black pepper – Page 6 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

7-21: Jambalaya

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses January 13, 2020August 30, 2021American, American South, andouille, basil, black pepper, blanched, boiled, brown rice, Cajun, canola oil, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, Creole, cubed, dinner, fairly easy, fairly expensive, French, garlic, green bell peppers, long-grain, lunch, minced, New Orleans, peeled, pepperoni, pork, Provençale, rice, salt, sausage, sautéed, shrimp, smoked ham, Spanish, spicy, Tabasco sauce, thyme, tomatoes, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetable oil, West African, wild rice, yellow onions

Cajun and Creole cooking are not something I’ve had a ton of experience with, so 7-21: Jambalaya is somewhat unfamiliar territory. I didn’t grow up eating a lot of New Orleans cuisine, other than my mother’s ill-fated attempt at making gumbo once.

It’s not a difficult recipe (quite the opposite, actually), but I don’t feel like I have a solid understanding of the difference between what makes it good and what makes it great. That’s something that comes with experience, both as a taster and as a creator.

I couldn’t have even told you that there are two types of jambalaya, Creole and Cajun. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, the difference between the two is the absence or presence of tomatoes. Simply Delicious identifies this version as Creole, which is correct–that’s the version that has the tomatoes in it, which this one does. 🎺🍅

8-54: Beef Beignets

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses October 26, 2019July 2, 2020all-purpose flour, American, appetizers, batter, bay leaves, beef, beer, black pepper, Cajun, canola oil, chilled, chopped, coated, cooked beef, Creole, cubed, dairy-free, deep fryer, deep-fried, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, French, fried, garlic, hors d'oeuvres, inexpensive, leftovers, lunch, marinated, New Orleans, peeled, port wine, red wine, shallots, snacks, thyme, untested, vegetable oil

When I think of beignets, I think of New Orleans. 🎷 I’ve never been to the real Café Du Monde in New Orleans, but I have been to the Mint Julep Bar in New Orleans Square at Disneyland which serves beignets (very delicious ones).

8-54: Beef Beignets are NOT like the ones at Disneyland or Café Du Monde–they’re more like Mongolian Beef before you toss it in sauce.

I looked around for similar types of recipes to confirm that this wasn’t just a Simply Delicious invention–and I really couldn’t find too many. There’s nothing wrong with battering beef and frying it–just don’t call it a beignet.

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.

5-10: Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 14, 2019November 14, 2020black olives, black pepper, breakfast, butter, cheese, cherry tomatoes, chives, chopped, cottage cheese, easy, eggs, green olives, healthy, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, salt, sautéed, scrambled, spinach, Tabasco sauce, toasted, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, white bread

Looking for a quick, healthy breakfast option from Simply Delicious? 5-10: Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes is from the 1980s, but actually holds up really well 30+ years later. Consider this the predecessor to avocado toast.

This version uses cottage cheese in the scrambled eggs (instead of milk, I assume). If you’re looking to cut calories (and fat) even further, skip the milk and butter altogether–according to the late Anthony Bourdain, you don’t need either for good scrambled eggs.

2-11: Santiago Chicken Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 6, 2019February 25, 2020avocados, black pepper, broiled, chicken, chicken salad, chili powder, corn, cucumbers, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, Mexican, mushrooms, olive oil, oregano, party food, red bell peppers, salads, salt, spicy, untested, white onions, white wine vinegar

Hey there. Haven’t fallen off the face of the planet–just spent the last few months buying a house and moving into said house. Needless to say, things have been busier than normal.

However, I’ve been trying to do a few recipes here and there throughout the process, so there’s content coming at some point. So before you get to see the new (and hopefully VERY permanent) kitchen background, you’ll still get a few from the old apartment. Here’s one of those, 2-11: Santiago Chicken Salad.

In preparation for moving, we were looking for easy recipes that didn’t involve a lot of cooking or prep work. A lot of Simply Delicious recipes tend to be very heavy and calorie-dense–this one was a light option that involved very minimal work.

