egg-free – Page 2 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

1-12: Mixed Seafood Au Gratin

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 29, 2022July 29, 2022appetizers, au gratin, bay scallops, bay shrimp, black pepper, broiled, butter, cheese, crab, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish stock, French, gluten-free, grated, hors d'oeuvres, lobster, mounted, mussels, Parmesan, peeled, reduced, salt, sautéed, scallops, seafood, serving shells, shallots, shellfish, shrimp, untested, whipping cream, white wine

Greetings, and happy Friday! It’s been a minute, but I’ll always come back eventually–I’ve put way too much time/work/energy into this project to give up now. Today, I present to you 1-12: Mixed Seafood Au Gratin. Au gratin is not new for Simple Delicious, and neither is the use of the pictured serving shells. I finally broke down and bought some a year or two ago for 11-10: French Scallops–I’m happy they’ll get another use here.

When was the last time you heard the phrase “tantalize the taste buds”? I feel like that went out of style around the same time as soufflé humor.

11-18: Salmon Steaks with Mushrooms

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses April 18, 2022August 26, 2022all-purpose flour, black pepper, boiled, butter, chanterelle, chicken bouillon, cream sauce, dredged, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly expensive, fairly hard, fish, fish filets, melted, morels, mushrooms, paprika, roux, salmon, salt, sautéed, scraped, seafood, seafood steak, sliced, thyme, whipping cream, white pepper

I’m aware of two salmon steak recipes in my Simply Delicious collection, 11-15: Grilled Salmon with Thyme and this one, 11-18: Salmon Steaks with Mushrooms. The other one mentions you can substitute salmon fillets if you can’t find the steaks, which is what I had to do for this one. Strangely enough, I WAS able to find them for the other one. Believe it or not, I’ve been looking for them for a while and just haven’t had very good luck with it (even in Northern California, where it seems like you can find just about anything if you look hard enough).

Simply Delicious does NOT miss an opportunity for a mushroom sauce–it’s kind of their thing. They suggest rice (10/10?) as a side dish, but I’m going to go with some gnocchi instead.

Quick note: Just passed the 8-year anniversary of this project, and I’m STILL going. I’ll be doing this FOREVER.

15-5: Strawberries Romanoff

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 15, 2022April 14, 2022Cointreau, cold desserts, dessert, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fruit, gluten-free, Grand Marnier, grated, liqueur, marinated, orange juice, orange peel, oranges, powdered sugar, Russian, strawberries, untested, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream, zested

I’m (more than) a little reluctant to post 15-5: Strawberries Romanoff given the current state of the world, but I made it over a year ago and I need to get it out of my queue, so here you go. And yes, that’s really how long it takes me to get to these sometimes.

Strawberries are in season right now, so this is somewhat seasonally appropriate (but perhaps not politically so). I’m not sure being from the “courts of the Russian czars” is much of a selling point anymore these days (although arguably, it probably wasn’t much of one in the late 1980s-early 1990s either), but it is what it is.

You can find ways to support the people of Ukraine here. 🇺🇦

6-6: Ginger Chicken

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses April 14, 2022April 14, 2022all-purpose flour, Asian, black pepper, bone-in, breasts, butter, chicken, Chinese, cream sauce, dinner, drumsticks, dry vermouth, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, ginger, julienned, liquor, lunch, mushrooms, nuts, peanuts, roux, rubbed, salt, sautéed, sliced, snap peas, thighs, untested, whipping cream, wings

It’s not unusual to find a “ginger chicken” recipe on a Chinese takeout menu, but in case you’re looking to cut down on those high restaurant and delivery costs, here’s Simply Delicious‘ take on it: 6-6: Ginger Chicken. I don’t really buy meat anymore these days (unless you count the occasional boiled chicken/plain white rice I make when the dog gets an upset tummy), but from what I can tell, even those prices are pretty much through the roof. Maybe consider Ginger Tofu instead?

I don’t even have peanut allergies and yet I look at that picture and start to get itchy. I love it though–who at Simply Delicious decided that they REALLY needed to drive home the fact that this recipe HAS LOTS OF PEANUTS? And yet, the actual recipe only calls for about half a cup.

