leeks – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

13-3: Vegetable Deep Dish Pie

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses June 8, 2023June 8, 2023all-purpose flour, black pepper, butter, canola oil, Cheddar, cheese, custard, cut in, deep dish, dinner, eggs, fairly hard, inexpensive, layers, leeks, lunch, milk, pastry, pie crust, pies, quiches, salt, sautéed, shortcrust, shredded, sliced, tomatoes, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, zucchini

Ahoy there! Like most people who started a blog a while ago, I’m not as consistent with it as I used to be, but I’ll always come back at some point (usually when work is slow and/or we have a holiday weekend coming up…).

Today’s entry is a good one for all you vegetable gardeners out there–13-3: Vegetable Deep Dish Pie. I was growing zucchini and tomatoes last year (that’s when I actually cooked this), so this one was perfect to use some of those up.

Of course, if you’ve got something else in the ground this year (I’ve got a different type of tomato and some assorted pepper plants this time around), you can vary this to accommodate whatever you’ve got or whatever you like. There’s always farmers’ markets as well!

3-10: Potato-Onion Bisque

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 16, 2021December 16, 2021bisque, black pepper, blender, boiled, Cheddar, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, Christmas Eve, dinner, easy, food processor, green onions, half-and-half, herbs and spices, inexpensive, leeks, lunch, paprika, parsley, peeled, potatoes, purée, revisited, salt, shredded, sliced, soups, thyme, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetarian, white onions

This one was weird for me–not the recipe itself, but the fact that I could have sworn I’d already cooked 3-10: Potato-Onion Bisque for this project. Alas, that did not seem to be the case as I could not find pictures of it anywhere. Strange, as this seems like it would have been one of the ones I cooked way back in 2014 when this project first started. Maybe I did and just forgot to take pictures?

It IS getting cold out there (I mean, we’ve had to put on hoodies here in California–that’s winter weather as far as I’m concerned), so maybe a quick and easy soup might be a nice & warm lunch/dinner option?

6-16: The Chef’s Special Chicken

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses November 3, 2021November 3, 2021all-purpose flour, bacon, black pepper, boiled, boneless, breasts, butter, Canadian bacon, chicken, chopped, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, green onions, half-and-half, leeks, lemon peel, lemons, lunch, melted, parsley, roux, salt, sautéed, sliced, turkey, untested, whipping cream

I’ll be honest–I have no idea why this is “special chicken”. But for me, 6-16: The Chef’s Special Chicken will be special because I made it with “chick’n” instead of the real thing. I guess that’s not all that special for me at this point, but maybe for you?

If you search for “chef’s special chicken”, you’ll get a million different types of recipes, so I’m not sure what makes this one especially traditional. Although this one I found is pretty much this same exact recipe, so I guess it’s not as unknown as I thought. That or someone ripped off Simply Delicious and called it their own.

In a restaurant when you see “chef’s special”, it usually translates to “this is about to go bad so let’s try to sell it tonight however we can”. #themoreyouknow

3-6: Minestrone

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters August 31, 2021August 31, 2021al dente, basil, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, carrots, celery, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, diced, dinner, easy, frozen, garlic, herbs and spices, inexpensive, Italian, julienned, leeks, lunch, minced, new book, olive oil, pan-fried, parboiled, Parmesan, pasta/noodles, peeled, pork, potatoes, rice, salt, sautéed, simmered, smoked ham, soups, sweet peas, tomato bouillon, tomato paste, tomatoes, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, yellow onions

Minestrone soup has a few specific memories for me: I remember there always being cans of it in our pantry when I was a kid, and all of my favorite Italian restaurants growing up still have it on the menu. My dad was a big minestrone fan–both of those memories are tied pretty closely to him.

3-6: Minestrone comes from the new book, and it’s not surprising that Simply Delicious had a recipe for it–they tend to have their own versions of most of the “classics”.

I’m not sure I’d suggest serving this in what look like miniature barrels in the picture above (imagine trying to clean those). However, the colder weather is coming soon, and this recipe is a good (and cheap) way to meal-prep, eat your veggies, and stay warm all at the same time.

7-39: Pork Chops with Broccoli and Leek

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses January 11, 2021January 12, 2021Asian, black pepper, blanched, boneless, broccoli, cashews, Chinese, chopped, corn, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, ginger, grated, ham, inexpensive, leeks, lunch, meal prep, pork, pork chops, pork shoulder, salt, sautéed, sliced, snow peas, soy sauce, tender-crisp, untested, vegetables, winter

Looking for a way to use up some winter vegetables? Maybe your veggie box is heavy with leeks and broccoli these days–if so, maybe give 7-39: Pork Chops with Broccoli and Leek a try. It’s got big “we have Chinese food at home” energy.