4-15: Scalloped Onions

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 13, 2019October 6, 2020all-purpose flour, basil, black pepper, broccoli, butter, carrots, cheese, chervil, cream sauce, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fajitas, fennel, grated, green bell peppers, herbs and spices, layers, paprika, Parmesan, parsley, peeled, red bell peppers, salt, sautéed, scalloped, side dish, sliced, tarragon, thyme, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

“It smells like weird Mexican food in here,” Jamie said as she walked in the door. She wasn’t wrong. The example image sets a rustic farm tone with the watering can, basket of red peppers, and parmesan cheese in the background. The watering can even has onions painted on it. Awesome!

When I saw that it will need reheating before eating, I decided to make this dish in a large rectangle Pyrex. I made this recipe at half size to accommodate the baking dish. I only used two onions because Simply Delicious bases the number of onions on the smaller onions that were available when these recipes were written. Two was more than enough.

1-2: Marinated Stuffed Avocado

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 2, 2019February 19, 2024appetizers, avocados, black pepper, breasts, California, chicken, chopped, cooked chicken, cooked shrimp, cubed, dairy-free, diced, Dijon mustard, easy, fairly inexpensive, gluten-free, lemon juice, marinated, mushrooms, olive oil, parsley, red bell peppers, salad shrimp, salt, shrimp, sliced, smoked ham, stuffed, thighs, untested

Avocados have been a pretty big part of my culinary life up until now, but that’s probably because they’re pretty hard to avoid here in California. However, my experiences are usually closer to some nice fresh guacamole or some avocado toast–1-2: Marinated Stuffed Avocado was relatively new territory for me.

I suppose it’s not unheard of, it’s just not something I think to do. I may try it again, maybe with some different ingredients. Mushrooms are okay, but I much prefer them cooked rather than raw.

4-14: Stuffed Artichokes

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 1, 2019October 4, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, artichoke hearts, artichokes, black pepper, boiled, broiled, butter, butter sauce, chopped, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, Greek yogurt, half-and-half, Hollandaise sauce, lunch, milk, mushrooms, party food, port wine, salt, sautéed, stews, stuffed, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

Hot Take: Artichokes are the lobster of the vegetable world. 4-14: Stuffed Artichokes represents this well: too much work for too little satisfaction. Peeling the little leaves off the artichoke and harvesting the heart feels a lot like picking apart the carapace of an undersea crustacean.

Stuffing an artichoke with a mushroom stew is a unique way to serve this giant edible thistle flower. These plants don’t grow naturally where I’m from, so my experience with artichokes only came after moving to California. My favorite way to enjoy them is marinated artichoke hearts.

8-43: Chinese Beef and Rice

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses February 19, 2019July 2, 2020Asian, beef, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, boneless, butter, canola oil, carrots, celery, Chinese, cilantro, deglazed, dinner, easy, fairly inexpensive, ginger, green onions, julienned, leeks, long-grain, lunch, red bell peppers, restaurant-style, rib steaks, rice, salt, sautéed, sirloin, soy sauce, steamed, stir-fry, tamari, untested, yellow bell peppers

8-43: Chinese Beef and Rice is essentially beef stir-fry served with some rice, but it’s done in less than 30 minutes, which is a big plus. This one goes along with several other Chinese restaurant-style dishes that Simply Delicious has featured, including 6-11: Chinese Duck and 11-36: Hong Kong Shrimp.

Chinese cuisine is a lot more prevalent today in the United States than it was 30-40 years ago when Simply Delicious was being written & printed. I suppose we have cookbooks like this to thank in some small part for introducing many 1980s American families to a more global palate.

Speaking of a global palate–I made this dish vegan. Yes, that picture above is vegan–keep reading to find out how. #clickbait

7-33: Country Dinner

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses February 16, 2019October 28, 2020apples, bacon, black pepper, boiled, butter, chopped, country-style, dinner, easy, fried, gluten-free, grated, herbs and spices, inexpensive, mashed, mashed potatoes, milk, nutmeg, pan-fried, peeled, pork, potatoes, salt, sautéed, untested, yellow onions

We’re getting to the some of the last recipes I have for some of these chapters, and 7-33: Country Dinner is one of the few remaining entries from the Pork chapter of Simply Delicious. Honestly, this recipe as it exists is not much more than mashed potatoes with bacon and onions. That doesn’t sound bad per se, but I don’t know if it constitutes “dinner”.

Google only gave me a few results for similar recipes, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t too far off from the mashed potato bowls you can get at like KFC. If anything, the KFC ones come with more stuff in them.