Section 2: Main Courses – Page 6 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

7-21: Jambalaya

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses January 13, 2020August 30, 2021American, American South, andouille, basil, black pepper, blanched, boiled, brown rice, Cajun, canola oil, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, Creole, cubed, dinner, fairly easy, fairly expensive, French, garlic, green bell peppers, long-grain, lunch, minced, New Orleans, peeled, pepperoni, pork, Provençale, rice, salt, sausage, sautéed, shrimp, smoked ham, Spanish, spicy, Tabasco sauce, thyme, tomatoes, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetable oil, West African, wild rice, yellow onions

Cajun and Creole cooking are not something I’ve had a ton of experience with, so 7-21: Jambalaya is somewhat unfamiliar territory. I didn’t grow up eating a lot of New Orleans cuisine, other than my mother’s ill-fated attempt at making gumbo once.

It’s not a difficult recipe (quite the opposite, actually), but I don’t feel like I have a solid understanding of the difference between what makes it good and what makes it great. That’s something that comes with experience, both as a taster and as a creator.

I couldn’t have even told you that there are two types of jambalaya, Creole and Cajun. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, the difference between the two is the absence or presence of tomatoes. Simply Delicious identifies this version as Creole, which is correct–that’s the version that has the tomatoes in it, which this one does. 🎺🍅

9-23: Fruity Sausage Kebabs

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses December 3, 2019July 6, 2020apples, bananas, broiled, canola oil, coconut oil, cored, cubed, curry powder, dinner, easy, franks, fruit, grill pan, grilled, hot dogs, inexpensive, kebabs, lunch, party food, peeled, pineapple, Polynesian, sausage, skewered, sliced, soy sauce, untested, vegetable oil, yellow mustard

It’s fruit, and it’s sausage–on a kebab. Not much more to 9-23: Fruity Sausage Kebabs than that. We gave up our BBQ grill a few years ago after our apartment changed owners and haven’t purchased a new one yet since we bought our house. However, that’s okay: you can do these kebabs with just a toaster oven or broiler.

9-23: Fruity Sausage Kebabs is the last recipe I have (as of now) for Group 9: Ground Meat & Sausage. I assume there are other ones out there (since my numbers jump around a bit, especially at the end), but this is it for this group for me. Every so often, I’ll get email requests for particular recipes, and it’s always for ones I don’t have–apologies for that, this project was never intended to be a complete listing of all of the available recipes.

8-54: Beef Beignets

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses October 26, 2019July 2, 2020all-purpose flour, American, appetizers, batter, bay leaves, beef, beer, black pepper, Cajun, canola oil, chilled, chopped, coated, cooked beef, Creole, cubed, dairy-free, deep fryer, deep-fried, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, French, fried, garlic, hors d'oeuvres, inexpensive, leftovers, lunch, marinated, New Orleans, peeled, port wine, red wine, shallots, snacks, thyme, untested, vegetable oil

When I think of beignets, I think of New Orleans. 🎷 I’ve never been to the real Café Du Monde in New Orleans, but I have been to the Mint Julep Bar in New Orleans Square at Disneyland which serves beignets (very delicious ones).

8-54: Beef Beignets are NOT like the ones at Disneyland or Café Du Monde–they’re more like Mongolian Beef before you toss it in sauce.

I looked around for similar types of recipes to confirm that this wasn’t just a Simply Delicious invention–and I really couldn’t find too many. There’s nothing wrong with battering beef and frying it–just don’t call it a beignet.

6-58: Chicken Pie with Puff Pastry

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses October 15, 2019October 15, 2020all-purpose flour, American, basil, bay leaves, black pepper, boiled, boneless, breasts, butter, carrots, celery, chicken, chopped, deboned, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, filling, frozen, herbs and spices, individual, lunch, melted, pearl onions, pie crust, pies, pot pie, puff pastry, roux, salt, sautéed, simmered, skinless, slit, strained, sweet peas, tender-crisp, thighs, untested, vegetables

Yo. As I’ve said previously, I take breaks from this project when life gets in the way. This summer was BANANAS, and fall seems to be quickly passing me by as well. I haven’t given up on cooking and photographing recipes, but I seem to have dropped the ball on actually writing them up and posting them.