If malls were still a thing, you could probably find something similar at a generic Chinese/pan-Asian restaurant in the half-empty food court.

If you want to round out your combo plate for the full experience, you could make some 8-25: Stir-Fried Beef or 11-6: Sweet and Sour Shrimp to go with it. Maybe throw in some 6-39: Chicken Pot Stickers or 1-15: Chinese Spring Rolls on the side?

8-37: Roast Beef in Puff Pastry

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses June 3, 2020June 3, 2020beef, brushed, butter, Cheddar, cheese, chilled, cooked beef, cooked chicken, cooked shrimp, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, garlic, green onions, leeks, lunch, minced, Monterey Jack, mushrooms, puff pastry, roast beef, sautéed, sliced, slit, snacks, turnovers, untested

I’ve already covered various types of turnovers (beef/spinach/crab), and 8-37: Roast Beef in Puff Pastry can now be added to that list, even if it’s not officially referred to by Simply Delicious as a turnover.

I wasn’t able to pinpoint when ready-to-bake puff pastry was first available in stores–my guess would be somewhere around the 1960s-70s, but I could be totally wrong.

Think of this recipe as a fancy Hot Pocket, because that’s essentially what it is. Look at you, all sophisticated with your fancy Hot Pocket.

11-9: Fried Jumbo Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses April 20, 2020July 7, 2020all-purpose flour, Asian, batter, beer, boiled, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chilled, Chinese, Chinese/dark soy sauce, cornstarch, crispy, dairy-free, deep fryer, deep-fried, dinner, egg-free, expensive, fairly hard, fish, fried, leeks, lunch, mushrooms, party food, peeled, sautéed, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, sliced, sweet-and-sour sauce, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth

As I mentioned in my last post, this project just passed the 6-year mark, and a lot has changed since I first started it–careers, cities, kitchens, vehicles, family, presidents, even dietary preferences.

For the last two years, we’ve been sticking to a plant-based diet, with the very occasional seafood or dairy indulgence (however, traditional meat itself is totally gone). We’ll still go out for a real sushi dinner here and there (although, not lately due to coronavirus), and every so often, I’ll make a recipe like 11-9: Fried Jumbo Shrimp with real shrimp as a treat.

“Fruit from the sea” as a description for shrimp seems strange to me, even though I know Simply Delicious didn’t coin the term. “Fried Jumbo Shrimp” is what they use to lure you into mediocre chain restaurants–it’s not quite haute cuisine.

I’m not doing a good job of selling you on this dish, am I? Well, since fried food doesn’t travel well as takeout, maybe you’d like to take this “opportunity” to learn how to fry your own?

7-37: Easy Sweet-and-Sour Pork

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses April 13, 2020April 13, 2020Asian, black pepper, boneless, brown sugar, carrots, Chinese, cornstarch, dairy-free, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, frozen, garlic, ginger, gluten-free, green bell peppers, green onions, leeks, marinated, minced, pan-fried, peeled, pineapple, pork, pork loin, pork shoulder, red wine vinegar, salt, sautéed, scallions, sherry, sliced, slurry, snow peas, soy sauce, stir-fry, sweet peas, sweet-and-sour, sweet-and-sour sauce, tamari, tender-crisp, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables

Sweet-and-sour is not new for Simply Delicious–there’s already 6-27: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken and 11-6: Sweet and Sour Shrimp if you’re in the mood for a different protein besides pork. However, 7-37: Easy Sweet-and-Sour Pork is the only one to advertise itself as “easy”.

Pork is probably the most common version of sweet-and-sour that you see in Chinese restaurants–there’s even a vegan version of it you can buy in most stores. In case you’re looking for something more refined (but maybe not as easy or meatless), here’s Serious Eats’ take on it.

8-25: Stir-Fried Beef

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses March 2, 2020March 2, 2020Asian, beef, canola oil, carrots, Chinese/dark soy sauce, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, ginger, grated, green onions, julienned, leeks, marinated, mushroom soy sauce, mushrooms, red bell peppers, salt, sautéed, sesame oil, sirloin, soy sauce, stir-fry, tender-crisp, vegetable oil, wok

Stir-fry is not a new concept for Simply Delicious, so you may feel a sense of déjà vu while reading this recipe if you’ve spent any considerable time on this site. 8-25: Stir-Fried Beef isn’t much more than you’re expecting, so if a quick and easy stir-fry is what you’re looking for, read on.

With rice, 10/10.

In this case, 12-28: Tri-Color Risotto. So more like 6/10.

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

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