Jamie Martin – Page 9 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

8-23: Beef Kebabs with Red Wine Butter

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses February 4, 2021February 4, 2021baked potatoes, beef, beef tenderloin, black pepper, boiled, broiled, butter, canola oil, chilled, chopped, compound butter, creamed, cubed, Dijon mustard, dinner, easy, egg-free, expensive, gluten-free, grilled, kebabs, parboiled, party food, pearl onions, peeled, red onions, red wine, salt, sausage, sirloin, skewered, untested, vegetable oil, wax paper

I can’t quite figure out if 8-23: Beef Kebabs with Red Wine Butter are supposed to be used for when you are serving fancy food in a casual situation (like a truffle and foie gras burger in Las Vegas) or casual food in a fancy situation (like food trucks at a wedding). I suppose this one could go either way, depending on the circumstances.

This recipe features not only kebabs, but a compound butter to serve with them. Simply Delicious is big on beef + compound butter–another example is 8-4: T-Bone Steak.

If you’re looking for some other types of kebabs/skewers for your hypothetical casual yet fancy grilling party, try 10-14: Lamb on Skewers or 9-23: Fruity Sausage Kebabs.

13-9: Enchiladas

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses January 26, 2021January 26, 2021black pepper, canola oil, cashews, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, cilantro, coriander, cubed, dinner, eggplant, fairly easy, fairly expensive, filling, garlic, lunch, Mexican, Monterey Jack, nuts, parsley, peeled, Pepper Jack, raisins, salt, sautéed, shredded, sour cream, Southwestern, spicy, Tex-Mex, tomato sauce, tomatoes, tortillas, untested, vegetable oil, vegetarian, yellow onions

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.

16-29: Heavenly Apple Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 25, 2021January 26, 2021all-purpose flour, almond paste, almonds, apples, applesauce, bread crumbs, butter, cakes, chilled, cornstarch, creamed, dessert, dough, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, filling, flute, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, layers, lemon peel, lemons, nuts, party food, springform pan, tart pan, toppings, vegetarian, zested

It’s a bit past apple season (usually fall/autumn), but 16-29: Heavenly Apple Cake uses applesauce instead of fresh fruit, so you can make it anytime you’ve got a hankering for apples. Or cake. Cake is always good.

They (Simply Delicious) are trying REALLY hard to make you believe there are actual apple pieces in this cake. I mean, the picture and the description would lead you to think that this thing is just chock full of fresh apples.

I hate to break it to you, but this is gonna be one heck of a bamboozle.

11-22: Scallops with Tomatoes

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses January 13, 2021January 13, 2021bay scallops, butter, cast-iron, chives, chopped, curry powder, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, gluten-free, lunch, parsley, salt, sautéed, scallops, seafood, shellfish, tomatoes, untested, whipping cream

Simply Delicious says that now (winter) is the time for scallops, so here’s 11-22: Scallops with Tomatoes for you. It’s very similar to one of my FAVORITE recipes from this book, 11-12: Creamy Sautéed Shrimp (otherwise known in my family as “Shrimp Something”).

Seafood + butter + curry + tomatoes + cream is pretty much always going to be a win. With rice, 10/10?

7-39: Pork Chops with Broccoli and Leek

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses January 11, 2021January 12, 2021Asian, black pepper, blanched, boneless, broccoli, cashews, Chinese, chopped, corn, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, ginger, grated, ham, inexpensive, leeks, lunch, meal prep, pork, pork chops, pork shoulder, salt, sautéed, sliced, snow peas, soy sauce, tender-crisp, untested, vegetables, winter

Looking for a way to use up some winter vegetables? Maybe your veggie box is heavy with leeks and broccoli these days–if so, maybe give 7-39: Pork Chops with Broccoli and Leek a try. It’s got big “we have Chinese food at home” energy.

If malls were still a thing, you could probably find something similar at a generic Chinese/pan-Asian restaurant in the half-empty food court.

If you want to round out your combo plate for the full experience, you could make some 8-25: Stir-Fried Beef or 11-6: Sweet and Sour Shrimp to go with it. Maybe throw in some 6-39: Chicken Pot Stickers or 1-15: Chinese Spring Rolls on the side?

