fairly expensive – Page 2 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

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.

6-12: Chicken à la King

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses December 27, 2021December 30, 2021all-purpose flour, American, boiled, bone-in, boneless, breasts, butter, chicken, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, cooked chicken, cooked turkey, cream of mushroom, cream sauce, creamy, deboned, diced, dinner, drumsticks, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, lunch, mushrooms, new book, paprika, pimento, pimiento, piquant, port wine, roux, salt, sautéed, sherry, simmered, sliced, Tabasco sauce, thighs, untested, whipping cream, white pepper, wings

Here’s another “traditional” recipe from Simply Delicious: 6-12: Chicken à la King. I’ve heard of this one before (you probably have too), but never ate it much as a kid despite it being chicken-based (the mushrooms were probably the dealbreaker for my mom). This is from the “new book“, so I didn’t even know Simply Delicious HAD a Chicken à la King recipe until recently.

Chicken à la King has been around for a while, but enjoyed a resurgence in mid-to-late 20th century America (probably due to all the Baby Boomers and a need to feed them cheaply/quickly). It seems “dated” to me at this point (and not necessarily in a good way), but probably was still pretty popular in some parts of the country at the time these books were published.

Combine this with 8-12: Beef Stroganoff, and you’ve got a pretty good handle on mediocre American cuisine from the 1980s.

8-42: Beef Tenderloin Deluxe

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses December 25, 2021December 23, 2021beef, beef bouillon, beef broth, beef tenderloin, black pepper, brown sugar, butter, canola oil, carrots, celery, celery root, Christmas, Christmas Eve, dinner, egg wash, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, julienned, mushrooms, parsnips, party food, peeled, peppercorns, puff pastry, salt, sautéed, sliced, stuffed, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables, yellow onions

Merry Christmas! In honor of the holiday, I’ve chosen to share a “fancy” one with you today: 8-42: Beef Tenderloin Deluxe. I’ve had requests for this recipe in the past (prior to posting it) from folks preparing for holiday meals, so now it’s time to share it with all of you. Consider these essentially individual Beef Wellingtons–perfect for a special occasion.

This is one of those recipes that you plan for in advance and cook to impress your family and friends–it’s not just for another Wednesday night dinner.

12-35: Fettucini with Scallops

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses December 24, 2021December 23, 2021Alfredo sauce, basil, butter, cheese, cheese sauce, Christmas Eve, crab, cream sauce, creamy, dinner, easy, fairly expensive, fettuccini, fish, flaked, garlic, grated, green onions, Italian, krab, lunch, minced, mushrooms, Parmesan, pasta/noodles, sautéed, scallops, seafood, shellfish, untested, whipping cream

First of all (before we even get into the actual recipe for 12-35: Fettucini with Scallops) I need to take umbrage with the spelling of “fettucini”–Simply Delicious spells it with one “c” and an “i” at the end instead of an “e”. I spell it “fettuccine” (so does Wikipedia AND Olive Garden), so this is going to be a challenging entry to write.

What’s even MORE frustrating about it is that Simply Delicious can’t even pick one spelling themselves–check out 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken and 12-20: Fettuccini with Ham. Two Cs! Still no E! It’s madness, I tell you.

Spinach fettuccine with Alfredo sauce (this one specifically) was one of my FAVORITE meals as a kid (I could definitely still knock out a big bowl of it today), and so I can see this as more of a “grown-up” version of it.

Real Alfredo sauce is closer to what you get with cacio e pepe than what you get at the Olive Garden (notably it doesn’t feature heavy cream and garlic like the OG version), and this version (even though it’s not calling itself “fettuccine Alfredo”) probably falls somewhere in between–lighter than OG’s but heavier than the original.

11-24: Salmon and Halibut Kebabs

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses December 22, 2021December 20, 2021black pepper, boneless, broiled, brushed, canola oil, cubed, dinner, easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish filets, garnish, green bell peppers, grilled, halibut, kebabs, lemon juice, lemon peel, lemons, lime juice, lime peel, limes, lunch, marinated, olive oil, party food, peeled, red onions, salmon, salt, seafood, soy sauce, summer, sunflower oil, untested, vegetable oil, white wine, zested

Fish kebabs are probably not high on your Christmas dinner idea list (unless you’re reading from the Southern Hemisphere), but that doesn’t mean that you still can’t file 11-24: Salmon and Halibut Kebabs away for when it warms up a bit. Or if you’re not crazy like us and still grilling outdoors in late December, you can do this one inside on the broiler as well.

I know, I probably can’t convince you to eat grilled fish in the middle of winter. But like I said–save this one for spring/summer when it warms up. It’s a perfect light meal for a warm night where you don’t want to heat up the kitchen.

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.

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.