simmered – Page 2 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

6-58: Chicken Pie with Puff Pastry

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses October 15, 2019October 15, 2020all-purpose flour, American, basil, bay leaves, black pepper, boiled, boneless, breasts, butter, carrots, celery, chicken, chopped, deboned, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, filling, frozen, herbs and spices, individual, lunch, melted, pearl onions, pie crust, pies, pot pie, puff pastry, roux, salt, sautéed, simmered, skinless, slit, strained, sweet peas, tender-crisp, thighs, untested, vegetables

Yo. As I’ve said previously, I take breaks from this project when life gets in the way. This summer was BANANAS, and fall seems to be quickly passing me by as well. I haven’t given up on cooking and photographing recipes, but I seem to have dropped the ball on actually writing them up and posting them.

I made the first attempt to rectify this earlier today when I uploaded about 600 pictures from two memory cards that I’ve filled up since May of this year. I made the second when I set up all the folders to start organizing the pictures (we’re talking over 50 recipes here).

Here’s the third: a recipe I cooked back sometime in early 2019, 6-58: Chicken Pie with Puff Pastry. This has been in various draft stages since April, and I’m finally finishing it NOW. This isn’t even part of the memory card dump from today–that’s how far behind I am.

This is essentially chicken pot pie. I mean, how is it not? The major difference between this and Marie Callender’s is that this one only has pastry on top.

11-21: Baked Whitefish with Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses June 10, 2018November 24, 2020basil, bass, boneless, broiled, butter, catfish, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, cod, cooked shrimp, creamy, deboned, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, fish filets, flaked, flounder, gluten-free, grouper, haddock, herbs and spices, lemon juice, lemons, melted, milk, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, parsley, Provolone, rockfish, salad shrimp, salt, seafood, shellfish, shredded, shrimp, simmered, spice blends, trout, untested, whipping cream, whitefish

Here’s 11-21: Baked Whitefish with Shrimp—Simply Delicious is big on fish and cheese together. We’ve seen that combination already with 11-21: Best Ever Sole Au Gratin and 11-4: Calzone with Seafood.

You don’t see too many creamy, cheesy baked fish recipes these days, do you? ?

15-25: Coconut Custard with Mango

Adam Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 12, 2018October 29, 2020boiled, chilled, coconut, coconut milk, cold desserts, creamy, custard, dairy-free, dessert, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fruit, gluten-free, granulated sugar, mango juice, mangoes, purée, ramekins, sieves, simmered, strained, untested, vegetarian, white wine

There are a few great songs about coconuts. Zazu in Disney’s The Lion King sings a cheeky, British song about the coconut. If the fruit pairing in this recipe were different, I’d also share this Harry Nilsson song that you may recognize if you’ve ever been to a chorus concert at an elementary school. Is coconut a fruit? a nut? a seed? Let’s find out together with 15-25: Coconut Custard with Mango.

The cracked coconut in the background is what you may think of when hearing the word “coconut”, however, the brown and white fleshy part is the seed of the fruit. Every part of the fruit of the coconut is used in many different applications all around the planet.

11-5: Lemon Pepper Scallops

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses August 11, 2017July 6, 2020bay scallops, black pepper, boiled, bread crumbs, broiled, butter, butter sauce, casserole, deglazed, dinner, easy, fairly expensive, garlic, glazed, herbs and spices, lemon juice, lemon pepper, lunch, melted, minced, pan-fried, panko, parsley, pasta/noodles, poached, red bell peppers, reduced, sautéed, scallops, seared, simmered, tender-crisp, untested, vegetables, white wine, yellow bell peppers

Hey, y’all. Took a month or two off (I need SOME sort of summer vacation now that I’m not a teacher anymore), but as I’ve said before, I’m not going to let this die. Even though I haven’t been actively writing and publishing, I’ve still been cooking and photographing–I’ll get caught up here soon. Thanks for sticking around. 🙂

Here’s one I cooked a little while ago, but never finished writing–11-5: Lemon Pepper Scallops. My husband Adam LOVES seafood and at the start of this summer, we had decided we were going to try to knock out more of the Fish and Beef chapters of the book over the warm months. I can’t say that vow has worked out (I don’t think any of the ones in the queue are either one of those), but here’s a vestige of what was to be.

I’m gonna tell you right now–I can do a LOT of things in the kitchen, but poaching is my white whale. I always have a REALLY hard time with it (see 5-4: Eggs Benedict for an example of that), and I’ve yet to conquer it. Practice makes perfect, but to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of poached seafood anyway (very 1980s). I think for this one, I’m going to use a more flavorful searing technique, which I have less of a chance of screwing up (hey, scallops ain’t cheap).

