Section 1: Appetizers & Starters – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

4-36: Golden Potato Medley

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters February 27, 2018February 24, 2018all-purpose flour, au gratin, black pepper, blanched, boiled, bread crumbs, butter, carrots, casserole, celery, Cheddar, cheese, cheese sauce, chopped, creamy, dinner, egg-free, grated, green bell peppers, half-and-half, lunch, melted, milk, Monterey Jack, panko, pared, Parmesan, party food, peeled, potatoes, recipes, red bell peppers, roux, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions, yellow potatoes 0 Comment

There are few things in this world as good as potatoes and vegetables covered in cheesy breadcrumbs. It’s a popular side dish that you’ve seen many variations of. I really enjoyed 4-36: Golden Potato Medley and the plating that Simply Delicious shows below looks so much better than how my dish came out. I go more for utility than aesthetics when I’m cooking, but it’s also true that you eat with your eyes before your stomach. 👀

This dish is the perfect side dish, but it is hearty enough to be eaten as an entree. It doesn’t look like much, but is perfect with hot sauce.

5-8: Royal Crêpes

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 25, 2018January 25, 2018all-purpose flour, breakfast, broiled, butter, butter sauce, Cheddar, cheese, chilled, chopped, cooked shrimp, creamy, crêpes, dill, double boiler, dried herbs, egg yolks, eggs, emulsion, half-and-half, herbs and spices, Hollandaise sauce, lemon juice, lunch, melted, milk, Monterey Jack, pancakes, peeled, recipes, salt, seafood, shredded, shrimp, untested, whipping cream 0 Comment

More queue-cleaning–add 5-8: Royal Crêpes to the pile of other crêpe recipes that I’ve done over the course of this project. When I first started making crêpes for this project about 4 years ago now, I had never made crêpes before. Now I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on the concept, so let’s kick it up a notch with a “royal” version. 👑

Oh no–my mortal enemy: Hollandaise sauce. I’ve struggled with it in the past–will this be my redemption? Jump behind the cut and find out!

4-10: Spinach-Mushroom Ring

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 19, 2018January 17, 2018all-purpose flour, black pepper, butter, chopped, creamy, diced, dinner, eggs, fail, frozen, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, lunch, milk, mushrooms, nutmeg, recipes, ring mold, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, spinach, stews, tart pan, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions 0 Comment

4-10: Spinach-Mushroom Ring claims to be perfect for a ladies’ luncheon…this light and fluffy egg and mushroom stew dish is yet another dish that I wouldn’t generally make for myself. I ate one of these rings and threw the rest out, and if you know anything about me, that’s something I rarely do.

This dish is described as luscious and from the most accepted and common definition, it can described as richly luxurious or appealing to the senses. The combined flavors of the mushroom sauce and spinach omelette could be described as rich and creamy, but that still doesn’t mean it was a tasty dish.

1-6: Surprise Sandwich Loaf

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 15, 2018January 15, 2018appetizers, basil, black pepper, bread series, breads, butter, Cheddar, cheese, chives, Colby Jack, Dijon mustard, dinner, egg-free, grated, ham, heirloom tomatoes, Italian, Jarlsberg, loaf pan, lunch, meal prep, melted, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, party food, Pepper Jack, pepperoni, picnic, Provolone, recipes, salami, salt, sandwiches, sliced, smoked ham, snacks, Swiss, toasted, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, white bread, whole wheat bread, yellow mustard 0 Comment

Trying to put some new posts out there while I fix the old posts–here’s 1-6: Surprise Sandwich Loaf, which was made with a loaf baked from the dough I used for 20-12: Basic Rolls. I made this to break up into portions and take to work with me for lunch one week. It was delicious when first made, but with most things lost its appeal as the week went on.

I love toasted sandwiches. My high school job was at a Quizno’s, at which I came up with personal sandwich masterpieces which would be impossible to recreate had I been nothing but a customer. However, while I appreciate the efficiency of an entire toasted sandwich loaf, this particular execution leaves something to be desired.

4-20: Oven-Baked Tomatoes

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 2, 2018January 2, 2018all-purpose flour, appetizers, black pepper, bread crumbs, broccoli, butter, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, crispy, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, filling, half-and-half, heirloom tomatoes, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, Jarlsberg, lunch, mushrooms, parsley, party food, recipes, revisited, roux, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, sour cream, stuffed, Swiss, tomatoes, vegetables, vegetarian 0 Comment

I love the appetizer-style dishes featured in Simply Delicious. They are complicated because of making individual portions, but you can prepare them ahead of time to heat and serve when ready. When I make a batch of an appetizer like 4-20: Oven Baked Tomatoes, I like to eat a few right away and then stash the rest in the refrigerator to eat later as a healthy snack.

My family did not grow up eating baked, hollowed-out, stuffed tomatoes, however, that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying this dish.

Editor’s note: Looks like my mom made this one before, and substituted broccoli for mushrooms–that makes sense, she hates mushrooms. She also dislikes tomatoes, so I have no idea why she was making this in the first place.

