Parmesan – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

11-11: Lobster Thermidor

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses April 24, 2024April 21, 2024all-purpose flour, bay leaves, Béchamel sauce, black pepper, boiled, broiled, butter, carrots, cheese, Christmas, coral, dinner, dry mustard, expensive, fairly hard, fish bouillon, fish stock, French, garlic, leeks, lobster, melted, Parmesan, parsley, party food, peppercorns, reduced, roux, salt, seafood, serving shells, shelled, shellfish, sliced, split, strained, the sims, thyme, tomalley, untested, whipping cream, white wine

Still catching up on things I made for holidays past, but at least now I’m up to 2023. 11-11: Lobster Thermidor isn’t just the grand meal we had for Christmas 2023 (XMAS 23), it’s also the final recipe I have for the Fish & Seafood chapter, as well as a famous fancy dish you make in the Sims. I feel like finally making it (and posting about it) is quite the celebration in and of itself.

It’s a very indulgent dish, and took us a while to put together as it became difficult to find whole lobsters for a while, at least out here on the west coast of the US. Once we finally found a frozen cooked pair at Costco, it was game on.

1-12: Mixed Seafood Au Gratin

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 29, 2022July 29, 2022appetizers, au gratin, bay scallops, bay shrimp, black pepper, broiled, butter, cheese, crab, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish stock, French, gluten-free, grated, hors d'oeuvres, lobster, mounted, mussels, Parmesan, peeled, reduced, salt, sautéed, scallops, seafood, serving shells, shallots, shellfish, shrimp, untested, whipping cream, white wine

Greetings, and happy Friday! It’s been a minute, but I’ll always come back eventually–I’ve put way too much time/work/energy into this project to give up now. Today, I present to you 1-12: Mixed Seafood Au Gratin. Au gratin is not new for Simple Delicious, and neither is the use of the pictured serving shells. I finally broke down and bought some a year or two ago for 11-10: French Scallops–I’m happy they’ll get another use here.

When was the last time you heard the phrase “tantalize the taste buds”? I feel like that went out of style around the same time as soufflé humor.

11-10: French Scallops

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses January 6, 2022January 6, 2022broiled, butter, cayenne pepper, cheese, crème fraîche, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish stock, French, garnish, gluten-free, Italian parsley, mushrooms, Parmesan, reduced, sautéed, scallops, seafood, serving shells, shallots, shellfish, sliced, untested, whipping cream, white wine

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2022! I’m going to start this year off with a redo–although you didn’t know that it was such. I cooked 11-10: French Scallops early last year (2021), but did such a terrible job of it that I didn’t even want to share the pictures of it with you. I’ve had it hanging out in my queue for almost a year, and it’s time to fix that–when you know better, you should do better.

I took far too many liberties with my first attempt, not realizing that this dish was somewhat specific in its design and not just “up for interpretation”. Coquilles St. Jacques (note Simply Delicious misspelled it) is a French preparation of scallops, hence their abridged title of “French Scallops”. There’s lots of versions of it out there, most somewhat similar to this one.

12-35: Fettucini with Scallops

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses December 24, 2021December 23, 2021Alfredo sauce, basil, butter, cheese, cheese sauce, Christmas Eve, crab, cream sauce, creamy, dinner, easy, fairly expensive, fettuccini, fish, flaked, garlic, grated, green onions, Italian, krab, lunch, minced, mushrooms, Parmesan, pasta/noodles, sautéed, scallops, seafood, shellfish, untested, whipping cream

First of all (before we even get into the actual recipe for 12-35: Fettucini with Scallops) I need to take umbrage with the spelling of “fettucini”–Simply Delicious spells it with one “c” and an “i” at the end instead of an “e”. I spell it “fettuccine” (so does Wikipedia AND Olive Garden), so this is going to be a challenging entry to write.

What’s even MORE frustrating about it is that Simply Delicious can’t even pick one spelling themselves–check out 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken and 12-20: Fettuccini with Ham. Two Cs! Still no E! It’s madness, I tell you.

Spinach fettuccine with Alfredo sauce (this one specifically) was one of my FAVORITE meals as a kid (I could definitely still knock out a big bowl of it today), and so I can see this as more of a “grown-up” version of it.

Real Alfredo sauce is closer to what you get with cacio e pepe than what you get at the Olive Garden (notably it doesn’t feature heavy cream and garlic like the OG version), and this version (even though it’s not calling itself “fettuccine Alfredo”) probably falls somewhere in between–lighter than OG’s but heavier than the original.

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.