I made the first attempt to rectify this earlier today when I uploaded about 600 pictures from two memory cards that I’ve filled up since May of this year. I made the second when I set up all the folders to start organizing the pictures (we’re talking over 50 recipes here).

Here’s the third: a recipe I cooked back sometime in early 2019, 6-58: Chicken Pie with Puff Pastry. This has been in various draft stages since April, and I’m finally finishing it NOW. This isn’t even part of the memory card dump from today–that’s how far behind I am.

This is essentially chicken pot pie. I mean, how is it not? The major difference between this and Marie Callender’s is that this one only has pastry on top.

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

11-6: Sweet and Sour Shrimp

Adam Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses February 17, 2019October 27, 2020apple cider vinegar, Asian, bamboo shoots, brown sugar, canola oil, carrots, celery, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, Chinese, chopped, cornstarch, dairy-free, dinner, dry mustard, fairly easy, fairly expensive, julienned, lunch, peanut oil, peeled, pineapple, pineapple juice, red raspberry vinegar, restaurant-style, sautéed, seafood, sesame oil, shellfish, shrimp, sliced, soy sauce, sweet-and-sour, sweet-and-sour sauce, untested, vegetables, vinegar, water chestnuts, yellow onions

11-6: Sweet and Sour Shrimp is another of those dishes that I’d love to order from a restaurant and would not think to make at home. Simply Delicious has quite a few Chinese restaurant-style dishes, including 6-27: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken, 6-11: Chinese Duck, and 11-36: Hong Kong Shrimp.

It just so happens that Sweet and Sour Sauce is my favorite version of any dish on a Chinese menu. Shrimp is a decent choice.

7-33: Country Dinner

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses February 16, 2019October 28, 2020apples, bacon, black pepper, boiled, butter, chopped, country-style, dinner, easy, fried, gluten-free, grated, herbs and spices, inexpensive, mashed, mashed potatoes, milk, nutmeg, pan-fried, peeled, pork, potatoes, salt, sautéed, untested, yellow onions

We’re getting to the some of the last recipes I have for some of these chapters, and 7-33: Country Dinner is one of the few remaining entries from the Pork chapter of Simply Delicious. Honestly, this recipe as it exists is not much more than mashed potatoes with bacon and onions. That doesn’t sound bad per se, but I don’t know if it constitutes “dinner”.

Google only gave me a few results for similar recipes, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t too far off from the mashed potato bowls you can get at like KFC. If anything, the KFC ones come with more stuff in them.

7-51: Butterflied Pork Chops

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses October 30, 2018October 15, 2020black pepper, boneless, butter, butterflied, deglazed, Dijon mustard, dinner, easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, half-and-half, milk, parsley, pork, pork chops, pork shoulder, reduced, salt, untested

Learning a new technique can be a lot of fun. This slicing technique demonstrated in 7-51: Butterflied Pork Chops is new to me, but the final product really speaks for itself. The larger surface area creates more crispy, golden brown crust.

I love the place settings in the background of the image below. The jar of mustard, the frothy beer and crusty bread really set the scene in which you’d want to eat this dish.

From previous posts, I’ve learned how to put together a pan sauce from fat drippings, milk, and garlic. The base sauce gets enhanced with some acid from the Dijon mustard, the green flavor of the parsley, and the classic standby combo, salt and pepper, fill out the rest of the flavors in the sauce.

11-30: Sea Bass with Peppers

Adam Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses September 4, 2018October 27, 2020almonds, basil, bass, black pepper, broiled, canola oil, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, fish filets, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, green bell peppers, halibut, lemon juice, lime juice, limes, lunch, marinated, olive oil, red bell peppers, rockfish, salt, seafood, sliced, sole, tender-crisp, toasted, untested, vegetables, whitefish, yellow bell peppers

Here’s another seafood recipe: 11: 30: Sea Bass with Peppers. To me, fish and peppers are not the most logical combination, but these veggies are mostly a garnish to serve alongside a rockfish (instead of sea bass) fillet.

This is another dish where you can substitute the type of fish if you want–we split the rockfish filets between this recipe and the ones Jamie used for 11-21: Baked Whitefish with Shrimp.

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.