allspice – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

8-27: Classic Beef Stew

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses April 28, 2020July 2, 2020all-purpose flour, allspice, bay leaves, beef, beef stew, boiled, bone-in, boneless, butter, carrots, chuck roast, dinner, Dutch oven, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, Italian parsley, lunch, parsley, peeled, roux, salt, sautéed, seared, sliced, slow cooker, stew meat, stews, untested, yellow onions

I came clean in 11-9: Fried Jumbo Shrimp that we’ve been eating plant-based for about 2 years now–most entries that I’ve published since mid-2018 feature me essentially attempting to convert these old recipes into meatless/vegan options. 8-27: Classic Beef Stew will be no different.

I realize that not everyone chooses to eschew meat/dairy, and I’m not here to proselytize or debate it with you. I didn’t write these recipes–the goal of this project has always been to take these existing recipes and attempt to cook them ALL, somehow. The recipes are still here, in their original form–it’s up to you (and me) how to interpret them.

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.

9-17: 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.

9-19: Meatballs on Skewers

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 7, 2017October 19, 2020allspice, almonds, appetizers, beef, broiled, chilled, chopped, cinnamon, cornstarch, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fairly easy, gluten-free, grated, Greek, grill pan, grilled, ground beef, ground lamb, ground meat, ground veal, herbs and spices, inexpensive, kebabs, lamb, lemons, lunch, meatballs, Middle Eastern, mint, nuts, olive oil, pan-fried, party food, peeled, salt, sautéed, skewered, tzatziki sauce, untested, veal, yellow onions, yogurt, zested

Gyro is probably my favorite preparation method of ground meat, so when I saw this recipe, I got very excited. This recipe, 9-19: Meatballs on Skewers is basically the same recipe as gyro, just served differently. However, I wish I had just bought a container of tzatziki at the store instead of making the yogurt sauce.

The rabbit handle piece on the end of the skewer in the example photo is simply incredible. I’ve never seen a set of skewers quite like that. It looks like the other skewers have other animal handles, I think I see a cat and a chicken on the other skewers that are slightly obscured by the meatballs. The serving dish is very neat, I’d like to add one to my collection.

7-18: Pork Tenderloin in Wine Sauce

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses December 24, 2016October 16, 2020all-purpose flour, allspice, black pepper, butter, Christmas Eve, creamy, crushed, deglazed, dinner, dried spices, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, gravy, half-and-half, herbs and spices, juniper, marinated, pan-fried, pork, pork tenderloin, port wine, red wine, roux, salt, sautéed, sherry, strained, tenderized, untested, whipping cream, winter

Marinade is a “sauce, typically made of oil, vinegar, spices, and herbs, in which meat, fish, or other food is soaked before cooking in order to flavor or soften it”. Port wine is not an ingredient I normally keep in the house, but I have marinated a pork tenderloin before so 7-18: Pork Tenderloin in Wine Sauce shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.

Meat that soaks in a marinade comes out tender and delicious. Cooking with this method requires more preparation time. Leave the meat in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours for maximum tenderness. The minimum marinating time I recommend is around 1 hour. When I prepared this recipe, I tried to make it in one night, so the meat marinated in the refrigerator for only 2 hours.

9-9: Pork Meat Loaf with Horseradish

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses December 19, 2016February 1, 2021all-purpose flour, allspice, Asian, Béchamel sauce, black pepper, broiled, brown sugar, butter, Chinese/dark soy sauce, cloves, cornstarch, creamy, dinner, dried spices, egg-free, fairly easy, five-spice powder, glazed, grated, ground meat, ground pork, half-and-half, herbs and spices, horseradish, inexpensive, loaf pan, lunch, meatloaf, nutmeg, parsley, pork, roux, salt, sliced, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, untested

I don’t often have ground pork on hand, but I happened to pick some up at a supermarket sale a few months ago and had been holding it in the freezer for a Simply Delicious recipe–I knew there were a few that called for it. 9-9: Pork Meat Loaf with Horseradish would have been a silly recipe to sub in ground beef for (my usual move), so this one will get the honor of being used with actual pork. 🐖

You guys, this picture does not look promising. Meatloaf is already difficult to get excited about, and I’m not sure if a creamy horseradish sauce is going to be enough to save it. Despite the copy reeking of desperation at the bottom of the recipe card (does this look “extravagant” to you?), I’m still willing to give it a shot. 🙈

3-33: Broccoli Wild Rice Soup

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 31, 2016October 4, 2020allspice, appetizers, blanched, blender, boiled, broccoli, butter, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chilled, chopped, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, Glendale apt, green bell peppers, green onions, healthy, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, milk, purée, revisited, salt, sautéed, scallions, side dish, soups, sour cream, sweated, thyme, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, wild rice, yellow onions

This is not my first time to the broccoli soup rodeo, so 3-33: Broccoli Wild Rice Soup should be a snap. 🏇🏼 A while back, I made 3-21: Broccoli-Celery Soup and broccoli is still in season at the time I am writing this post.

Cold isn’t my favorite temperature when eating soup, but with so much sour cream, the soup may separate during reheating. ❄

19-10: Dried Herbs and Spices I

Jamie Martin Group 19: Basic Ingredients, Section 4: Cooking School November 20, 2015October 18, 2020allspice, black pepper, cayenne pepper, curry powder, dried herbs, dried spices, five-spice powder, herbs and spices, how-to, paprika, peppercorns, rosé pepper, saffron, spice blends, white pepper

Chapter 19 of Simply Delicious is Basic Ingredients, another big part of cooking and Cooking School. 19-10: Dried Herbs & Spices I is the first of a two-part series on a selection of spices that you’ll probably find in a well-stocked kitchen.

For this entry, I’ll link to a recipe (or two, or three) that I’ve covered in this project that calls for that spice to illustrate an idea of how to use it (and maybe increased motivation to give one of these recipes a try).

17-53: Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods November 19, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, allspice, autumn, baked goods, baking powder, breakfast, canola oil, cinnamon, cocoa powder, dates, dessert, dried fruit, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, fall, gift ideas, ginger, granulated sugar, mace, milk, muffins, nutmeg, nuts, pumpkin spice, raisins, salt, snacks, spice blends, unsweetened, untested, vegetable oil, vegetarian, whole wheat flour

Another recipe that I intended to cover earlier (when it was more relevant). Whatever, you can totally still eat 17-53: Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins in mid-to-late November.

The recipe card says “not-too-sweet”…they’re not kidding. These are good, but only if you have some preserves or butter to go along with it. On their own, they’re a bit…dry.

3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters June 16, 2014March 14, 2020allspice, appetizers, autumn, blender, carrots, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, crème fraîche, diced, dinner, dried spices, easy, fall, food processor, garnish, Glendale apt, gluten-free, half-and-half, inexpensive, lunch, milk, nutmeg, purée, salt, side dish, soups, sour cream, thyme, untested, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

I think one of my favorite parts of old cookbooks is the adjectives they use to describe their dishes. I like to imagine a team of writers/cookbook jockeys staying late into the night, trying to dream up the perfect word to engage some adventurous cook into what would be an otherwise mundane-sounding recipe. How do you make carrot soup sound exciting?

That’s where “velvety” comes in. I present–3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup.

Oh, Simply Delicious. I admire you for trying to get me so excited about your carrot soup, that you put smiley face dollops of sour cream on your camera bowls.

When you have a LOT of carrots to get rid of and you’re looking for something velvety, Simply Delicious has you covered.