19-12: A Variety of Vegetables

19-12: A Variety of Vegetables

Trying to work my way through more of the Cooking School entries–here’s 19-12: A Variety of Vegetables for you. This one comes courtesy of the NEW BOOK, and features 4 vegetables you may or may not be familiar with.

As usual, I’ll give you a little blurb after the jump about each one and then links to a few Simply Delicious recipes that I’ve already covered that use those vegetables. Hey, it’s important to eat your veggies!


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13-9: Enchiladas

13-9: Enchiladas

Enchiladas were always a big hit in one of my previous cooking jobs, and they’re still a big hit when I make them at home for dinner today. Presenting 13-9: Enchiladas as a vegetarian dish (using vegetables as filling instead of meat) is pretty avant-garde for a 1980s cookbook, but you can always adjust the fillings as you wish.

If you want to add some options to your combination plate, you can add in 8-65: Sizzling Skirt Steaks, 3-15: Quick Mexican Soup, or 9-6: Filled Tacos.

Enchiladas were usually (and still are) one of my top choices when going to a Mexican restaurant, and the method here is not that far off from the traditional way to make them.

However, as much of a stickler as I am for authentic/homemade, I like the canned enchilada sauce you buy in the supermarket SO much better and will pretty much always just use that. Can’t tell you why, just my personal preference.


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4-18: French Vegetable Casserole

4-18: French Vegetable Casserole

Everything I needed to learn about making 4-18: French Vegetable Casserole was told to me by Remy the animated rat, star of Ratatouille. I know…the editors of Simply Delicious call this dish “French Vegetable Casserole” to make the name more palatable for Middle America. ??

The card mentions that the dish is referred to as “ratatouille” in its area of origin.

Editor’s note: I did the underlining you see above when I realized this recipe was “ratatouille”I’ve made this recipe before, a year or two prior to embarking on this project. I even watched Ratatouille on my laptop while I made it. ?


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13-12: Eggplant-Rice Casserole

13-12: Eggplant-Rice Casserole

13-12: Eggplant-Rice Casserole is a heavier preparation of eggplant than my other eggplant recipe, 13-16: Arabian Moussaka, this rice and eggplant dish is two, two, two dishes in one. I’ll show myself out for that dumb, old reference… ?

There were lots of colors in this dish: purple ?, orange, green, yellow, white, and a few shades of beige.


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13-16: Arabian Moussaka

13-16: Arabian Moussaka

The first of a few eggplant dishes, 13-16: Arabian Moussaka is the lightest preparation of eggplant that Simply Delicious presents. ?

As the card suggests, this recipe is perfect for lunch or supper.


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4-34: Italian Roasted Vegetables

4-34: Italian Roasted Vegetables

This one’s short and sweet. I’ve made 4-34: Italian Roasted Vegetables a few times before, once as part of a big dinner party I cooked for when I was about 13 (6-22: Crispy Chicken Drumsticks and 9-20: Meat Roly-Poly were part of that as well) and Thanksgiving 2000 based on my mother’s notations on the back of the card. I know I’ve used the concept multiple times in other instances, even if I wasn’t following this exact recipe.

This is more a method than a particular recipe–you can use pretty much whatever vegetables you want with this one. Now’s a perfect time for this recipe–farmer’s markets are open and there’s lots of good stuff out there to roast. ?


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4-1: Eggplant, Onion and Tomato Bake

4-1: Eggplant, Onion and Tomato Bake

While I was cooking 4-12: Cheesy Sliced Baked Potatoes, I also was working on this recipe–however be careful with this one: it takes a WHILE to make. ?

This recipe takes 2+ hours–most of which is just it baking in the oven. Just an FYI. 🙂


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