What are we supposed to do with the rest of them? Guess it’s a good thing baseball solved that whole lockout thing.

11-10: French Scallops

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses January 6, 2022January 6, 2022broiled, butter, cayenne pepper, cheese, crème fraîche, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish stock, French, garnish, gluten-free, Italian parsley, mushrooms, Parmesan, reduced, sautéed, scallops, seafood, serving shells, shallots, shellfish, sliced, untested, whipping cream, white wine

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2022! I’m going to start this year off with a redo–although you didn’t know that it was such. I cooked 11-10: French Scallops early last year (2021), but did such a terrible job of it that I didn’t even want to share the pictures of it with you. I’ve had it hanging out in my queue for almost a year, and it’s time to fix that–when you know better, you should do better.

I took far too many liberties with my first attempt, not realizing that this dish was somewhat specific in its design and not just “up for interpretation”. Coquilles St. Jacques (note Simply Delicious misspelled it) is a French preparation of scallops, hence their abridged title of “French Scallops”. There’s lots of versions of it out there, most somewhat similar to this one.

4-5: Potatoes O’Brien

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 26, 2021December 24, 2021black pepper, bread crumbs, breakfast, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, cooked potatoes, diced, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, green bell peppers, green chiles, half-and-half, inexpensive, lunch, milk, new book, potatoes, salt, shredded, thyme, untested, vegetarian, whipping cream, white bread, yellow onions

It’s been a while since I’ve covered anything breakfast-related, so let’s dig into 4-5: Potatoes O’Brien to change that. I’ve heard of Potatoes O’Brien before (and you may have as well)–you can even buy them frozen from the grocery store. Here’s how to make them at home on your own, since takeout/delivery/eating in can be a bit hit-or-miss these days.

I suppose eggs might fall under the category of meat or poultry, but it seems to be the go-to accompaniment for this dish. As you can see from the header image, I served mine with a homemade breakfast sandwich which also made a good option. Who needs those big breakfast guys anyway?

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.

8-15: Cajun-Style Sirloin

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses December 20, 2021December 20, 2021American, American South, beef, blackened, Cajun, cayenne pepper, cucumbers, curry powder, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, French, garlic, gluten-free, granulated sugar, Indian, minced, New Orleans, paprika, peeled, salt, sirloin, sliced, spice blends, spicy, strained, strainers, thyme, tomatoes, untested, yogurt

Looking for something different to do with a cut of beef sirloin? 8-15: Cajun-Style Sirloin is a pretty quick and easy way to prepare beef, and also comes with a bonus cucumber salad recipe as an accompaniment/garnish. The cucumber salad and yogurt topping give this dish almost a Middle Eastern feel–they’re used to cut the heat from the paprika, curry, and cayenne pepper used to season the meat.

I’ve yet to visit Louisiana myself in person, but Simply Delicious has a few different Cajun and Creole recipes to try that can take you there culinarily, at least. There’s even some non-Simply Delicious versions of this recipe out there, if you’re looking for variations. I’m still intrigued by the addition of the cucumber salad and yogurt topping for this version–that seems very avant garde for 1980s home cooking.

6-16: The Chef’s Special Chicken

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses November 3, 2021November 3, 2021all-purpose flour, bacon, black pepper, boiled, boneless, breasts, butter, Canadian bacon, chicken, chopped, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, green onions, half-and-half, leeks, lemon peel, lemons, lunch, melted, parsley, roux, salt, sautéed, sliced, turkey, untested, whipping cream

I’ll be honest–I have no idea why this is “special chicken”. But for me, 6-16: The Chef’s Special Chicken will be special because I made it with “chick’n” instead of the real thing. I guess that’s not all that special for me at this point, but maybe for you?

If you search for “chef’s special chicken”, you’ll get a million different types of recipes, so I’m not sure what makes this one especially traditional. Although this one I found is pretty much this same exact recipe, so I guess it’s not as unknown as I thought. That or someone ripped off Simply Delicious and called it their own.

In a restaurant when you see “chef’s special”, it usually translates to “this is about to go bad so let’s try to sell it tonight however we can”. #themoreyouknow

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. 🤔