12-16: Risotto with Pastrami

12-16: Risotto with Pastrami

Simply Delicious can give a dish a title that seems a bit of a stretch at times and this is definitely a prime case of this phenomenon: 12-16 Risotto with Pastrami.

Editor’s note: A big HELLO to those of you coming here from search engines–apparently there’s significant demand for pastrami risotto? This is one of those sites where we (my husband and I) are working our way through an old set of cookbooks–learn more about it here. Don’t expect anything like traditional risotto here (neither of us wrote any of the actual recipes)–but maybe stick around for an interesting read or two? Thanks for stopping by! ?

The card even announces, “(t)his recipe for risotto differs from the traditional one.” I’ve never seen a dish like this, but the flavor profile was the same as a fancy omelette, just deconstructed before that was trendy.


Read more

10-14: Lamb on Skewers

10-14: Lamb on Skewers

Lamb and veal were not big in my house growing up, but I’ll eat a bit of lamb every so often these days. I’ve only covered one other lamb recipe so far–10-12: Basil-Baked Lamb. This recipe, 10-14: Lamb on Skewers, actually was made in tandem with that one, since my cut of boneless leg of lamb was too large for that recipe. These skewers can be made with pork, chicken, or just veggies–making them great for a party or event where you have a lot of different dietary preferences.

Making skewers/kebabs is a really good way to use up an extra (or oddly shaped/not pretty) cut of meat, as well as a way to make tough cuts of meat easier to eat. Another benefit: those who have a difficult time eating large pieces of meat (like old people and little kids) might have an easier time with smaller pieces (be careful of choking, though). One more benefit: you cook your vegetables at the same time as your meat–add some rice and you’ve got the whole meal.


Read more

2-2: Mushrooms à la Grecque

2-2: Mushrooms à la Grecque

À la Grecque” means “in the Greek way” in French, and 2-2: Mushrooms à la Grecque is a French preparation of vegetables (in this case mushrooms) in a seasoned oil and wine marinade. Simply Delicious considers this a salad, so I guess we’ll go with that description as well.

This is essentially marinated mushrooms, a pretty classic dish. This one’s pretty simple, it holds well, and most people are into it, so it makes a good party dish too. ?


Read more

7-1: Pork Tenderloin with Mushrooms

7-1: Pork Tenderloin with Mushrooms

Oh boy, another pork tenderloin recipe. This is the last of my Costco pack, but I’m going tomorrow, so who knows what I’ll come home with. 7-1: Pork Tenderloin with Mushrooms is the first card in Group 07: Pork, and a pretty straightforward recipe. Other pork tenderloin recipes I’ve covered so far include 7-27: Pork Tenderloin in Creamy Sauce, 7-34: Grilled Pork Slices with Garlic, and 7-36: Pork Tenderloin with Curry Sauce.

This recipe includes parsnips, a root vegetable related to carrots and parsley. Parsnips are usually winter vegetables, but I think you could probably still get away with it in mid-April.


Read more

4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce

4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce

Late March/early April is right around the time asparagus begins its short season, so if you happen to find yourself with some in the near future, here’s a recipe for you: 4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce. I served this as a side dish along with 8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping.

4-9 Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce

There’s such a short window of time when asparagus is in season–you start seeing it around March-April, and it’s done around early summer, in June-July. We’ve recently signed back up for our CSA box after a break, and asparagus was waiting for us in the first one.


Read more

6-35: Chicken Diable

6-35: Chicken Diable

Here’s a pretty basic “chicken with sauce” type recipe that can be fancy or not-so-fancy. “Chicken Diable” or “Chicken a la Diable”, as evidenced by the name, is essentially “the Devil’s chicken”, evoking images of spices and fire. ? ? As Serious Eats notes in their version of the dish, the French have a very different idea of spiciness than some other cultures.

Everyone’s got their version of this dish–here’s Bon Appetit’s, and Google turns up many more results. Whether it’s actually spicy is up to you–if you actually like things spicy, prepare to have to add some heat to this one.


Read more

7-9: Hunter’s-Style Pork Chops

7-9: Hunter’s-Style Pork Chops

Back when I made 7-55: Sunday Pork Stew, I had mentioned that I was intending on making a different recipe, but that I didn’t have the mushrooms to make it. This recipe, 7-9: Hunter’s-Style Pork Chops, was the recipe I was intending to make.

EDIT: This seems to be a popular recipe–it wasn’t one of my favorites, but I hope you enjoy! If you want to know more about this site/me, read this. Thanks for visiting!

Hunter’s-style pork chopsseems to be a thing, although I’ve never heard of it before this book. Most recipes out there cite it as a “comfort food”, although if they’re already using the word “bland” in and around the recipe (see the second line above on the card), don’t expect anything avant garde.


Read more

7-55: Sunday Pork Stew

7-55: Sunday Pork Stew

7-55: Sunday Pork Stew was part of a recent 3-recipes-at-1-time attempt, which also included 4-2: Green Beans with Hazelnut Butter and 4-4: Scalloped Parsley Potatoes.

I had originally intended to make a different pork recipe, but when faced with an unexpected ingredient shortage (someone used my mushrooms), I rolled with it and dug out another pork recipe for which I had ingredients on hand. This would have been better with pasta or rice, as suggested on the card, but dinner is dinner when you’re hungry.


Read more

12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken

12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken

Here’s a recipe I’ve actually made before–it’s been a while since we’ve seen one of those. When I was about 8 or 9, my mom decided that she, my dad, and I were going to take turns making dinner each week. One of the recipes I actually planned for and made (before this grand plan inevitably fell apart) was this one: 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken.

I probably was drawn to this one because my favorite meal as a kid was fettuccini Alfredo, and this one seems relatively similar (to an 9-year old). I also remember being fascinated with the fact that I got to use alcohol in something.


Read more

6-4: Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts

6-4: Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts

In 3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup, I talked about how I love old cookbooks for their colorful attempts at trying to make boring recipes sound exciting. Another cookbook “trope” is putting words like easy, simple or quick in the title of a recipe that would otherwise sound…well, not those things.

Sometimes they live up to their titles, and sometimes not. A prime example of the former would be 6-4: Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts. To be honest, stuffing chicken breasts doesn’t even sound that hard to begin with, so I suppose it didn’t even need that qualifier.

Unless it sounded hard to you–if that’s the case, ignore that last sentence. 🙂 It’s really not that hard, is what I’m saying.


Read more