egg-free – Page 7 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

3-19: Soupe Saint Germain

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 31, 2017October 4, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, blender, boiled, butter, champagne, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fail, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, food processor, French, frozen, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, horseradish, lunch, milk, mounted, Prosecco, purée, roux, sage, salt, soups, sour cream, sparkling, sweet peas, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetarian, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions

Working on the Simply Delicious Cookbook Project with Jamie has given me an opportunity to learn and expand my culinary palette. As with a lot of these dishes, I have never tried 3-19: Soupe Saint Germain before. This soup is made with ingredients I generally enjoy, but the end product was hardly enjoyable. The sparkling white wine was probably my least favorite component of the dish and not something I normally drink.

To the best of my recollection, I haven’t eaten many other classic French soups. My version of this dish may have been less than stellar due to a less than fresh bottle of sparkling white wine and my substitution of sour cream for cream.

Editor’s note: Potage St. Germain is essentially “pea soup”. There’s many variations out there, but not too many with sparkling wine in them. Since it’s New Years’ Eve, here’s an interesting alternative for all that Champagne you may have on hand…Happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2018! 🥂

7-29: Polynesian Spareribs

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses December 20, 2017October 15, 2020apple cider vinegar, Asian, black pepper, broiled, brushed, canola oil, chilled, citrus, crushed, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, fruit, glazed, grilled, inexpensive, lunch, marinated, orange juice, oranges, party food, pineapple, Polynesian, pork, ribs, sliced, soy sauce, spareribs, untested, vinegar

Polynesian-style spareribs are my second or third favorite preparation of spareribs. As I described when I wrote 7-16: Orange-Glazed Spareribs, my grandmother’s recipe for Barbecue Spareribs still can’t be beat. However, these ginger and pineapple glazed ribs are more than acceptable. My dish came out of the oven tender and delicious, and maybe a little burnt from cooking too close to the broiler.

This meal is indeed, delectable, as described by the editors of Simply Delicious. I served this dish at a time of the year when corn-on-the-cob was not in season so my final plate looks a little different. The bright yellow corn would provide a nice contrast to the dark ribs on the plate.

7-16: Orange-Glazed Spareribs

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses December 18, 2017October 15, 2020black pepper, brushed, chilled, Chinese/dark soy sauce, citrus, country-style, dairy-free, dinner, dried spices, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fruit, ginger, glazed, herbs and spices, lunch, marinated, orange juice, oranges, party food, pork, ribs, salt, scored, sliced, soy sauce, spareribs, untested

Spareribs are one of my favorite cuts of pork. I have fond childhood memories of my mother’s spareribs recipe that she got from her mother. I know it sounds cliché, using a recipe handed down from your mother’s mother, but I still use that recipe to this day. 7-16: Orange-Glazed Spareribs is not quite my grandmother’s recipe, but it gets the job done.

The set dressing in the example photo is amazing. The mug full of beer and the basket full of oranges give an incredible ambiance to the scene. My photography is more utilitarian and I don’t spend nearly as much time setting up a beautiful background, mostly because I’m starving by the time I’ve got my plate ready to snap the final plate photo.

11-35: Grilled Pacific Halibut

Adam Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses October 23, 2017October 27, 2020black pepper, broiled, California, cast-iron, chili powder, chili sauce, cumin, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, fish filets, garlic, gluten-free, grill pan, grilled, halibut, healthy, herbs and spices, Hutton house, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, marinated, Mediterranean, minced, piquant, revisited, rosemary, salt, seafood, steak, teriyaki sauce, white wine vinegar

I have never been known for my skills in preparing fish, but this recipe, 11-35: Grilled Pacific Halibut, helped me become a halibut grilling master! 🐟

Many of the times I failed at cooking fish, I did not marinate the flesh first. Skipping that step definitely makes a difference.

Editor’s note: By the looks of the notations on this card, my mother made this in what looks like July of 1995, although that last digit is difficult to clearly determine–her handwriting has always been a challenge. It might be 1990. She noted that it was “Very Easy” on the back–sounds like Adam may have had a similar experience.

9-3: Herb Garden Meat Patties

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses October 1, 2017October 19, 2020black pepper, burgers, butter, chopped, cilantro, cream sauce, creamy, diced, dinner, dried herbs, dried spices, easy, egg-free, garnish, gluten-free, ground meat, ground pork, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, pan-fried, paprika, party food, peeled, pork, salt, sliders, sour cream, thyme, untested, whipping cream, yellow onions

Finally, an interesting take on the ground meat patty. Let’s spice things up by adding fresh garden herbs with 9-3: Herb Garden Meat Patties! 🌿

I’ve tried burgers with added spices before. Here’s yet another Simply Delicious suggestion for preparing flavorful meat patties.

