blanched – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

13-4: Zucchini and Tomato Casserole

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses March 3, 2024March 4, 2024basil, black pepper, blanched, butter, casserole, chopped, crushed tomatoes, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, garlic, gluten-free, ham, herbs and spices, inexpensive, layers, lunch, new book, olive oil, peeled, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, summer, thyme, tomatoes, twice-baked, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions, zucchini

It’s been a wet and windy winter here in California, and I’m looking forward to the spring so I can start working in my garden again. In Summer 2022, I grew zucchini and tomatoes, partially in hopes of being able to use them to cover some of the recipes in this book that featured those types of veggies. One of those recipes is this one, 13-4: Zucchini and Tomato Casserole.

I was also able to use some of the fresh herbs from my garden for this recipe as well. If you like these types of recipes (and if you have a garden), 4-1: Eggplant, Tomato, and Onion Bake, 13-10: Zucchini Piccata, and 13-3: Vegetable Deep Dish Pie might be worth checking out.

13-1: Broccoli with Cheese Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses December 21, 2021December 20, 2021all-purpose flour, blanched, blue cheese, broccoli, broiled, butter, Cheddar, cheese, cheese sauce, chopped, cream cheese, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, Jarlsberg, melted, milk, new book, pimento, roux, salt, sautéed, shredded, side dish, Swiss, tender-crisp, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

I’ve been eating a diet that’s easiest to classify as pescetarian for about 4 years now, and one of the biggest trends I’ve noticed in “vegetarian” dishes and cooking is to take a vegetable, smother it in cream and cheese, and call it a meal. Don’t get me wrong–I love cheese (more so than most–I chalk it up to being half Swedish/French), but it’s not exactly the healthiest thing for you. 13-1: Broccoli with Cheese Sauce is indeed vegetarian, but it is NOT healthy.

Sure, you could have stopped at steaming the broccoli (actually blanching, if you read the recipe after the jump)–maybe even sprinkle a little cheese on top to keep it interesting. But this feels more like, “would you like some broccoli with your cheese?” more so than “would you like some cheese with your broccoli?”

Man, I never thought I’d be complaining about there being TOO much cheese and not enough vegetables. That’s how you KNOW you’re getting old, kids.

13-22: Green Bean Pilaf

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses October 28, 2021November 29, 2021black pepper, blanched, brown rice, butter, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, dairy-free, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, folded, gluten-free, green beans, mushrooms, new book, pilaf, rice, salt, sautéed, side dish, simmered, tarragon, tender-crisp, untested, vegan, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

Well, hello there. So it’s been a while, and my first recipe back is…rice with green beans? No wonder it took me so long to get back into this.

13-22: Green Bean Pilaf is exactly what it sounds like–a rice side dish with green beans that you could serve next to some sort of (presumably meat-based) main dish. It’s advertised as being vegetarian, but I feel that’s just by “default” since there’s no chunks of visible meat in it.

Man, does Simply Delicious enjoy their tarragon. It doesn’t seem like tarragon is super popular in modern dishes–is that because it’s not useful or because we don’t think of it as a relevant ingredient? Deep herb-related thoughts to consider on this Thursday afternoon. 🤔

16-5: Sacher Torte

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods August 30, 2021August 30, 2021all-purpose flour, almonds, apricots, Austrian, blanched, butter, cakes, chocolate, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, favorites, folded, gift ideas, glazed, granulated sugar, holiday baking, jam/jelly/preserves, melted, meringue, nuts, party food, pastry, peeled, springform pan, stiff peaks, Thanksgiving, torte, untested, vegetarian, Viennese

It always takes me a minute to “catch up” on these, so if you’re keeping track (don’t), we’re now up to Thanksgiving of last year (2020) with 16-5: Sacher Torte. Sachertorte is a real thing, and Simply Delicious actually has a pretty decent take on it.

The Wikipedia link above gives a pretty close approximation of the origin story Simply Delicious mentions on their card above, so they’re hitting near the mark. Sometimes the best Simply Delicious recipes are the ones they DON’T make up for themselves.

