Jamie Oliver's sticky artichokes and pine nuts

I love Jamie - he's my fav chef. His food always looks and sounds delicious and his laid back style works for me.

I was browsing a book sale the other week, checking out the cook books section. I've had a bit of interest in Greek cuisine lately and there were a few books covering off the style, however many of the recipes seems ho hum and nothing different than you'd easily find on the internet with a quick search. Also big on my list is the design of, photography and illustration in the books and these were also not to my taste. I'd decided that perhaps I wouldn't spend the money when a Jamie Oliver book caught my eye.

Jamie does Spain, Italy, Sweden, Morocco, Greece and France. Oh la la such an awesome mixture of flavours and styles. A quick flick through showed a good array of recipes new and old and some documentary style photography (thumbs up). For $30 it was in my bag and I spent the rest of the night was spent reading it cover to cover.

One section which really took my fancy was Spanish tapas. I now want to live in Spain then come back and open a tapas bar.

Here's Jamie's sticky pine nuts and artichokes.

In a pan heat some oil and add finely chopped rind of 1/4 lemon. Fry till crispy. Add fresh thyme (I didn't have any so put loads of parsley in at the end), then the pine nuts. Toast the nuts then add a drained jar of artichokes. Stir through a good amount of honey (Jamie says a teaspoon, but I reckon I used a tablespoon) Season and cook till sticky.  Add the parsley and serve.

This image is from citruandherbs.blogspot.com (my pics looked awful)