9-39: Zesty Meat Casserole

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 13, 2017October 19, 2020baking pan, butter, carrots, casserole, celery, celery root, cheese, chopped, creamy, dinner, easy, egg-free, gluten-free, grated, ground meat, half-and-half, inexpensive, julienned, milk, Parmesan, parsnips, peeled, piquant, potatoes, salt, sautéed, sweated, Tabasco sauce, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, yellow onions

Not every Simply Delicious recipe is a home run. With 9-39: Zesty Meat Casserole, perhaps unsuccessfully, tries to break the mold. By not forming the beef into a patty, meatball, or kebab, this casserole tries to do something different. To cook this recipe, I had to prepare a parsnip, something I’m not accustomed to. I made this dish before a trip out of town and brought it with me to have something homemade to eat.

I cut my vegetables in a manner similar to the photograph, but my substitution of milk for half-and-half made the sauce come out runny.

6-39: Chicken Pot Stickers

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses June 12, 2017October 14, 2020appetizers, Asian, canola oil, chicken, chili oil, chili sauce, Chinese, Chinese/dark soy sauce, chopped, cooked shrimp, cornstarch, dairy-free, dim sum, dinner, dips, dumplings, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, filling, ginger, green onions, ground chicken, ground turkey, gyoza, hors d'oeuvres, Japanese, lunch, minced, pan-fried, party food, pot stickers, rice vinegar, rice wine, salad shrimp, scallions, sherry, shrimp, side dish, snacks, soy sauce, stuffed, turkey, untested, water chestnuts, wonton skins

6-39: Chicken Pot Stickers are another case of a food that I “can” make, but would choose not to after seeing all of the mess and work involved.

“Steamed, stuffed dumplings” sound delicious. Mine came out a little more fried than steamed, still delicious.

7-13: Thai Pork Loin

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses June 8, 2017October 15, 2020Asian, boiled, bone-in, boneless, braised, butter, canola oil, chopped, cinnamon, cornstarch, cubed, deboned, deglazed, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fish sauce, green onions, herbs and spices, hot sauce, leeks, lunch, Oriental, peeled, pork, pork loin, salt, sautéed, scallions, sliced, slurry, soy sauce, sriracha, Thai, Thai soy sauce, untested, vegetables, white onions, yellow onions

Pork and pineapple are two of my favorite ingredients. Sweet and Sour Pork from almost any Chinese restaurant makes me happy. Simply Delicious finally put these two powerhouse ingredients together in this recipe for 7-13: Thai Pork Loin.

Looking at the size of the chunks in the sample photo, I see how I could have cut my ingredients differently, however, I still stand by the choices I made. The method of preparation I chose is what Jamie and I would prefer versus what the book tells you to do.

15-30: Champagne Sundaes

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 6, 2017July 30, 2020blueberries, breakfast, brunch, cantaloupe, champagne, chilled, cider, cold desserts, dairy-free, dessert, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fruit, fruit salad, gelato, ginger ale, gluten-free, honeydew, ice cream, mason jars, MD2017, melon, melon baller, mimosas, Mother's Day, orange juice, party food, raspberries, sherbet, sliced, snacks, soda, sorbet, sparkling, sundaes, untested, vegan, vegetarian

The final dish of my Mother’s Day brunch this year (MD2017) was the second half of my dessert options (in addition to 17-23: Mocha Éclairs): 15-30: Champagne Sundaes. My mom loves mimosas (which we had in abundance already), and since we already had fruit from 15-19: Layered Fruit Salad, I decided this would be an easy dish to make as well. Plus, it’s nice to have something light to finish with–it balances out the other rich dishes I made for this meal.

I decided to update this recipe concept for the 2010s: I served them in mason jar glasses instead of stemmed glasses. This could totally be a dish at current-day hipster bottomless-mimosa brunches everywhere.🍾

15-19: Layered Fruit Salad

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 28, 2017July 30, 2020bananas, breakfast, brunch, chilled, cold desserts, dairy-free, dessert, diced, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, frozen, fruit, fruit salad, gluten-free, grapes, kiwis, layers, lunch, MD2017, Mother's Day, orange juice, oranges, party food, peaches, peeled, powdered sugar, raspberries, side dish, sliced, snacks, spring, summer, supreme, untested, vegan, vegetarian

It’s a few weeks after Mother’s Day at this point, but better late than never. This year for Mother’s Day, I took a few Simply Delicious recipes and decided to make a brunch menu out of them for my mom. We usually do lox and bagels at home for our holiday brunch celebrations, but this year I wanted the full Mother’s Day buffet experience–but still at home. It’s not brunch without fruit salad, so the first entry for this grand event (MD2017) is 15-19: Layered Fruit Salad.

But wait a minute, you say! This is from the Cold Desserts category? How can it be for brunch?

It’s fancy fruit salad–I think it’ll be okay either as a dessert or a brunch side dish. Plus, I need to burn off some of these dessert recipes–so many of them require fresh fruit and summer is the best time for that.