Jamie Martin – Page 23 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

15-2: Chocolate Mousse

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods August 20, 2016July 30, 2020chilled, chocolate, chocolate chips, coffee, cold desserts, creamy, dessert, double boiler, easy, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, folded, melted, mousse, party food, powdered sugar, ramekins, restaurant-style, semisweet, untested, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

Since it’s currently summer, I’ve been experimenting more with the Cold Desserts section of Simply Delicious. Come fall & winter, we’ll get back to more of the Hot Desserts. 15-2: Chocolate Mousse is not the first mousse I’ve attempted (check out 15-1: Lemon Mousse for a citrusy variation), but it is a pretty solid chocolate mousse recipe–these are great for entertaining, or even making in individual servings and freezing for later. 🍨

As noted above on the card, chocolate mousse is a classic and popular dessert. There are a variety of ways to approach it, as explained in this Serious Eats feature on the dish, but Simply Delicious’ version is super easy–5 ingredients are all you need. 🍫

14-3: Grand Marnier Soufflé

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods August 16, 2016July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, butter, cornstarch, creamy, dessert, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, folded, French, Grand Marnier, granulated sugar, half-and-half, hot desserts, liqueur, liquor, melted, milk, orange juice, paper collar, parchment paper, party food, powdered sugar, roux, soufflés, stiff peaks, untested, vegetarian, whipping cream

My posting’s slowed down a bit (and my husband Adam has been cranking out his posts like crazy), but I am still cooking (and eating) from this book. It’s good to take breaks every so often, and rather than abandon the blog for those break times (as I have in the past), I’m glad that he’s here to keep it alive and to lend another voice besides my own. Just wanted to get that out there. I’ll pick it back up to speed soon, but for now I’m enjoying watching it be interpreted through someone else’s eyes for a bit.

I find myself with extra heavy whipping cream now and then due to other cooking activities, and I’m the only one in the house that can consume it without much gastrointestinal distress. When I have excesses of ingredients, I try to find Simply Delicious recipes to burn off that kill two birds with one stone–using up a recipe AND the cream, 14-3: Grand Marnier Soufflé is one of those recipes.

I’ve permanently borrowed a bottle from my parents (when you’re in your 30s, parents don’t seem to mind as much if you raid their liquor cabinet), and it’s what we’ve been using for flambéeing and any other instances that call for brandy/cognac/Grand Marnier. Why buy a brand new bottle when there’s plenty of barely touched ones sitting at their house? 🍾

6-17: Chicken Breast with Cheesy Filling

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses August 12, 2016June 17, 20204-92 week, black pepper, blue cheese, boneless, breasts, brushed, butter, cheese, chicken, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, filling, herbs and spices, Hutton house, lunch, melted, revisited, rosé pepper, salt, skinless, sliced, slit, soy sauce, stuffed, tarragon, thighs, thyme, whipping cream

There was apparently a week in April 1992 (can’t say that without thinking of this) when my mom was on a tear through this book. 7-14: Easy-to-Make Pork Casserole is from two days earlier, and there’s a few more coming up from that same time period. 6-17: Chicken Breast with Cheesy Filling seems like something my mom would have been all about–she loves chicken breasts and blue cheese.

Stuffed chicken breasts aren’t new territory for Simply Delicious—6-4: Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts and 6-25: Salmon-Filled Chicken Breasts are two variations on the concept that I’ve already covered.

12-17: Curly Pasta with Creamy Chicken

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses August 8, 2016July 27, 2020al dente, all-purpose flour, basil, boiled, butter, chicken, chicken broth, chives, chopped, cooked chicken, creamy, crème fraîche, diced, Dijon mustard, dinner, easy, fairly inexpensive, grated, herbs and spices, Italian parsley, lemons, lunch, melted, pasta/noodles, roux, salt, sour cream, untested, yellow mustard, zested

12-17: Curly Pasta with Creamy Chicken sounds like a recipe my mom or I would have attempted back in the days we were cooking out of this book–it’s possible we did and never marked the card. Both of us were suckers for dishes just like this. 🐓

I probably would have made this recipe earlier if curly pasta was easier to come by–I wanted to find just the right shape for this dish. I have a fascination with different pasta shapes. 🍝

4/13/19 EDIT: Speaking of pasta shapes, take a look at the cover photo for the very similar 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken and the one above. Notice anything strange?

13-6: Mushroom Stroganoff

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses August 6, 2016July 29, 2020black pepper, boiled, butter, creamy, cubed, Dijon mustard, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, mushrooms, parsley, potatoes, rice, Russian, salt, sautéed, simmered, sliced, sour cream, stroganoff, thyme, tomato paste, tomato sauce, untested, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

When you think “stroganoff”, you usually conjure up images of a dish with beef (or ground turkey, if you grew up in my house). Simply Delicious does have a beef version (8-12: Beef Stroganoff), but they also have a vegetarian version–13-6: Mushroom Stroganoff.

