Adam Martin – Page 3 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

4-36: Golden Potato Medley

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters February 27, 2018October 13, 2020all-purpose flour, au gratin, black pepper, blanched, boiled, bread crumbs, butter, carrots, casserole, celery, Cheddar, cheese, cheese sauce, chopped, creamy, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, grated, green bell peppers, half-and-half, lunch, melted, milk, Monterey Jack, panko, pared, Parmesan, party food, peeled, potatoes, red bell peppers, roux, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions, yellow potatoes

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.

7-19: Cajun-Style Pork Ribs

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses February 25, 2018October 15, 2020American, American South, baby corn, black pepper, bone-in, bourbon, brandy, broiled, Cajun, canola oil, carved, cayenne pepper, cherry tomatoes, corn, dairy-free, dinner, dried herbs, dried spices, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, garlic, garlic powder, gluten-free, grilled, lukewarm, lunch, marinated, New Orleans, paprika, party food, pork, red onions, ribs, roasted, salt, sliced, spareribs, spice blends, thyme, tomatoes, untested, vegetables

Chili’s, Applebee’s, Red Robin…I’ve enjoyed racks of ribs at almost every restaurant that offers ribs as a major offering on the menu. Freshly smoked ribs are a delicious delicacy. These oven baked ribs lack the smokiness of ribs cooked in a smoker. The flavor profile for 7-19: Cajun-Style Pork Ribs is influenced by the alcohol-infused marinade and the Cajun spice rub mixture.

Simply Delicious thinks these spices are fiery, however, I’ll have to disagree. Maybe I’m too desensitized to spice now, but I could have used about 30% more spiciness. I wasn’t always a fan of spicy food, but now some of my favorite hot sauces are sriracha, Tapatio, and Tabasco.

8-29: Marinated Flank Steaks

Adam Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses February 1, 2018October 16, 2020allspice, basted, bay leaves, beef, beef bouillon, beef broth, broiled, butter, canola oil, carrots, celery, celery root, chopped, cornstarch, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, flank steak, garlic, gravy, herbs and spices, juniper, lunch, marinated, minced, mirepoix, mushrooms, port wine, red wine, scored, sliced, strained, thyme, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

Over the years I’ve made plenty of steaks, but I don’t have a lot of experience cooking flank steaks. Jamie grew up eating carne asada–but on the East Coast, we were eating Steak-Ums sandwiches. Not quite the same, but it got the job done. 8-29: Marinated Flank Steaks was a fun opportunity to cook this recipe and get familiar with cooking a different cut of beef that I’m used to.

I have some experience with marinades so this dish wasn’t too difficult for me to attempt. It is ranked Fairly Easy after all.

9-13: Hungarian Frittata

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses January 30, 2018October 18, 2020breakfast, chopped, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dried spices, Eastern European, easy, eggs, franks, frittata, green bell peppers, herbs and spices, hot dogs, Hungarian, inexpensive, lunch, paprika, red bell peppers, salami, sausage, sautéed, sliced, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, wieners, yellow onions

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.

8-22: Beef Tenderloin with Whole Garlic

Adam Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses January 24, 2018October 18, 2020beef, beef tenderloin, blender, butter, chilled, chopped, creamy, crushed red pepper, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, herbs and spices, lemons, melted, minced, pan-fried, parsley, pastry bag, piped, roasted, rosettes, salt, sliced, Tabasco sauce, tarragon, untested, Worcestershire sauce, yellow onions

Oooh-la-la! What a fancy recipe 8-22: Beef Tenderloin with Whole Garlic is!. I have never attempted a dish like this before, but I approached it with confidence because I’ve watched Jamie make both a spiced butter and oven roasted garlic. She makes it look easy, but making this dish was not as difficult as I thought it would be. I don’t have plates with fancy fluted edges and I was out of red wine to serve with my dish, but I served it as best I could.

This dish is definitely gourmet. With spiced butter and roasted garlic, this dish contains a lot more elements than my usual go-to dishes.

