11-30: Sea Bass with Peppers

11-30: Sea Bass with Peppers

Here’s another seafood recipe: 11: 30: Sea Bass with Peppers. To me, fish and peppers are not the most logical combination, but these veggies are mostly a garnish to serve alongside a rockfish (instead of sea bass) fillet.

This is another dish where you can substitute the type of fish if you want–we split the rockfish filets between this recipe and the ones Jamie used for 11-21: Baked Whitefish with Shrimp.


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9-21: Chili Beef Casserole

9-21: Chili Beef Casserole

9-21: Chili Beef Casserole is yet another case of calling something a casserole that is barely a casserole. There is no condensed soup in this recipe and this dish is cooked on a stove top, not baked. This dish is more of a tortilla filling than a main course as a casserole.

One might say this dish is a ground beef casserole with a cultural appropriation problem, not “with a Mexican accent”.


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11-36: Hong Kong Shrimp

11-36: Hong Kong Shrimp

Sometimes when you use recipes from old cookbooks, they can seem a bit “tone-deaf” when it comes to modern-day sensibilities about race and culture. Despite a questionable name, 11-36: Hong Kong Shrimp contains many ingredients commonly found in Chinese food.

I love the porcelain bowls they served the example dish in. The wooden chopsticks are also a great touch. What a great photo!


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4-36: Golden Potato Medley

4-36: Golden Potato Medley

There are few things in this world as good as potatoes and vegetables covered in cheesy breadcrumbs. It’s a popular side dish that you’ve seen many variations of. I really enjoyed 4-36: Golden Potato Medley and the plating that Simply Delicious shows below looks so much better than how my dish came out.  I go more for utility than aesthetics when I’m cooking, but it’s also true that you eat with your eyes before your stomach. ?

This dish is the perfect side dish, but it is hearty enough to be eaten as an entree. It doesn’t look like much, but is perfect with hot sauce.


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9-13: Hungarian Frittata

9-13: Hungarian Frittata

Frittata is one of my favorite dishes. I could eat eggs all day: morning, noon, and night. I am so happy that the meme of Put an Egg On It has come into existence. A warm egg yolk on top of well done corned beef hash is my favorite application of Put an Egg On It. Sausages and salami inside a bed of scrambled eggs could be a close second for best application of eggs in a dish.

A frittata sounds a lot like an omelette: Eggs, veggies, and meat combined together. The difference is in how the ingredients are combined.


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11-1: Steamed Halibut with Vermouth

11-1: Steamed Halibut with Vermouth

I had mentioned in 11-5: Lemon Pepper Scallops that we had a plan to cook more of the Fish/Seafood and Beef recipes since we had already gone through a good portion of the Chicken/Poultry, Pork, and Ground Meat/Sausage ones. Summer got busy, and not as many of those recipes got made as I had intended. I made 11-1: Steamed Halibut with Vermouth during those summer months but I never wrote about it until now (while I clear out the queue).

I’ll agree with the method of cooking being excellent: the fish component came out great. I’m not a huge pea or vermouth fan so the sauce was probably not one I would repeat, but it was a well-done sauce otherwise. Technique-wise I feel like it’s definitely one of Simply Delicious‘ stronger offerings–if you’re really into 1980s-style food.


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3-16: Hearty Beef Soup

3-16: Hearty Beef Soup

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.


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3-33: Broccoli Wild Rice Soup

3-33: Broccoli Wild Rice Soup

This is not my first time to the broccoli soup rodeo, so 3-33: Broccoli Wild Rice Soup should be a snap. ?? A while back, I made 3-21: Broccoli-Celery Soup and broccoli is still in season at the time I  am writing this post.

Cold isn’t my favorite temperature when eating soup, but with so much sour cream, the soup may separate during reheating. ❄


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4-18: French Vegetable Casserole

4-18: French Vegetable Casserole

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. ?


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9-14: Chili Con Carne

9-14: Chili Con Carne

This recipe card gave me an excuse to cook up a big ol’ batch of 9-14: Chili Con Carne, not that I needed an excuse. I’ve made a few pots of chili in my day, but not one quite like this. My favorite episode of the Simpsons, entitled El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer), features a chili cook-off as a vital plot point. The infamous space coyote scene still cracks me up to this day. ?

With the peppers featured prominently on the front of the recipe card, Simply Delicious has pointed out the one major issue I had with this dish. WHO PUTS BELL PEPPER IN CHILI? ? Jamie and I enjoy a little spice in our chili. I’ve always wanted to try adding a pepper akin to the “Merciless Pepper of Quetzalacatenango … grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum.” ?


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