16-13: Lemon Meringue Pie

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 3, 2021January 3, 2021all-purpose flour, butter, chilled, cornstarch, curd, cut in, dessert, dough, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, favorites, filling, flaky, flute, fruit, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemon peel, lemons, meringue, new book, party food, pie crust, pies, salt, stiff peaks, untested, vegetarian

It’s citrus time where I live, which means that everyone has buckets of oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits that they can’t give away fast enough. I myself have an orange tree, but I’m often given lemons from friends and family as well–16-13: Lemon Meringue Pie is a good recipe to use up some of that winter citrus. You can also check out 15-29: Raspberry-Lemon Parfait or 17-42: Luscious Lemon Bars if you have a LOT of lemons to use up.

This is a NEW book recipe, so I never even knew until recently that Simply Delicious even had a lemon meringue pie recipe. If I had known, I guarantee I would have attempted it much earlier than now.

I LOVE lemon meringue pie–it conjures recipes of slowly rotating cake and pie displays in coffee shops. Man, do I miss eating in a restaurant.

2-7: Coleslaw

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 1, 2021December 28, 2020apple cider vinegar, apples, barbecue, black pepper, cabbage, canola oil, carrots, celery salt, chilled, crushed, diced, dinner, dressing, fail, grated, lunch, marinated, new book, olive oil, party food, picnic, pineapple, red cabbage, red wine vinegar, salads, shredded, side dish, soaked, sunflower oil, untested, vegan, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, vinegar, white onions, white wine vinegar, yellow onions

Happy New Year! I recently posted about finding a NEW (to me) Simply Delicious book at a local thrift store, so we’ll start this new year off with the first recipe I’m going to cover from that batch of new recipes, 2-7: Coleslaw. A lot of these recipes fill “gaps” in the collection I already had, and this one is no exception. Coleslaw is a pretty well-known dish, and it’s probably one of the only instances where I enjoy cabbage.

Simply Delicious suggests you can eat coleslaw with just about anything, and they may not be too far off with that claim. Not only can you eat it with a sandwich, you can even put it IN the sandwich.

The NEW Book

Jamie Martin Miscellaneous December 28, 2020December 28, 2020administrative, cookbook project, new book

One year ago today, we went for a casual stroll through a local Goodwill, like many other Saturdays before it. Been through that Goodwill many times, but THIS time, there was something special waiting for me, and I found it.

Another Simply Delicious book. With a different style of cover and everything.

I’ve waited a year to tell you that I’ve found more recipes. This seemingly never-ending project just got longer.

I have stated at other times that I didn’t feel like I wanted to add any more to what I considered my personal “canon”–the original set my mom gave me long ago. But when I saw it, there was no question that it was coming home with me. There wasn’t a LOT of new content, but there were quite a few that I’d never seen before.

14-24: Wine-Baked Apples

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 27, 2020December 26, 2020almonds, apple cider, apples, autumn, bread crumbs, brown sugar, butter, chopped, cored, dessert, easy, egg-free, fall, filling, gluten-free, golden raisins, grated, hot desserts, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemon peel, melted, orange juice, orange peel, peeled, raisins, twice-baked, untested, vegetarian, white wine, winter, zested

Yet another apple dessert recipe for you today. I made 14-24: Wine-Baked Apples at the same time as 14-2: Apple Strudel, since if I’m going through the work of breaking down apples, I’m getting at least two entries out of it.

The blurb above mentions this being a “new” way to bake apples–it doesn’t seem that far off from the “old” ways, to be quite honest.

3-7: Snappy Crab Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 26, 2020December 26, 2020bisque, blender, boiled, Cajun, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, crab, croutons, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, frozen, gluten-free, krab, lunch, marinated, milk, New Orleans, parsley, purée, salt, seafood, shellfish, sherry, simmered, soups, sweet peas, Tabasco sauce, tender-crisp, tomatoes, untested, whipping cream

Many moons ago when I first began this project, I wrote about Simply Delicious‘ use of adjectives to spice up the descriptions of their dishes. 3-7: Snappy Crab Soup reminds me of 3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup in its use of flashy words to get you interested in something hard to get excited about.

This is essentially a crab bisque, without the extra steps of simmering shells. The “hot pepper seasoning” they refer to in the blurb above is Tabasco sauce, so this is a mildly Cajun-influenced recipe as well. I remember thinking Tabasco sauce was the HOTTEST thing ever when I was a kid…I’ve learned so much since then. 🦀🌶