6-27: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses January 22, 2018October 14, 2020Asian, basted, braised, brown sugar, cabbage, canola oil, chicken, chili sauce, Chinese, Chinese cabbage, cornstarch, dairy-free, dinner, drumsticks, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, ginger, grated, herbs and spices, lunch, minced, mirin, peeled, pineapple, pineapple juice, rice wine vinegar, salt, sautéed, shredded, soy sauce, sweet-and-sour, sweet-and-sour sauce, Tabasco sauce, tender-crisp, thighs, untested, vegetables, white wine vinegar

The quote from the front of the recipe card for 6-27: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken is as true as anything I could write about this recipe:

“Cook chicken legs and thighs the Chinese way, in a sweet-and-sour sauce. This is such a simple way of preparing bargain chicken and the result is just terrific.“

Sweet-and-sour sauce tastes great when you make it fresh, but it’s just as easy to buy the thick, red sauce in a jar and call it good.

4-10: Spinach-Mushroom Ring

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 19, 2018October 4, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, butter, chopped, creamy, diced, dinner, eggs, fail, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, frozen, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, lunch, milk, mushrooms, nutmeg, ring mold, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, spinach, stews, tart pan, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

4-10: Spinach-Mushroom Ring claims to be perfect for a ladies’ luncheon…this light and fluffy egg and mushroom stew dish is yet another dish that I wouldn’t generally make for myself. I ate one of these rings and threw the rest out, and if you know anything about me, that’s something I rarely do.

This dish is described as luscious and from the most accepted and common definition, it can described as richly luxurious or appealing to the senses. The combined flavors of the mushroom sauce and spinach omelette could be described as rich and creamy, but that still doesn’t mean it was a tasty dish.

9-17: Ham-Wrapped Meat Loaf

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses January 16, 2018October 18, 2020allspice, bacon, beef, black pepper, bread crumbs, chopped, cornstarch, deglazed, diced, dinner, dried spices, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, gravy, ground beef, ground meat, ground pork, half-and-half, ham, herbs and spices, lunch, meal prep, meatloaf, milk, panade, panko, parsley, pork, red onions, salt, sliced, smoked ham, sour cream, tomatoes, untested, white bread

A good friend from high school once had the genius idea to open a meatloaf based restaurant, based on his family’s famous meatloaf recipe. If he ever got the place off the ground, I’d expect he’d add a dish similar to 9-17: Ham-Wrapped Meat Loaf to his menu. I think it’d be weird to have a fast casual restaurant that is based around meatloaf. What would you call it? Meat Loaf Market? Meatloaf-ology?

Wrapping a meatloaf in bacon or ham is a tried and true way to make any ordinary blob of ground meat taste more interesting.

4-20: Oven-Baked Tomatoes

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 2, 2018October 13, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, black pepper, bread crumbs, broccoli, butter, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, crispy, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, filling, half-and-half, heirloom tomatoes, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, Hutton house, inexpensive, Jarlsberg, lunch, mushrooms, parsley, party food, revisited, roux, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, sour cream, stuffed, Swiss, tomatoes, vegetables, vegetarian

I love the appetizer-style dishes featured in Simply Delicious. They are complicated because of making individual portions, but you can prepare them ahead of time to heat and serve when ready. When I make a batch of an appetizer like 4-20: Oven Baked Tomatoes, I like to eat a few right away and then stash the rest in the refrigerator to eat later as a healthy snack.

My family did not grow up eating baked, hollowed-out, stuffed tomatoes, however, that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying this dish.

Editor’s note: Looks like my mom made this one before, and substituted broccoli for mushrooms–that makes sense, she hates mushrooms. She also dislikes tomatoes, so I have no idea why she was making this in the first place.

3-19: Soupe Saint Germain

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 31, 2017October 4, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, blender, boiled, butter, champagne, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fail, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, food processor, French, frozen, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, horseradish, lunch, milk, mounted, Prosecco, purée, roux, sage, salt, soups, sour cream, sparkling, sweet peas, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetarian, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions

Working on the Simply Delicious Cookbook Project with Jamie has given me an opportunity to learn and expand my culinary palette. As with a lot of these dishes, I have never tried 3-19: Soupe Saint Germain before. This soup is made with ingredients I generally enjoy, but the end product was hardly enjoyable. The sparkling white wine was probably my least favorite component of the dish and not something I normally drink.

To the best of my recollection, I haven’t eaten many other classic French soups. My version of this dish may have been less than stellar due to a less than fresh bottle of sparkling white wine and my substitution of sour cream for cream.

Editor’s note: Potage St. Germain is essentially “pea soup”. There’s many variations out there, but not too many with sparkling wine in them. Since it’s New Years’ Eve, here’s an interesting alternative for all that Champagne you may have on hand…Happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2018! 🥂