chili powder – Page 2 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

9-14: Chili Con Carne

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses August 27, 2016October 20, 2020American, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, canola oil, chili peppers, chili powder, cloves, crushed tomatoes, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, garlic, gluten-free, green bell peppers, ground beef, ground meat, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, minced, oregano, paprika, pared, peeled, pinto beans, red bell peppers, salt, sautéed, simmered, Tex-Mex, untested, vegetables, white beans, yellow onions

This recipe card gave me an excuse to cook up a big ol’ batch of 9-14: Chili Con Carne, not that I needed an excuse. I’ve made a few pots of chili in my day, but not one quite like this. My favorite episode of the Simpsons, entitled El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer), features a chili cook-off as a vital plot point. The infamous space coyote scene still cracks me up to this day. 😹

With the peppers featured prominently on the front of the recipe card, Simply Delicious has pointed out the one major issue I had with this dish. WHO PUTS BELL PEPPER IN CHILI? 🌶 Jamie and I enjoy a little spice in our chili. I’ve always wanted to try adding a pepper akin to the “Merciless Pepper of Quetzalacatenango … grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum.” 🌶

6-2: Fiery Chicken Casserole

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses August 18, 2016October 14, 2020all-purpose flour, bone-in, boneless, braised, breasts, butter, canola oil, casserole, chicken, chili peppers, chili powder, chives, creamy, crème fraîche, diced, dinner, drumsticks, Dutch oven, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, green chiles, lactose-free, paprika, salt, sautéed, sliced, sour cream, spicy, thighs, untested, yellow onions

The whole time I was making 6-2: Fiery Chicken Casserole, I had this image in my head because I thought my sauce came out wrong. My sauce was light colored and the chicken in the photo shows a crispy, golden skin. If you look hard at the bowl in the upper left corner, you can see the white sauce that the authors described.

My version of the casserole came out a lot differently than the image shown on the card and didn’t taste very “fiery”. This dish would need a lot more heat to be considered “fiery”. 🔥

9-6: Filled Tacos

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses August 13, 2016October 20, 2020avocados, black olives, butter, canola oil, Cheddar, cheese, chili powder, diced, dinner, easy, egg-free, filling, green olives, ground beef, ground meat, ground turkey, hot sauce, inexpensive, lettuce, lunch, Mexican, Monterey Jack, party food, salt, shredded, sliced, sour cream, Southwestern, stuffed, taco shells, tacos, Tapatio, Tex-Mex, tomatoes, untested, vegetables

I never expected to find a recipe for filled tacos in the Simply Delicious cookbooks. 9-6: Filled Tacos are an easy and filling dinner. The prep is the longest part. 🌮

I bought a box of prepared taco shells at the store. Different from the kind shown in the photos provided by Simply Delicious, but they got the job done. 🇲🇽

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.

9-2: Mexican Fiesta

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses July 21, 2016July 5, 2020appetizers, black olives, broiled, canola oil, casserole, cheese, chili powder, chopped, dinner, dips, easy, egg-free, garlic, ground beef, ground meat, guacamole, inexpensive, lunch, melted, Mexican, minced, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, nachos, party food, Pepper Jack, pimento, pinto beans, sautéed, side dish, snacks, sour cream, tacos, Tex-Mex, tomato sauce, tortilla chips, untested, yellow onions

9-2: Mexican Fiesta sounds exciting, but it’s really just poorly layered nachos. I know that they were trying to make it seem like a casserole, but all the good stuff that goes in tacos/nachos is basically layered in a pan and covered with a layer of chips on top. I think you’re supposed to eat it like a dip? 🌮

I like the touch of the Corona with a lime in the background of their picture, like all of a sudden that makes it a party. I can’t think of too many decent Mexican places that would serve something like this, but if you want something festive yet inoffensive for a party or a lengthy Netflix session, I suppose this recipe could get the job done. 🌶