18-6: Basic Pots and Pans

Jamie Martin Group 18: Basic Techniques, Section 4: Cooking School January 10, 2017September 30, 2020blanched, boiled, braised, cast-iron, cooking school, double boiler, Dutch oven, grill pan, pan-fried, pot-roasted, restaurant-style, sautéed, simmered, steamed

Back again with another Cooking School entry from the back of Simply Delicious. 18-6: Basic Pots & Pans is a featured topic discussing different types of cookware that can be used, with tips on handling, usage, & storage. Pot & pan types are controversial for some cooks, and what one person stands by may be another’s no-go. ?‍?

In this entry, I really only plan to show you what I’ve got going in my own kitchen as of the time I wrote it, and I’ll probably pepper in some links to different pieces on cookware. I can’t claim any real authority on any of this stuff besides my own personal experience and knowledge, but I can at least maybe add one more opinion out there. ?

9-37: Ground Meat and Bean Dinner

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses January 9, 2017October 19, 2020apples, bay leaves, black olives, boiled, canola oil, chopped, cinnamon, cloves, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dried herbs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, green olives, ground beef, ground meat, herbs and spices, lunch, party food, pinto beans, red bell peppers, red kidney beans, salt, sautéed, simmered, soaked, stews, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, white beans, yellow onions

This dish is a dish that just “isn’t quite”. Isn’t quite good, isn’t quite bad. Like a bootleg chili, 9-37: Ground Meat and Bean Dinner is a Simply Delicious mess of a dish that isn’t quite chili and isn’t quite a casserole. ?

Unusual flavors is an understatement. Apples, cloves and cinnamon are a very old school meat and flavor combination. The broadest definition of meat is a solid food so pretty much everything used to be called meat. Merriam Webster Dictionary features an archaic definition of meat: “the edible part of something as distinguished from its covering (as a husk or shell)”. Fruit meat, nut meat, vegetable meat, the fleshy part that provides sustenance is technically a meat under this really old definition.

3-16: Hearty Beef Soup

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 5, 2016October 4, 2020beef, beef stew, boiled, butter, canola oil, chili peppers, chopped, chuck roast, crushed tomatoes, cumin, diced, dinner, Dutch oven, egg-free, fairly easy, garlic, green bell peppers, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, minced, paprika, potatoes, red bell peppers, rump roast, salt, sautéed, seared, simmered, sliced, soups, stews, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

The winter is the best time of year for soup, especially 3-16: Hearty Beef Soup. This dish made a great lunch dish that was easy to pack for multiple servings.

As the card says, it reheats very well and tastes great even without a side of sour cream.

10-1: Springtime Lamb Stew

Adam Martin Group 10: Lamb & Veal, Section 2: Main Courses November 29, 2016October 27, 2020all-purpose flour, boiled, bone-in, boneless, butter, carrots, dinner, Dutch oven, easy, fairly inexpensive, French, green beans, herbs and spices, lamb shoulder, lunch, parsley, peeled, potatoes, Provençale, red potatoes, salt, sautéed, seared, simmered, sliced, spring, stews, sweet peas, tender-crisp, thyme, untested, vegetables, white wine, yellow onions, zucchini

Stew happens to be one of my favorite dishes. ? It contains all the things I really enjoy: tender meat, vegetables, and gravy. That being said, even though it’s the opposite of springtime right now, 10-1: Springtime Lamb Stew was right up my alley.

I’ve never been to the Provence region of France to try this style of cooking in it’s natural habitat, so learn more from someone who has.

4-18: French Vegetable Casserole

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 27, 2016October 13, 2020basil, black pepper, chopped, crushed tomatoes, dairy-free, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, eggplant, fairly inexpensive, French, garlic, Glendale apt, gluten-free, green bell peppers, herbs and spices, lunch, minced, olive oil, parsley, peeled, red bell peppers, revisited, salt, sautéed, side dish, simmered, sliced, squash, summer, thyme, tomatoes, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions, zucchini

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. ?

3-15: Quick Mexican Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters September 5, 2016March 14, 2020appetizers, avocados, boiled, carrots, celery, Cheddar, cheese, chili powder, creamy, crema, crushed tomatoes, cumin, dinner, easy, egg-free, gluten-free, ground beef, ground meat, ground pork, guacamole, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lemon juice, lunch, meatballs, Mexican, mirepoix, Monterey Jack, peeled, salsa, salt, simmered, sliced, soups, sour cream, Tex-Mex, tomatoes, tortilla chips, untested, vegetables, white onions, yellow onions

Simply Delicious has a lot of different kinds of recipes–intricate & laborious French-inspired cuisine as well as simple, weeknight-friendly fare. 3-15: Quick Mexican Soup is obviously (given the name) one of the latter types. Of course, I’ve yet to find a recipe that I don’t make some sort of tweak/edit to, and this recipe will be no different. ?

Most Simply Delicious recipes that claim to be Mexican tend to be more “Tex-Mex” than authentically Mexican. I grew up in Los Angeles–real Mexican food is a BIG part of life there. I’m not saying I’m anywhere close to an expert on the subject, but I feel like I’ve got some sense of the cuisine. Simply Delicious has an idea of where they were going with this soup–I’m just going to help it along a bit. ??