Jamie Oliver Makes Dinner for World Leaders at G-20 Summit
Britain's 'Naked Chef' whips up feast with students from his charity cooking school
by Sara Bonisteel / Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images
The "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver made dinner fit for 30 kings Wednesday night in London at the G-20 Summit.
Oliver called the meal for a group of 30 world leaders which included President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "probably the most important meal I've ever cooked in my life."
"I've cooked for some pretty big names in my day but this is so exciting," Oliver wrote on his Web site. "I can't wait to get in there and start cooking!"
Oliver made the menu of simple British fare with students from Fifteen Foundation, a chef's apprenticeship program that teaches young people the culinary arts through four restaurants in Europe.
The menu included Scottish salmon baked whole in smoked sea salt and served flaked at room temperature with seashore vegetables, broad beans, a herb green salad and wild garlic-scented Irish soda bread with homemade mayonnaise.
Another course featured a shoulder of Welsh lamb slow roasted for seven hours and served with the first new potatoes of the season -- Jersey Royals, the first asparagus of the season, wild St. George mushrooms, mint sauce and gravy.
"This asparagus here only popped through the ground 36 hours ago," Oliver said to a British government camera crew behind the scenes.
Vegetarian leaders could dine on Childwickbury goat's cheese with roasted shallots, seashore vegetables, a herb green salad and wild garlic-scented Irish soda bread as well as a lovage-and-potato dumplings with asparagus and wild St. George mushrooms.
A hot Bakewell tart with homemade custard concluded the meal.
The pressure didn't seem to faze Oliver, though he had one big worry on his mind.
"This is probably the most important meal I've ever cooked in my life," he said in the kitchen before the dinner. "To make things even worse, right, cause you know, I love a bit of Gordon [Brown], Gordon's enough pressure, but then I've got the other 29 world leaders; I'm waiting for Jersey Royals [potatoes] and asparagus to come out of the ground, you know; I've got my students here, like is everything going to work? Is the equipment going to be alright? To make things even worse, my wife is about to give birth any minute now; she is due today."
Britain's 'Naked Chef' whips up feast with students from his charity cooking school
by Sara Bonisteel / Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images
Oliver called the meal for a group of 30 world leaders which included President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "probably the most important meal I've ever cooked in my life."
"I've cooked for some pretty big names in my day but this is so exciting," Oliver wrote on his Web site. "I can't wait to get in there and start cooking!"
Oliver made the menu of simple British fare with students from Fifteen Foundation, a chef's apprenticeship program that teaches young people the culinary arts through four restaurants in Europe.
The menu included Scottish salmon baked whole in smoked sea salt and served flaked at room temperature with seashore vegetables, broad beans, a herb green salad and wild garlic-scented Irish soda bread with homemade mayonnaise.
Another course featured a shoulder of Welsh lamb slow roasted for seven hours and served with the first new potatoes of the season -- Jersey Royals, the first asparagus of the season, wild St. George mushrooms, mint sauce and gravy.
"This asparagus here only popped through the ground 36 hours ago," Oliver said to a British government camera crew behind the scenes.
Vegetarian leaders could dine on Childwickbury goat's cheese with roasted shallots, seashore vegetables, a herb green salad and wild garlic-scented Irish soda bread as well as a lovage-and-potato dumplings with asparagus and wild St. George mushrooms.
A hot Bakewell tart with homemade custard concluded the meal.
The pressure didn't seem to faze Oliver, though he had one big worry on his mind.
"This is probably the most important meal I've ever cooked in my life," he said in the kitchen before the dinner. "To make things even worse, right, cause you know, I love a bit of Gordon [Brown], Gordon's enough pressure, but then I've got the other 29 world leaders; I'm waiting for Jersey Royals [potatoes] and asparagus to come out of the ground, you know; I've got my students here, like is everything going to work? Is the equipment going to be alright? To make things even worse, my wife is about to give birth any minute now; she is due today."
