I *heart* Jamie

I am lovin Jamie's 30 minute meals. I think he has some fantastic simple ideas and I can't praise him enough. I haven't tried an entire Jamie's 30 minute meals yet, as they usually contain a meat/fish main course, but I have made four sides. The sweet potato mash, baked mushrooms, beetroot salad and the french peas. So here are the recipes for the last two. I made them both last night, and found it very quick and easy, and something that you can so easily put together even if you're totally knackered after a days work.

Beetroot salad

Ingredients

1 bag of cooked vacuum packed Beetroot ( I chose ones which were not in vinegar)
1/4 of a block of feta cheese
a good handful of flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon of olive oil (Jamie uses two tablespoons)
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon juice.

Method

In a food processor coarsely grate the beetroot, then add the salt and pepper. Beetroot are like tomatoes, they love salt it really brings out the flavour in them. Then add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice. Give it a stir or as Jamie says 'move it around a bit'. Then cut the parsley and add that. Check and adjust the seasoning. Spoon it all on a plate and crumble some feta cheese on top.

Jamie's French peas

OK so this is Jamies' version of a French classic. All I know is that it is really tasty and another quick and easy side dish to make.

Ingredients.

1 bag of frozen peas
2 bunches of gem lettuce
6-8 leaves of mint
1 tablespoon of flour
a knob of butter
300ml of vegetable stock (Jamie uses chicken stock)
squeeze of lemon juice
salt and pepper

Method

Wash and chop the lettuce. Add the butter and the flour to a pan and then add the vegetable stock. Whisk this so there are no lumpy bits left, and it becomes a smooth bubbling sauce. Then add the mint leaves and the bag of peas. Next add the chopped lettuce and put the lid on for 5 minutes. Finally add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

I will make an entire 30 minute meal and blog on it, but for now I hope you enjoy these sides as much as I have. These recipes are from Jamie's 30 minute meals.