3-19: Soupe Saint Germain

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 31, 2017December 31, 2017all-purpose flour, black pepper, blender, boiled, butter, champagne, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fail, food processor, French, frozen, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, horseradish, lunch, milk, mounted, Prosecco, purée, recipes, roux, sage, salt, soups, sour cream, sparkling, sweet peas, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetarian, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions 0 Comment

Working on the Simply Delicious Cookbook Project with Jamie has given me an opportunity to learn and expand my culinary palette. As with a lot of these dishes, I have never tried 3-19: Soupe Saint Germain before. This soup is made with ingredients I generally enjoy, but the end product was hardly enjoyable. The sparkling white wine was probably my least favorite component of the dish and not something I normally drink.

To the best of my recollection, I haven’t eaten many other classic French soups. My version of this dish may have been less than stellar due to a less than fresh bottle of sparkling white wine and my substitution of sour cream for cream.

Editor’s note: Potage St. Germain is essentially “pea soup”. There’s many variations out there, but not too many with sparkling wine in them. Since it’s New Years’ Eve, here’s an interesting alternative for all that Champagne you may have on hand…Happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2018! 🥂

5-16: Richmond Omelette

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 30, 2017January 8, 2018all-purpose flour, Béchamel sauce, black pepper, breakfast, broccoli, broiled, butter, casserole, Cheddar, cheese, cheese sauce, creamy, eggs, Emmental, filling, French, garnish, grated, Gruyère, lunch, melted, milk, Mornay sauce, mushrooms, omelette, Parmesan, port wine, recipes, roux, salt, sliced, sour cream, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, white Cheddar 0 Comment

A lot of Simply Delicious‘ recipes are takes on already-established dishes, like 9-4: Swedish Meatballs, 2-13: Waldorf Salad or 3-2: New England Clam Chowder. I did a fair amount of searching for anything that resembled 5-16: Richmond Omelette, but besides some rankings of places to get a good omelette in Richmond, VA, there’s not much out there for that particular dish with that name.

I’ve put this one off for a while due to not having port wine on hand. After a trip to the store and a rather haughty store clerk who carded me for it despite the clearly visible gray streaks in my hair, I have the wine–let’s make a weird mushroom omelette-casserole with cheese sauce.

5-4: Eggs Benedict

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters June 4, 2017January 1, 2018breakfast, brunch, butter, Canadian bacon, caramelized, cayenne pepper, creamy, double boiler, egg yolks, eggs, English muffins, fail, garlic, ham, Hollandaise sauce, lemon juice, lunch, MD2017, Mother's Day, Mousseline sauce, pan-fried, parsley, poached, recipes, salt, sautéed, sliced, smoked ham, spinach, toasted, untested, vegetarian, vinegar, whipped, whipping cream, white bread, yellow onions 0 Comment

I believe in a couple of things–nobody’s perfect, and all things eventually balance out. My experience with this recipe, 5-4: Eggs Benedict, especially relative to how the rest of the meal went, encapsulates both of those ideas. In the days leading up to making this Mother’s Day brunch (MD2017), I knew I needed to practice two things before the big day: poaching eggs and hollandaise sauce–I’ve had trouble with both in the past. Guess what I didn’t do?

I procrastinated on practicing both my egg poaching and my hollandaise, and those were my failure points on this recipe. After the jump, you can read about what went really well (my homemade English muffins) and what didn’t (my broken hollandaise sauce, for one).

3-9: Mexican Chicken Soup

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 27, 2017January 15, 2018bay leaves, black pepper, boiled, carrots, celery, chicken, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chili peppers, chili powder, chopped, cooked chicken, crushed red pepper, crushed tomatoes, deboned, diced, egg-free, garlic, gluten-free, herbs and spices, leeks, lunch, Mexican, nuts, paprika, peanuts, peeled, peppercorns, potatoes, recipes, red bell peppers, salt, sliced, soups, spice blends, Tex-Mex, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, yellow onions 0 Comment

Chicken soup is always good on a day when you are feeling sick. I made 3-9: Mexican Chicken Soup on a really hot day, basically the worst type of day to make chicken soup. I was able to freeze and store all of this soup for future meals. Later on in the week that I made this soup, I caught a nasty cold and having a stockpile of chicken soup really helped me feel better.

The spice mixture is the only part of this soup that is remotely Mexican.

Editor’s note: Simply Delicious has another “Mexican” soup–check out 3-15: Quick Mexican Soup if you want what is essentially a ground-beef version of this soup.

1-37: Savory Cheese Appetizers

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 26, 2017January 15, 2018appetizers, blender, blue cheese, buttermilk, cayenne pepper, cheese, chives, cream cheese, creamy, crème fraîche, dips, food processor, fruit, garnish, Gorgonzola, grapes, herbs and spices, lunch, paprika, parsley, party food, radishes, recipes, salt, savory, sherry, sliced, snacks, sour cream, untested, vegetarian, white bread 0 Comment

We can pretend that 1-37: Savory Cheese Appetizers is something fancy and unique, but it’s really just a blue cheese spread on squares of white bread. If you like blue cheese, I suppose this could be an exciting concept–the 1980s were big on both blue cheese and dips (which this recipe can double as).

Simply Delicious has a lot of blue cheese-related recipes–a few I covered just recently include 5-20: Golden Cheese Tartlettes and 1-20: Prosciutto Appetizers. After making all three of these essentially back-to-back, I’m a little burned out on blue cheese for a while.

← Previous