lamb – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

8-45: Korean Sautéed Beef

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses April 22, 2022April 22, 2022Asian, beef, black pepper, brown sugar, canola oil, dinner, easy, garlic, green bell peppers, inexpensive, julienned, Korean, lamb, lunch, marinated, minced, peeled, pork, red bell peppers, sautéed, sesame seeds, sirloin, sliced, soy sauce, stir-fry, untested, veal, vegetable oil, white onions, wok

Hi there, back again with another “Asian” dish for you today. It’s interesting that Simply Delicious didn’t choose to name 8-45: Korean Sauteed Beef “Korean Beef Stir-Fry” instead (maybe because 8-25: Stir-Fried Beef is already in the book) —stir-fries seemed like they were all the rage in the late 20th century as a “healthy” dinner option. I suppose they still are popular today, but they don’t seem as “unusual” to make for dinner at home as they did back then.

I remember when my mom would bust out her wok every so often for a stir-fry back in the 1990s–it always seemed so much more interesting than when we would just cook in a regular pan on the stove. The blurb above suggests to serve it with noodles, but you can also do rice (or veggies, if you’re one of those actually healthy people–I clearly am not).

7-30: Mixed Meat Casserole

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses December 3, 2020December 3, 2020beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, boneless, cabbage, carrots, casserole, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, dairy-free, deglazed, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, lamb, lamb shoulder, leg of lamb, new potatoes, parsley, pork, pork shoulder, potatoes, salt, sautéed, string beans, tender-crisp, untested, veal, veal shoulder, vegetables, yellow onions

7-30: Mixed Meat Casserole is exactly what it sounds and looks like–they’re not pulling any punches here. It’s like combination fried rice, a little bit of everything.

At least this is somewhat closer to the traditional idea of a casserole–Simply Delicious sometimes gets a little loose with what they categorize as a casserole.

9-29: Ground Meat Kebabs

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 11, 2017October 19, 2020beef, broiled, cornstarch, dairy-free, Eastern European, easy, egg whites, eggs, garlic, gluten-free, grill pan, grilled, ground beef, ground lamb, inexpensive, kebabs, lamb, lunch, meatballs, minced, olive oil, pan-fried, paprika, party food, salt, sautéed, skewered, sweated, tzatziki sauce, untested, yellow onions, yogurt

The Ground Meat and Sausage category is mainly 2 types of dishes: ground meat patties and ground meat kebabs. 9-29: Ground Meat Kebabs is one of the kebab variety. I made this recipe at the same time as 9-19: Meatballs on Skewers because they called for almost identical ingredients.

Grilling outside is much more satisfying than using a grill pan in my apartment, but I currently don’t have a lot of space for grilling.

Editor’s note: Putting on my ex-history teacher hat for a second–note that Simply Delicious claims this dish is from the vineyards of Yugoslavia, which hasn’t been a country since the late 80s/early 90s, around the time the Soviet Union collapsed. These remind me a lot of lule kabobs, which were one of my favorites when we lived in a heavily-Armenian area in Los Angeles (the apartment with the blue tiles and yellow walls from the beginning of this project). These are NOWHERE near as good as those ones, but I suppose they could pass in a pinch.

9-19: Meatballs on Skewers

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 7, 2017October 19, 2020allspice, almonds, appetizers, beef, broiled, chilled, chopped, cinnamon, cornstarch, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fairly easy, gluten-free, grated, Greek, grill pan, grilled, ground beef, ground lamb, ground meat, ground veal, herbs and spices, inexpensive, kebabs, lamb, lemons, lunch, meatballs, Middle Eastern, mint, nuts, olive oil, pan-fried, party food, peeled, salt, sautéed, skewered, tzatziki sauce, untested, veal, yellow onions, yogurt, zested

Gyro is probably my favorite preparation method of ground meat, so when I saw this recipe, I got very excited. This recipe, 9-19: Meatballs on Skewers is basically the same recipe as gyro, just served differently. However, I wish I had just bought a container of tzatziki at the store instead of making the yogurt sauce.