My picture and their picture look very different–I think mine looks more like stroganoff than theirs does, though. Maybe they didn’t think it photographed well?

8-12: Beef Stroganoff

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses August 4, 2016July 2, 2020beef, black pepper, butter, chopped, creamy, Dijon mustard, dinner, fairly easy, fairly expensive, gluten-free, ground beef, ground meat, ground turkey, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, mushrooms, paprika, parsley, rice, Russian, salt, sautéed, simmered, sirloin, sliced, sour cream, stroganoff, tomato paste, tomato sauce, untested, vegetables, vodka, whipping cream, yellow onions

Stroganoff was a VERY common dish in my house when I was growing up. Since this was the 90s (low-fat everything), it was usually made with plain ground turkey, powdered mix from a packet, and some light sour cream (which is essentially tasteless mush–real sour cream was a revelation when I got older). It got to the point where I couldn’t even stand the smell of stroganoff because my mom made this dish so often.

Time has passed, and stroganoff & I have had a reconciliation. I make it about once every other month now for work, but from scratch and not with packet mix (but still using ground turkey since it’s leaner). Simply Delicious has two stroganoff recipes: 13-6: Mushroom Stroganoff (a vegetarian version) and this one, 8-12: Beef Stroganoff. I made both at the same time, as part of a stroganoff-off.

Beef stroganoff is a pretty well known dish, and it’s not surprising that it’d be included in a book like this with so many other “classic” dishes. Let’s see how far Simply Delicious strays from the norm–who knows…they might surprise us.

7-7: Mushroom-Stuffed Pork Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses August 2, 2016June 19, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, beef broth, black olives, black pepper, boiled, braised, butter, chicken broth, chopped, creamy, deglazed, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, half-and-half, ham, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, mushrooms, parsley, party food, pork, pork shoulder, rolls, sage, salt, sautéed, shiitake, sliced, soy sauce, stuffed, tenderized, toothpicks, umami, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

If you haven’t figured it out by now, Simply Delicious uses mushrooms pretty heavily throughout their recipes–about 20% of the recipes I’ve covered so far have involved them. I wasn’t a big mushroom eater when I was a kid, but I’ve (slowly) begun warming up to them. 7-7: Mushroom-Stuffed Pork Rolls aren’t especially fancy, but they’re not a bad option for lunch, dinner, or even making in a large batch for a party.

This is the first recipe (of 160+ at this point) that uses sage, described as being “savory & slightly peppery.” I like using sage with mushrooms (along with parsley, rosemary, & thyme–the “essential herbs,” according to Simon & Garfunkel), as the earthy flavors of both complement each other well.🌿

3-3: French Onion Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 29, 2016August 10, 2021all-purpose flour, appetizers, bay leaves, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, boiled, bouquet garni, broiled, butter, caramelized, Cheddar, cheese, consommé, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, French, French bread, grated, Gruyère, herbs and spices, inexpensive, Jarlsberg, lunch, melted, parsley, salt, sautéed, side dish, simmered, soups, Swiss, thyme, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, white wine, yellow onions

It’s the middle of summer right now, so soup’s probably not your first thought. However, I continue to be surprised that how no matter how hot outside it is, people still enjoy soup. So here’s a classic: 3-3: French Onion Soup.

Simply Delicious cites Les Halles (the Parisian farmers’ market, not the NY restaurant where Anthony Bourdain worked) as the originator of French onion soup. I wasn’t able to directly verify that with 5 minutes of lazy Googling, but I did find a food timeline that gives a bit of the dish’s history–I suppose their claim is totally still possible.

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)_/¯

1-7: Trader Vic’s Crab Turnovers

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 25, 2016July 20, 2020appetizers, Asian, black pepper, canola oil, cheese, chili powder, chili sauce, cocktail sauce, crab, cream cheese, creamy, crispy, deep fryer, deep-fried, Dijon mustard, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, favorites, filling, fried, garlic, garlic powder, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, lobster, lunch, party food, pastry wheel, Polynesian, puff pastry, salt, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, snacks, Tiki, Trader Vic's, turnovers, untested, Worcestershire sauce

I had mentioned in 9-26: Crispy Beef Turnovers and 13-13: Spinach Turnovers that there was a third turnover recipe that I had intended to make (for a trio of turnovers), but that the third recipe required a different cooking method (deep-frying versus baking), so I chose to shelve it until I could do it right.

Well, I happened to have a (borrowed, since returned) mini deep-fryer in my possession recently, so 1-7: Trader Vic’s Crab Turnovers (the fabled third turnover recipe) was finally about to become a reality.