dill – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

2-1: West Coast Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 20, 2022December 20, 2022asparagus, black pepper, California, canola oil, cooked shrimp, crab, creamy, Dijon mustard, dill, dinner, dressing, easy, fairly expensive, fish, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, grated, half-and-half, horseradish, iceberg lettuce, lemons, lettuce, lobster, lunch, mayonnaise, minced, mushrooms, mussels, new book, rockfish, salads, salt, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, sliced, sour cream, tomatoes, vegetable oil, vinaigrette, vinegar, yellow mustard

A wise man once said, ” You don’t win friends with salad.” I’m not sure how many friends you’ll be winning with 2-1: West Coast Salad, but if you’re looking for something keto-friendly (we used to call that low-carb or “Atkins-friendly” back in the day, kids) and you need a break from the cookies and candies that are EVERYWHERE around this time of year, this might be the ticket.

By Western shore/West Coast, we’re referring to the western coast of the United States which includes the states of California (where I live and am from), Oregon, and Washington. The seafood is in fact different in the Pacific versus the Atlantic–you won’t find a lot of lobster here, but you will find an abundance of crab and mussels.

11-2: Fried Shrimp and Scallops

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses October 21, 2022October 21, 2022all-purpose flour, appetizers, black pepper, bread crumbs, breaded, canola oil, chili sauce, coated, cream sauce, deep fryer, deep-fried, devein, dill, dinner, dredged, eggs, expensive, fairly easy, fish, fried, garlic, hors d'oeuvres, horseradish, lemon juice, lunch, mayonnaise, panko, parsley, party food, peeled, scallops, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, sour cream, sriracha, untested, vegetable oil, wax paper

Ahoy there! I’m a sucker for anything fried (especially seafood) so for this lovely fall Friday in late October, I’m sharing with you 11-2: Fried Shrimp and Scallops. I’m usually a fan of eating out when it comes to frying (and fish) due to the…lingering odors left behind, but sometimes you gotta get in there and be your own captain of the seafood sampler.

Simply Delicious says to make this for appetizers, but I think it can be a whole meal. You also even get your choice of sauces!

11-17: Sole Fillets in White Wine Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses November 4, 2021November 3, 2021black pepper, boiled, butter, chopped, crab, dill, dinner, expensive, fairly easy, fish, fish bouillon, fish filets, fish stock, garnish, lemon juice, lemons, lobster, mounted, mushrooms, new book, party food, reduced, salt, sautéed, seafood, shallots, shellfish, shrimp, sole, steamed, untested, whipping cream, white wine, whitefish, yellow onions

Simply Delicious likes to try to mix it up with the types of fish recipes they offer, but a lot of them can actually use the same types of fish interchangeably. I made 11-25: Best Ever Sole Au Gratin with the recommended sole, but I also made 11-13: Flounder with Sauteed Vegetables with sole as well. 11-17: Sole Fillets with White Wine Sauce is a new one to add to the list (it’s even from the NEW book), and looks just as fantastically 1980s as the rest of them.

Simply Delicious claims this “elegant and luscious fish dish” could be the makings of a global phenomenon–big, if true. Wouldn’t be the first time something ocean-related took the world by storm.

11-20: Pastry Fish with Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses August 10, 2021August 10, 2021all-purpose flour, bass, black pepper, butter, chopped, cod, cooked shrimp, curry powder, dill, dinner, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, garnish, half-and-half, herbs and spices, parsley, party food, pastry, puff pastry, roux, salt, sautéed, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, spinach, untested, whipping cream, whitefish, yellow onions

If you happen to have a “pastry fish” laying around, here’s a good use for it (I know you’ve been waiting for someone to tell you what to do with it). 11-20: Pastry Fish with Shrimp is so 1980s that I think we can bring it back around again for a 2020s-era reboot–this just screams “novelty food that looks better than it tastes”.

Maybe I’ve just been watching too much Great British Baking Show (or Great British Bake Off, as it is known in its native UK) on Netflix lately, but this sounds like a wacky cooking challenge just waiting to happen.

5-17: Crab-Filled Crêpes

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 2, 2020October 2, 2020all-purpose flour, batter, black pepper, breakfast, brunch, butter, Cheddar, cheese, crab, crêpes, dill, dried herbs, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, filling, griddle, herbs and spices, krab, lunch, melted, milk, roux, salt, seafood, shellfish, shredded, untested

You thought I’d run out of crêpe recipes by now, didn’t you? Here’s yet another for you (#7, at the time of this posting), 5-17: Crab-Filled Crêpes. Simply Delicious has featured both sweet and savory crêpe recipes, and this one would probably be EXCELLENT for a nice brunch.

WAY, way back, when I first started this project (April 2014), crêpes were a new frontier–something I’d never done before. You can read about it in 5-24: Meat-Filled Crêpes.

Now, they’re easy. Time changes so many things.