11-26: Fish Gumbo

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses April 27, 2016July 7, 2020all-purpose flour, basil, bay leaves, boiled, Cajun, canola oil, catfish, cayenne pepper, celery, chicken broth, chili powder, chopped, crab, crushed tomatoes, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, flaked, garlic, green bell peppers, green onions, gumbo, herbs and spices, krab, lunch, minced, mussels, New Orleans, parsley, red bell peppers, rice, roux, salt, scallops, seafood, shrimp, simmered, soups, stews, thyme, tomato paste, tomatoes, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables

I’ve often talked during this project about my mother and her predilection towards recipe experimentation. One of these instances was where she attempted to make gumbo–I’m not sure where she got the recipe from, but I remember the family failing to choke down poorly cooked okra and my father making a quick run to KFC while she surreptitiously got rid of the rest.

The mere mention of gumbo usually brings this unsavory memory back, and so I attempted 11-26: Fish Gumbo with a fair amount of trepidation.

Roux is something I’ve covered several times throughout this project, and it’s an essential flavor and texture component of gumbo. Letting a roux brown deepens its flavor, and there’s a fine line between too light and over cooked.

9-30: South American Meatballs

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses April 9, 2016July 6, 2020appetizers, beef, black pepper, bread crumbs, canola oil, chili powder, coated, coconut, diced, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fried, grated, green bell peppers, ground beef, ground meat, ground pork, herbs and spices, lemons, limes, lunch, meatballs, milk, pan-fried, panade, panko, paprika, parsley, party food, pork, purée, salt, Silpat, South American, tomato paste, untested, vegetables, yellow onions, zested

There are LOTS of different ways to prepare meatballs–at least 20 according to this Serious Eats piece. So far, the only meatball recipe I’ve covered on here is 9-4: Swedish Meatballs, although 9-44: Wok-Fried Beef Patties are pretty close. A quick Google search brings up albondigas for “South American meatballs”. Prior to 9-30: South American Meatballs, my only experience with either of these concepts is something similar to this recipe that you get at Mexican restaurants. And none of it involves coconut. 🌴

Coconut is the main thing here–it’s meatballs with coconut all up in there. It’s not a bad taste, just an an acquired one. Paprika is usually associated with Hungarian (European) cuisine, but its origins are in the Americas, brought over during all of that New World/Old World business in the 16th century.

12-22: Nasi Goreng

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses December 1, 2015July 28, 2020amchur powder, Asian, bean sprouts, canola oil, cashews, chili powder, chutney, coconut, condiments, crushed red pepper, curry powder, dairy-free, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, fish sauce, fried, galangal, garlic, garlic powder, ginger, granulated sugar, ham, Indian, Indonesian, inexpensive, julienned, lunch, omelette, pan-fried, paprika, pineapple, rice, salt, sautéed, scrambled, shredded, sliced, soy sauce, spice blends, spicy, Tabasco sauce, Thai, untested, yellow onions

Here’s something a bit different from the Pasta and Rice chapter. Simply Delicious has a lot of international recipes, some more authentic than others. 12-22: Nasi Goreng is a take on a popular Indonesian fried rice dish, a sweeter and spicier variation of the ubiquitous Chinese take-out version.

This recipe doesn’t give you much in the way of creating Nasi Goreng spices if you don’t have access to or want to use a premixed blend. After the jump, I’ll include a Nasi Goreng spice blend I used and a link to the book from which I pulled it.

2-17: Spicy Potato Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters November 23, 2015March 10, 2020apple cider vinegar, blender, chili powder, chilled, chopped, curry powder, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dressing, dried spices, easy, egg-free, emulsion, food processor, German, gluten-free, herb salt, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, marinated, paprika, party food, peeled, picnic, potato salad, potatoes, red onions, salads, salt, side dish, spice blends, spicy, sunflower oil, sweet mustard, tossed, untested, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

This was an accompaniment to 12-11: Italian Macaroni & Cheese when I went to a get-together recently. 2-17: Spicy Potato Salad is similar to a German potato salad in style–it uses vinegar & spices as the dressing instead of mayonnaise.

The main difference between this version and most traditional German potato salads is that this one lacks bacon. But if you miss the bacon that much, feel free to go crazy and add it on back in there.