Side note: My dad ended up LOVING this one (and he’s been eating the dishes from this book for 30+ years), so it comes highly recommended.

7-39: Pork Chops with Broccoli and Leek

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses January 11, 2021January 12, 2021Asian, black pepper, blanched, boneless, broccoli, cashews, Chinese, chopped, corn, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, ginger, grated, ham, inexpensive, leeks, lunch, meal prep, pork, pork chops, pork shoulder, salt, sautéed, sliced, snow peas, soy sauce, tender-crisp, untested, vegetables, winter

Looking for a way to use up some winter vegetables? Maybe your veggie box is heavy with leeks and broccoli these days–if so, maybe give 7-39: Pork Chops with Broccoli and Leek a try. It’s got big “we have Chinese food at home” energy.

If malls were still a thing, you could probably find something similar at a generic Chinese/pan-Asian restaurant in the half-empty food court.

If you want to round out your combo plate for the full experience, you could make some 8-25: Stir-Fried Beef or 11-6: Sweet and Sour Shrimp to go with it. Maybe throw in some 6-39: Chicken Pot Stickers or 1-15: Chinese Spring Rolls on the side?

2-5: Caribbean Seafood Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 11, 2020February 18, 2024apple cider vinegar, apples, asparagus, bananas, Belgian endive, black pepper, blanched, Boston lettuce, Caribbean, chicory lettuce, chilled, cooked shrimp, cucumbers, curly endive, Dijon mustard, dressing, easy, fairly expensive, fruit, garnish, gluten-free, iceberg lettuce, lemons, lettuce, mayonnaise, peeled, Romaine lettuce, salads, salt, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, sliced, sour cream, tarragon, tender-crisp, untested, West Indian

Every so often throughout this project, I run into entries that make no sense, culinarily. I’ll admit–my knowledge of Caribbean cuisine is probably more limited compared to other types. However, I find it hard to believe that 2-5: Caribbean Seafood Salad is an “authentic” representation of a real Caribbean dish.

The other similar recipes I’ve found for “Caribbean seafood salad” include pineapple, papaya, and/or mango, and all look much better than this apple/banana/asparagus mess. Keep that in mind–there’s better ways to use these ingredients (and to make a “Caribbean seafood salad”) than what they’re out here trying to do.

12-28: Tri-Color Risotto

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses February 26, 2020February 26, 2020beef bouillon, beef broth, blanched, boiled, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, easy, fairly inexpensive, green bell peppers, grind, long-grain, olive oil, peeled, pine nuts, red bell peppers, rice, risotto, saffron, salt, sautéed, shallots, shredded, untested, whipping cream, white wine, yellow bell peppers, yellow onions

If you haven’t figured it out by now, there’s a bit of a lag between when I make these recipes and when I actually post about them. It helps me to reread the recipe to figure out what I’m doing in a lot of these photos. While rereading the recipe for 12-28: Tri-Color Risotto, I realized I didn’t even make it right.

That’s my first explanation for what happened here. My second is that I don’t like cooking rice in a pan–I’m spoiled by rice cookers.

My third is that this isn’t risotto–it’s pilaf.

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. 🎺🍅

9-7: Cabbage Rolls

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses March 16, 2018October 18, 2020all-purpose flour, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, blanched, boiled, braised, butter, cabbage, cooked rice, creamy, deglazed, dinner, egg-free, fairly hard, folded, gravy, Greek, ground beef, ground meat, ground pork, half-and-half, inexpensive, lunch, pan-fried, rice, rolls, salt, slurry, steamed, stuffed, stuffing, untested, vegetables, whipping cream

Cabbage is probably my least favorite cruciferous vegetable. Although cabbage is present in most Chinese food dishes and it doesn’t bother me in that format, however, just the thought of eating plain cabbage is not very appetizing to me. The meatloaf-like mixture inside 9-7: Cabbage Rolls was the most edible part of the dish. I like that they served it with a blurred out Heineken.

Anything that involves a stuffing and rolling procedure is usually best done in a big batch because they are a pain to put together.

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.

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