3-29: Herbed Cucumber Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 1, 2020October 19, 2020appetizers, apple cider vinegar, black pepper, chilled, chives, cucumbers, diced, dill, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, garnish, gluten-free, grated, green onions, healthy, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemons, lime juice, limes, lunch, mint, parsley, peeled, red bell peppers, salt, scallions, soups, summer, tzatziki sauce, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, vinegar, white wine vinegar, yogurt

Soup isn’t usually thought of as a hot weather food (unless you’re Lisa Simpson). However, if it’s summer and you’re looking for ice-cold soup options AND gazpacho isn’t your thing, maybe try 3-29: Herbed Cucumber Soup instead.

It’s not technically summer anymore at the time of posting this (October 1), but we’re still hitting 100ºF temps here in California, so I think it counts.

1-31: Crab Cocktail

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters August 23, 2020August 23, 2020appetizers, avocados, chili sauce, chilled, cocktail, crab, cubed, dairy-free, diced, dill, dressing, easy, egg-free, emulsion, fairly expensive, flaked, gluten-free, granulated sugar, grated, hors d'oeuvres, horseradish, iceberg lettuce, krab, lettuce, lunch, mushrooms, olive oil, parsley, peeled, red wine vinegar, salads, seafood, shellfish, sliced, spicy, sunflower oil, tomatoes, untested

Feeling a bit of déjà vu? Maybe you’ve seen 1-31: Crab Cocktail before, or maybe you haven’t. I was doing some recent experimentation on the backend of my website, and long story short: I needed to do a rollback to an earlier version and this one got deleted. So I’m reposting/rewriting it again–however, you’ll miss whatever witty remarks I included with the first version.

I remember saying something about this being a good option for a meal instead of an appetizer (since there’s no parties allowed), and that you should picture yourself eating it near the coast with the breeze in your hair, since between COVID and wildfires, I don’t know if we’re ever getting to leave the house again.

17-22: Bread Loaves with Creamy Filling

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 31, 2018November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breads, breakfast, cheese, chervil, chopped, cottage cheese, creamy, dill, easy, filling, herbs and spices, inexpensive, kneaded, lunch, melted, parsley, proofed, salt, sliced, snacks, tarragon, untested, vegetarian, white bread, whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour, yeast

One of the last few from the “in-the-queue-way-too-long” batch, here’s 17-22: Bread Loaves with Creamy Filling. I’ve been putting this recipe off for a while–I never seemed to have or remembered to buy cottage cheese to make it. Yes, in another 1980s-lowfat-health-craze-inspired moment, Simply Delicious chooses to sacrifice flavor for “health benefits”, this time by stuffing whole wheat bread with herb-flavored cottage cheese.

See? “Healthy” is right there in the description. Now, 30+ years later, we’ve determined that fats are probably better for you than we thought back then, and carbs/sugar are probably a lot worse for you. Remember, when they make things “low-fat”, they usually have to jack up the sugar to make it somewhat edible. Not really a great strategy for weight loss, as my parents’ yo-yo dieting throughout the 80s, 90s, and beyond can attest to.

5-8: Royal Crêpes

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 25, 2018January 19, 2023all-purpose flour, breakfast, broiled, butter, butter sauce, Cheddar, cheese, chilled, chopped, cooked shrimp, creamy, crêpes, dill, double boiler, dried herbs, egg yolks, eggs, emulsion, fairly expensive, fairly hard, half-and-half, herbs and spices, Hollandaise sauce, lemon juice, lunch, melted, milk, Monterey Jack, pancakes, peeled, salt, seafood, shredded, shrimp, untested, whipping cream

More queue-cleaning–add 5-8: Royal Crêpes to the pile of other crêpe recipes that I’ve done over the course of this project. When I first started making crêpes for this project about 4 years ago now, I had never made crêpes before. Now I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on the concept, so let’s kick it up a notch with a “royal” version. ?

Oh no–my mortal enemy: Hollandaise sauce. I’ve struggled with it in the past–will this be my redemption? Jump behind the cut and find out!

1-10: Seafood Cocktail Louisiana

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 2, 2016December 31, 2019American, appetizers, Cajun, celery, chili sauce, chilled, cocktail, cooked shrimp, crab, dairy-free, dill, dressing, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, iceberg lettuce, lemon juice, lemons, liquor, lunch, New Orleans, parsley, party food, peeled, salads, seafood, shellfish, shredded, shrimp, sliced, snacks, spicy, Tabasco sauce, TGV 2016, Thanksgiving, untested, vodka

I’m counting 1-10: Seafood Cocktail Louisiana as the fourth dish I made of this year’s 7-recipe Thanksgiving cooking marathon (TGV 2016) , but its components actually spanned a few days (and a few cooks). This was one of three appetizers I made for my Thanksgiving dinner–the others being a crudité & hummus platter and 1-5: Pigs in a Blanket.

My mom was always big on the idea of “shrimp cocktail” as being necessary for Thanksgiving dinner appetizers (it was always part of her family’s holiday dinner when she was growing up), so in order to honor that idea, I chose this recipe.

As I mentioned above, I’m counting this as the fourth dish I made–it spanned Wed. 11/23 and Thu. 11/24 as different components had varying levels of make-in-advance-ability. My sous chef made the dressing and prepped shrimp the first night, while I assembled the dish itself right before serving the next day.

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