The rabbit handle piece on the end of the skewer in the example photo is simply incredible. I’ve never seen a set of skewers quite like that. It looks like the other skewers have other animal handles, I think I see a cat and a chicken on the other skewers that are slightly obscured by the meatballs. The serving dish is very neat, I’d like to add one to my collection.

10-10: Roast Leg of Lamb

Adam Martin Group 10: Lamb & Veal, Section 2: Main Courses October 12, 2016October 27, 2020black pepper, bone-in, boneless, cornstarch, dairy-free, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, garlic, gluten-free, gravy, herb-roasted, herbs and spices, lamb, leg of lamb, mint jelly, roasted, rosemary, sage, salt, sliced, slit, thyme, untested

Due to some infestation-related activity long ago, the Lamb and Veal category suffered some minor liquid damage. Some of the cards are virtually unusable, but this card, 10-10: Roast Leg of Lamb is just slightly mangled.

Despite the condition of the card, this preparation of leg of lamb is one of the best I’ve ever had. ?

10-17: Lamb Chops with Mozzarella

Jamie Martin Group 10: Lamb & Veal, Section 2: Main Courses July 27, 2016July 6, 2020basil, black pepper, broiled, butter, cast-iron, cheese, chiffonade, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, Feta, garlic, gluten-free, Greek, green olives, grilled, herbs and spices, lamb, lamb chops, lemons, Mediterranean, melted, Mozzarella, olive oil, pan-fried, pimento, restaurant-style, salt, scored, slit, untested

I definitely did NOT eat a lot of lamb or veal growing up, but cooking through these recipes has given me the opportunity to try out some different dishes these days. On a recent Costco trip we found lamb chops on sale, so I decided to use them for 10-17: Lamb Chops with Mozzarella.

This seems like a strange trend that Simply Delicious is perpetuating–7-2: Pork Chops with Tomatoes is essentially the same idea except with pork, Cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and green beans. Take meat, stack a slice of cheese and random fridge/pantry items on it, call it a recipe. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

10-14: Lamb on Skewers

Jamie Martin Group 10: Lamb & Veal, Section 2: Main Courses May 29, 2016July 6, 2020appetizers, barbecue, basil, blender, boneless, broiled, celery, chicken, chilled, chopped, cubed, dairy-free, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, food processor, garlic, gluten-free, Greek, green bell peppers, grilled, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, kebabs, lamb, leg of lamb, lunch, marinated, mushrooms, olive oil, party food, pork, red bell peppers, rice, shallots, skewered, tomatoes, untested, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, white wine, yellow onions

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.

10-12: Basil-Baked Lamb

Jamie Martin Group 10: Lamb & Veal, Section 2: Main Courses May 16, 2016July 6, 2020basil, beef bouillon, beef broth, boneless, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, dairy-free, dinner, Dutch oven, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, garlic, gluten-free, herb-roasted, herbs and spices, lamb, lamb shoulder, leg of lamb, meat thermometer, minced, pared, parsley, potatoes, roasted, salt, scalloped, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

I’ve done over 100 recipes at this point (closing in on 150 in the next few weeks), and this is the FIRST recipe from Group 10: Lamb & Veal. This is probably due to the fact that neither of those have ever featured heavily in my diet or culinary rotation. However, in the interest of science everything must be covered. So here we go–the first lamb recipe: 10-12: Basil-Baked Lamb.

Um, yeah. In the very first entry (where I explained what this whole project is about), I had mentioned that these books got a bit trashed when I had a bad roach infestation in my first apartment after college. This section was one of the casualties from overzealous roach spray distribution and poor post-massacre clean-up. A lot of the pages got stuck together, and due to their lack of regular use, stayed that way for far too long. Luckily for this one, the recipe part of the card is still somewhat legible.