Jamie Oliver Book Launch

Jamie Oliver knows how to throw a party, I’ll give him that. When you get an invite to a Jamie Oliver book launch, you go. Held at Recipease, his cookery school in Notting Hill. It was a party for bloggers, vloggers and social media mavens to talk about food. Quite how I ended up in the line up I’m not sure. As I say, when food royalty invites you out for the evening you go.

The object of celebration was his new book Jamies Comfort Food which I reviewed this month. And we were being served dishes from the book to eat that night.

It was culinary performance in the round. Food was being prepared from the centre of the room with everyone gathered around to drink, taste and watch. Jamie’s mentor Gennaro Contaldo was twirling sheets of pasta, layer cakes were being built up and sparklers lit.

My favourite was this Massaman curry with butternut and potato which I am definitely making again at home. Also dotted round the room were stalls of Jamie’s favourite beer, cheese, wine and meat producers.

With twinkly lights and panettone dangling everywhere from the ceiling the night kicked off the festive season in style.

And of course no comfort food line up is complete without cakes… lots of them.

As if the drinks were not enough to get us merry, the fumes of aerosol paint were heavy in the air too. Before our very eyes, a spray can artist was stencilling customised designs onto the fabric bound covers of the new book. I picked a tiger.

And naturally the highpoint of the evening was getting Jamie to sign my copy of Jamie’s Comfort Food for me. I’ve not been this excited since the Nigella book signing.

I asked Jamie if he would write “Easy Tiger!” in the book. As I remembered him saying it in of his earliest TV adverts. I think he was giving his nan a ride on a motorbike. When I said how I’d like it dedicating, Jamie looked at me, slightly suprised. “That’s what my nan used to say!” He was touched I remembered the advert. I had had no idea the lady in the advert really was his nan.

Thank you to Jamie and the team at JamieOliver.com not to forget everyone at Recipease for making it such a memorable evening.