Jamie Oliver Philips Home Cooker Giveaway

Jamie Oliver Philips Home Cooker retails for $529 

Introducing my new best friend.  Jamie Oliver loves her too.  She has somewhat liberated me from the kitchen.  You know the chore of standing over the pot stirring the porridge in the morning?  I am not too keen on quick oats, because it means the food industry has had to process them in some way.  I don't want my food modified anymore than it has to be. I like real oats, straight off the bushel, because they are as nature intended, but they do need to be stirred throughout the whole cooking process.  It's the same with risotto, that never ending stirring so the rice can absorb the stock.  Well not anymore, the Phillips Home Cooker does it for you.

See that red stirring arm in there? Well she stirs it for you and that is the absolute best thing about this appliance.  No more stuff burnt or caught on the bottom of the pan.  Once you have prepped the meal you can set the timer and walk away. You can go and read a magazine and have a coffee, while you wait for Breakfast. lunch and dinner to cook. 

I do have one big tip though, make sure you press the circled arrow on the bottom left there.  I never read instructions for anything, because I think I am very clever, but I turns out I am sooooo not.  I don't know why, but the first time I used my beloved home cooker, I assumed the stirring arm would magically work at some point during the in the cooking, but no........ you actually have to turn it on, as it's optional.  Some of the classic recipes, provided with the Home Cooker, by the lovely Jamie Oliver, do not need constant stirring.   So the stirring arm can be be turned on and off.  I know that now!!!

Here's how I stuffed up the potatoes on my first try out of the Home Cooker, by not turning on the stirrer.   Well cooked on one side but poorly on the other.  We still ate them and they were fine, but the next time I knew better.  And believe me it just got better and better.

Tomorrow is always another day in my book and since the potato incident, Jamie, the obvious name for my new cooker and I, are now best friends. 

I went back to the drawing board and read the quick set up instructions.  It was from here, that I really started to fall in love with Jamie.

I decided to try Jamie's spag bol first.  This involved breaking out the grater on the cooking tower too, which I must say, grates carrot beautifully. It shoots it straight into the cooking pan too.  

No longer do I have to grate carrot or dice onion for my spag bol,  I just shove it through the top of the cooking tower and this is what happens.  Bliss.

Both the cooking pan and the tower are easy to wash as well, as you can throw them in the dishwasher. And don't let the size of the box put you off.  The actual size of the appliance is about half the size of the box.  I had to clean out a cupboard to fit her in,  which was also a positive, because I only clean out cupboards when I am forced to do so.  You already know I am a cupboard shover, so that was an interesting exercise.   I do not like kitchen benches with appliances all over them, unless they are vintage. But the sad result is my cupboards become a jumbled mess of kitchen ware leaning precariously, with no order or rhythm to them, what so ever.  So at least I now have one organised cupboard in which Jamie lives.  I wonder how long that will last.

Once I became confident using the Home Cooker, the results from my second encounter with Jamie were fabulous.  There is nothing like a good spag bol, this is comfort food at it's best.  I mean look at this, the Beach House Brats said it was the best spag bol they had ever had.  OK I thought, I'm willing to work my way through this recipe book now.

The next morning I got up 20 minutes before everyone and had this Perfect Porridge, as Jamie calls it in the recipe book, waiting for my hungry charges as they stumbled into the kitchen first thing.  I particularly liked the bit where after Jamie had roasted the macadamia nuts for 8 minutes, I could put my feet up for a further 12 minutes whilst Jamie stirred the porridge.  At this point, the potato incident was well forgotten.  I was falling for Jamie more and more, because I was able to put my feet up, comment on a few blogs and have a cup of tea, whilst he pretty well did everything else.

I have made this porridge twice this week and it is so good.  Warm and silky even.  A great start to the day. Mr Beach House commented that he was full until lunch time that day.

The next night I was going out, but still had the family to feed.  Jamie and I made this chicken cacciatore together at lunchtime that day.  I had this small bowl for lunch and Jamie reheated it for me, when the family was ready to eat that night.  All Mr Beach House had to do was cook some rice.  A salad was a bridge too far for him, but no body went hungry.  Thank you Jamie.

The next night I stayed at mum's with the kids and Mr Beach House had a mate over to watch the footy.  They both woofed down Jamie's leftover chicken, washed downed with a glass of red.  The feedback was very good from his mate.  Now all I have to do is get Mr Beach House to use my new best friend too.  I gave up letting Mr Beach House cook for me when he tried to pass off a combination of canned baby prawns and tinned mushrooms in gravy mixed together, as a meal. That ended up in the bin.   But you know what? I think he could even learn to make an edible dinner with the help of my new best friend, Jamie.   Well maybe.

One thing is for sure, Jamie is becoming a somewhat indispensable fixture in my kitchen.  Like all the best love affairs, they often start out a little rocky, but I am sure this one will last the distance.  Jamie cooks great wholesome food in small or large quantities and allows me to walk away for a large period of time during the process, knowing it is virtually impossible for anything to burn, because now I have learned to turn on that genius stirrer.  

And here's the best bit dear reader.  Philips are giving you the chance to win a Home Cooker and Tower valued $529 too.  Here's what you will need to do to validate your entry.

Follow Desire Empire on one or more of the following platforms:

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Leave a  separate comment for each follow, even if you have for some time.

Sharing this to each of your social media platforms will constitute another entry.  Leave me a separate comment for each share.  

And good luck

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all the lovely people who entered. Congratulations Narelle Rock you are the lucky winner.  Please contact me via email with your address within 7 days to avoid a redraw.

Giveaway Terms and Conditions

You MUST enter the giveaway on this BLOG by leaving a comment here. You do not need to have a Blogger account.  Just sign in as anonymous and leave an email address.

This competition is open to entrants living in Australia only.

This competition is open from now until 6 May 2013 12pm Australian EST.

The winner will be announced on this blog, Face Book and Twitter and I will contact you, as long as you have left a valid means.  The winner will have 7 days to respond, otherwise the prize will be redrawn.

The Philips Home Cooker also steams vegetables and fish and cooks  rice and pasta too.  The temperature can be reduced to 40C so it will melt chocolate as well.

Disclosure
Although I was not paid to write this post, I did receive the Philips Home Cooker and Cook Tower FOC to review. 

Have a great week lovely people.
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