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We went behind-the-scenes of Happy Days with the Naked Chef to give you a taster of what really goes into making a bestselling cookbook. It's all here, from who
      
Lindsey Jordan, Jamie's editor at Penguin, reveals how Jamie puts his recipe ideas together and offers a sneak preview of her favourite recipes from Happy Days...
"Jamie is constantly evolving his recipe ideas and always has new recipe inspirations. He never fails to amaze me with his creativity and flair for putting flavours together. His key is to keep things simple - let the ingredients speak for themselves and don't drown them in sauces, for example. When it came to putting the recipes together for Happy Days, Jamie and I shared an office at Penguin for about 3 months. He would give me the recipes for the book and then we would chat about them and I would edit them at the same time, asking Jamie questions about any bits I didn't understand - this is important as it ensures the recipes make sense and will be easy to follow. Jamie then tests all the recipes when we're finished to make sure they all work as they should!
We also spend a lot of time talking about how to present the recipes, the structure of the book and how many recipes should be in each section. Jamie loves every single part of the process of putting the book together - when our writing session is finished he comes in (between filming) to see the page proofs and ensure he's happy with everything.
With the new book Jamie knew from the beginning that he was going to have brand new sections. One area he feels strongly about is cooking with children and getting children interested in cooking - he wants them to have a proper enjoyment of 'real' food, not just sweets and gingerbread men, but getting involved in shopping in the supermarket - asking them if a pineapple smells ripe or what fish they want to pick out.
There's also lots of comfort food in Happy Days - food that when you get home after a hard day you crave - like fish finger sandwiches and sticky sausage baps with brown sauce, and as a result I'm now addicted to fish finger sandwiches!
My favourite chapter so far is Quick Fixes where Jamie takes four food basics - chicken, salmon, cod and steak - and does two really quick recipes with each ingredient. The chicken recipes are a big favourite of mine - Jamie calls them 'chicken in a bag' - you just put all the ingredients in foil with the chicken, bake for 15 minutes and unwrap at the table! It's a great surprise element in the cooking, and makes a real event of a quick meal.
In terms of new inspiration for Happy Days I think Monte's (the restaurant where Jamie works) has been great for Jamie in terms of experimenting. Jamie gets inspiration from all the chefs there, for example Geoff, who is a brilliant pastry chef, has a tart he made featured in the book. Jamie's often inspired by other chefs and will adapt ingredients to make new recipes.
Jamie has also been to Japan, America, Australia and Italy in the past year and new places have provided him with new inspiration e.g. in New Zealand Jamie was influenced by the pie-eating culture! Feedback from Jamie's travels is also a big influence - talking to people, hearing what it is they want to cook, their ideas about food and connecting with the reader.
Essentially Happy Days is still about getting your mates round and cooking really tasty but easy stuff."
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