Section 1: Appetizers & Starters – Page 13 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters June 16, 2014March 14, 2020allspice, appetizers, autumn, blender, carrots, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, crème fraîche, diced, dinner, dried spices, easy, fall, food processor, garnish, Glendale apt, gluten-free, half-and-half, inexpensive, lunch, milk, nutmeg, purée, salt, side dish, soups, sour cream, thyme, untested, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

I think one of my favorite parts of old cookbooks is the adjectives they use to describe their dishes. I like to imagine a team of writers/cookbook jockeys staying late into the night, trying to dream up the perfect word to engage some adventurous cook into what would be an otherwise mundane-sounding recipe. How do you make carrot soup sound exciting?

That’s where “velvety” comes in. I present–3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup.

Oh, Simply Delicious. I admire you for trying to get me so excited about your carrot soup, that you put smiley face dollops of sour cream on your camera bowls.

When you have a LOT of carrots to get rid of and you’re looking for something velvety, Simply Delicious has you covered.

4-13: Fennel au Gratin

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 28, 2014October 13, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, au gratin, black pepper, blanched, broiled, butter, Cheddar, cheese, cheese sauce, dips, easy, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, fennel, melted, milk, Monterey Jack, salt, side dish, untested, vegetables, vegetarian

Fennel has been a challenge ever since we started receiving CSA boxes a year or two ago. I really never cooked with it before and even now, finding recipes to use with it (that I’ll eat) is difficult.

If you’ve never had fennel, it tastes like black licorice. You eat the bulb part, and usually cut off the stalks & feathery parts. I usually save those parts and put them in when I make chicken stock.

We ended up with two very large fennel bulbs, and so I decided to make 4-13: Fennel au Gratin, because you can’t go wrong when you cover things in cheese.

We paired this with some English cheddar tortilla/gluten-free something-or-other chips as well as put it on top of some veggie patties–both were pretty good. It worked well as a dip–it might be too cheesy as a side dish, unless you added more fennel.

5-22: Crêpes with Chicken

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 17, 2014October 14, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, breakfast, broiled, butter, cheese, chicken, chopped, cooked chicken, crêpes, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, French, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, Mozzarella, mushrooms, parsley, peeled, roux, salt, sautéed, shredded, untested, yellow onions

This arose out of a desire to use up some leftover chicken more so than a desire to eat another meat-based crêpe recipe so soon after 5-24: Meat-Filled Crêpes, but it turned out to be pretty good in its own right.

5-22: Crêpes with Chicken really should be “Crêpes with Chicken and Mushrooms”, as mushrooms are just as much a part of this as the chicken.

I had originally considered making it at breakfast, but I’m glad I didn’t–it’s definitely a savory dish. Crêpes are popular in this book–all this practice is making me quite the crêpe-master.

5-24: Meat-Filled Crêpes

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 24, 2014October 15, 2020all-purpose flour, boiled, breakfast, broiled, butter, Cheddar, cheese, cheese sauce, coconut flour, coconut milk, creamy, crêpes, dinner, dry mustard, easy, eggs, fail, fairly inexpensive, filling, French, grated, ground beef, ground meat, ground turkey, leeks, lunch, milk, paprika, Parmesan, salt, sautéed, stuffed, tender-crisp, untested, whipping cream, white wine

The long-awaited 5-24: Meat-Filled Crêpes. I finally solved my ingredient issues and it was crêpe-time. The only thing is…I’ve never done this before.

Confession time: In all of my time cooking (which is most of my life), I have NEVER made crêpes. I have made many pancakes (as you could imagine), but never a crêpe. This was a first for me and as you will see, I learned many lessons from this attempt.