12-24: Cannelloni with Chicken

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses March 14, 2020March 14, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, boiled, breasts, butter, cannelloni, cheese, cheese sauce, chicken, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, cottage cheese, creamy, cubed, dinner, dried herbs, dry vermouth, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, filling, food processor, frozen, grated, lunch, marinated, meal prep, melted, milk, nutmeg, Parmesan, pasta shells, pasta/noodles, salt, spinach, strained, strainers, stuffed, thyme, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

Meal-prepping is trendy now, but it’s always been a good idea if you want to save money and calories. 12-24: Cannelloni with Chicken works well if you want to make it on a Sunday, split it up into a few containers, and reheat it throughout the week. At least, that’s how we ate it.

Even Simply Delicious advises you can make this meal ahead of time, although their suggestion is for entertaining guests. This recipe/concept is pretty versatile–it’s good fresh or as leftovers.

4-15: Scalloped Onions

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 13, 2019October 6, 2020all-purpose flour, basil, black pepper, broccoli, butter, carrots, cheese, chervil, cream sauce, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fajitas, fennel, grated, green bell peppers, herbs and spices, layers, paprika, Parmesan, parsley, peeled, red bell peppers, salt, sautéed, scalloped, side dish, sliced, tarragon, thyme, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

“It smells like weird Mexican food in here,” Jamie said as she walked in the door. She wasn’t wrong. The example image sets a rustic farm tone with the watering can, basket of red peppers, and parmesan cheese in the background. The watering can even has onions painted on it. Awesome!

When I saw that it will need reheating before eating, I decided to make this dish in a large rectangle Pyrex. I made this recipe at half size to accommodate the baking dish. I only used two onions because Simply Delicious bases the number of onions on the smaller onions that were available when these recipes were written. Two was more than enough.

12-25: Parmesan Rice with Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses September 3, 2018July 28, 2020boiled, butter, canola oil, celery, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chili powder, chopped, cooked shrimp, creamy, diced, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, garlic, grated, green onions, herbs and spices, julienned, long-grain, lunch, melted, minced, Parmesan, parsley, party food, peeled, reduced, rice, sautéed, scallions, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, side dish, Tabasco sauce, untested, vegetables

12-25: Parmesan Rice with Shrimp is a great weeknight dinner option or even perhaps a side dish for a potluck or party. It has similarities to paella and risotto, but isn’t as time or skill-intensive as either of those. And as you can tell by the frequency of how much I’ve been posting lately (not much), anything quick is much appreciated.

I feel like they were trying to roughly capture the essence of Shrimp Etouffee with the flavors used in this recipe, but with much less work involved. Cajun/creole-inspired isn’t new for Simply Delicious, but it’s rarely executed faithfully.

12-15: Pasta with Salami

Adam Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses June 13, 2018October 27, 2020beef, beef bouillon, black pepper, boiled, carrots, celery, cheese, chicken bouillon, chili sauce, chopped, conchiglie, cubed, diced, Dutch oven, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, garlic, grated, Italian, lunch, minced, mirepoix, olive oil, oregano, Parmesan, pasta/noodles, peeled, penne, pork, rotini, salami, salt, sausage, sautéed, side dish, sliced, tender-crisp, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

Pasta with a thin sauce didn’t seem super appropriate for dinner, so I made 12-15: Pasta with Salami and dished it out for lunch as part of a meal prep. While there are a few differences between the recipe card photo and my final product photo, my creation was similar in spirit to the beautifully shot photo below. The place settings are so retro–such a great scene they set.

The exquisite setup showcases the raw ingredients along with the wonderful cutlery and plating of the dish. How magnificent!

12-20: Fettuccini with Ham

Adam Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses June 8, 2018October 27, 2020black pepper, boiled, butter, cheese, chopped, creamy, diced, dinner, easy, fairly inexpensive, fettuccini, frozen, grated, half-and-half, ham, julienned, lunch, melted, mushrooms, Parmesan, parsley, pasta/noodles, peeled, piquant, pork, salt, sautéed, sliced, smoked ham, sweet peas, untested, vegetables, whipping cream, yellow onions

Fettuccini and ham are different foods I’ve heard of before. 12-20: Fettuccini with Ham is a dish I never could have imagined in my wildest dreams. It is both “piquant and tasty” as described below and I enjoyed the dish a lot.

Time for a confession: I have never cooked fettuccini nests before in my life before I prepared this dish. My parents weren’t adventurous with their pasta choices. We were strictly a spaghetti and angel hair household when it came to noodle pasta. Having a cream based sauce was rare also, they generally opted for a tomato-based sauce.

← Previous