in a standard blender until just smooth

season the soup bit by bit with salt and pepper until it's just right
put soup back on heat, add asparagus tips and bring back to a boil- simmer just until asparagus tips soften.

in a wide fry pan heat three to four inches water to boiling- gently crack eggs into the water and poach for just a few minutes, until softly cooked- they should still be a litle runny. serve on top of soup with toasted slice of bread and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.