5-7: Quiche Lorraine

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 23, 2014April 29, 20201970s, all-purpose flour, black pepper, butter, Cheddar, cheese, chicken fat, chilled, cut in, diced, dinner, dough, dried herbs, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, filling, French, grated, green onions, ham, herbs and spices, housewarming party, Hutton house, Jarlsberg, leeks, lunch, paprika, pie crust, quiche lorraine, quiches, rendered, revisited, salt, sautéed, smoked ham, Swiss, tart pan, Tarzana apt, whipping cream

This was supposed to be 5-24: Meat-Filled Crêpes, but ingredient shortages persist. A trip to the market tomorrow should resolve it, but for now, we’ll have to make do with an old classic, 5-7: Quiche Lorraine.

This one I have made in the past, several times. Two past memorable occasions:

– When my boyfriend (now husband) and I officially moved into our first apartment together a few years ago, we threw a 1970s-themed housewarming party. This along with another quiche, some rumaki, fondue, and other 1970s goodness made up the menu.

– When I was in 7th grade, I had to do some sort of project on France/French culture in my English class (I have no idea why). My project partner and I made this recipe at her house and also bought a Celine Dion CD (where she sings in French) to play while the class ate our quiche. I think her mom returned the CD to Target the next day. That was our lazy, late-90s attempt at French culture. 🇫🇷

3-1: Sweet Potato Vichyssoise

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 22, 2014March 14, 2020American, appetizers, autumn, blender, butter, celery, celery root, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chilled, coconut milk, dinner, easy, egg-free, fall, food processor, French, Glendale apt, gluten-free, grated, half-and-half, inexpensive, lime juice, limes, lunch, melted, nuts, pared, peanuts, peeled, purée, salt, sautéed, simmered, soups, sweet potatoes, tender-crisp, Thanksgiving, untested, vegan, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetarian, white wine, yams, yellow onions, zested

Soup is technically easy to make, but can still quickly go wrong. Our CSA box came with 2 lbs. of white sweet potatoes this week, and it was time for something else besides sweet potato fries. The trusty interwebs told me that white sweet potatoes were pretty similar to regular ones, so I thought I’d give 3-1: Sweet Potato Vichyssoise a whirl.

Vichyssoise is originally a French-American creation. This version is definitely more of an autumn/Thanksgiving-type of flavor, but it was still easy to make and pretty good. Obviously the recipe card depicts the use of an orange sweet potato, but white sweet potatoes work pretty well also.

Soup’s on!

5-1: Mushroom and Cheese Pie

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 17, 2014April 29, 2020brushed, butter, cast-iron, cheese, chopped, diced, Dijon mustard, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fail, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, French, Glendale apt, green bell peppers, green onions, healthy, lukewarm, lunch, melted, mushrooms, parsley, pastry, pie crust, pies, quiches, red bell peppers, scallions, shredded, sliced, sweated, Swiss, tender-crisp, thyme, twice-baked, untested, vegetarian, yogurt

5-1: Mushroom and Cheese Pie…didn’t go as well as I had hoped. Following directions is important, friends. Let’s dive in–we’re still in Book 1, Group 1 (Appetizers & Starters).

We got a lot of mushrooms in our CSA box this round, and I used the Maitake mushrooms for another recipe from this book, but forgot to photograph it. And as the internet says, “pics or it didn’t happen”. So, I decided to use the White Beech mushrooms for this recipe.

First mistake. Of several.

2-34: Avocado-Parmesan Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 17, 2014March 14, 2020appetizers, avocados, black pepper, blender, cheese, chopped, cucumbers, Dijon mustard, dinner, dressing, dry mustard, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, Glendale apt, gluten-free, grated, iceberg lettuce, leeks, lemon juice, lemons, lettuce, lunch, olive oil, parsley, peeled, Prosciutto, salads, salt, sliced, tarragon, tarragon vinegar, untested, vegetarian, vinegar

We start our journey in Book 1, Group 1: Appetizers & Starters with 2-34: Avocado-Parmesan Salad. Got that? It’s further broken down into subgroups, depending on different classifications. I see now where I get my classification aptitude.

We start here due to yesterday’s CSA box delivery brimming with already-ripe avocados (a rarity). As avocados are a fickle beast, it was imperative to consume them in the near future.