Jamie's 30-Minute Meals: Take #2

Jamie's 30-Minute Meals, Take #2: So, following the fiasco of the 30-minute Sea Bass with Panacetta and all sorts of other weird stuff, undaunted I returned to the fray. The 30-Minute Sea Bass took 70 minutes, and in consequence some parts of the meal were well overdone - but Sarah and I agreed that on balance it generally, overall, tasted quite nice, so I determined to persevere. The problem, for me, with Jamie's 30-Minute Meals is the way they blindside you half way thorugh with surprises. So for instance with the Sea Bass with Panacetta, I diligently chopped the coriander and so was taken aback four sections later when it said: 'add the coriander you set aside'. Set aside?? There was no mention of setting aside any coriander - all the coriander was gone. And at that point, already running 30 minutes over time, taking even a couple of minutes to cut more risked the Sea Bass turning from its post-Golden brown to a definite mushy paste. Indomitable, however, I determined to tackle the Liver and Bacon with Mash, with Berry Dessert. Not much can go wrong with Liver and Bacon with Mash, with Berry Dessert, can it? This time I cheated - rather than follow Jamie's advice to just follow the step by step instructions I read ahead: and where I thought preparation might exceed Jamie's time alloted I prepared ahead of time. After all, I have seen Jamie on TV only just make it in 30 Minutes - and with menus that he himself invented, and presumably practiced before filming, and (dare I say) might even have allowed some stopping of the clock - so I thought in all fairness as a total novice I should be allowed some latitude. Jamie's 30-Minute Liver and Bacon with Mash, with berry dessert, has 14 separate steps - so I knew I had only just over 2 minutes per step. And since some steps have three or more instructions to them, I knew I had perhaps less than 1 minute per instruction: a demanding pace, certainly, but I felt up to the challenge. So, the Liver and Bacon progressed reasonably well until I was blindsided by the 'three level steamer'. I swear there was no prior mention of a three-level steamer. I did not, until today, even know what a three-level steamer was: the requirement for a three-level steamer just reared up out of nowhere an dsmacked me in the teeth. Luckily, Sarah did know - and suggested, wisely, that I simply nuke the spinach in the microwave instead. That was lucky, because I shortly realised that Jamie required no less than five pans to be on the stove at the same time - so relegating one to the microwave was a stroke of genius. The other thing with Jamie's 30-Minute Meals is that he doesn't just say you are going to make liver and bacon, mashed potato, and an onion gravy, but insists on taking you through it step by step. So you don't ever get to see that you are going to boil potatoes then mash them - you do it step by step: 'fill the pan with boiling water; add a pinch of salt and potatoes' - and then several steps later you are told to mash them. I can see the merits in this - you make maximum use of every moment of your time, without fussing about the overall objective - but you also gain no overview, so you can be taken by surprise: as happened with the Sea Bass 'set aside' coriander. Other than the three-level steamer and the five pans at once, the Liver and Bacon with Berry Dessert did not pose too many unexpected challenges. The last-minute vanilla paste was I am sure an ingredient not mentioned any time previously, but that turned out really to be a mercy. And the yoghurt, had I rememberfed to add it, would not have leavened the tartness of the Berry Dessert at all. I would not have thought frying liver and bacon could be made complicated, but it can be. I think this is a lesson in the difference between an algorithm: "put a large frying pan on a medium heat; put some olive oil in it; put some bacon in the pan; stir the bacon while you crack on with the rest of the meal" - as opposed to an overview goal: "fry the liver and bacon". I am evidently an overview/goal man. 'Cracking on' is a Jamie remark. So, I tried to 'crack on' while the bacon 'turned a lovely gold' - Jamie likes 'lovely'. I am not sure what 'cracking on' was meant to suggest, but I tried my bes to do it in a Jamie 'cheeky chappie' sort of way. This 30-Minute Meal I managed in less than the 70-Minute Sea Bass with Panacetta. Well, more if you count the faffing around reading ahead to figure out what the hell he was on about, and the cheating preparation ahead of time, but if you count the time after I started the timer than it only took 48 minutes. And I must say, the Liver and Bacon with Mash was very nice - very tasty. I am not sure why Jamie is so keen on berries, though. They can be very tart, can berries. Very tart indeed. The Berry Dessert was very very tart. It was mitigated by being ladled onto Madagascan Vanilla Custard, which was nice - but neither Sarah nor I were entirely sure whether the very tart berries enhanced, or ruined, he Madagascan Vanilla Custard (which was quite nice). We would have discussed it, but neither of us could speak very well as our lips were so pursed by the tartness of the berries. I think on balance the Madagascan Vanilla Custard would have been nice without Jamie's tart berries, but that is a matter of personal choice. I think Sarah's remark perhaps captured the essence of the 30-Minute Meal: "not entirely unpleasant".