fish – Page 2 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

11-20: Pastry Fish with Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses August 10, 2021August 10, 2021all-purpose flour, bass, black pepper, butter, chopped, cod, cooked shrimp, curry powder, dill, dinner, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, garnish, half-and-half, herbs and spices, parsley, party food, pastry, puff pastry, roux, salt, sautéed, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, spinach, untested, whipping cream, whitefish, yellow onions

If you happen to have a “pastry fish” laying around, here’s a good use for it (I know you’ve been waiting for someone to tell you what to do with it). 11-20: Pastry Fish with Shrimp is so 1980s that I think we can bring it back around again for a 2020s-era reboot–this just screams “novelty food that looks better than it tastes”.

Maybe I’ve just been watching too much Great British Baking Show (or Great British Bake Off, as it is known in its native UK) on Netflix lately, but this sounds like a wacky cooking challenge just waiting to happen.

11-32: Shrimp and Cashew Stir-Fry

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses April 20, 2021April 24, 2021Asian, black pepper, canola oil, cashews, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, Chinese, cornstarch, dairy-free, devein, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, frozen, garlic, green onions, Italian parsley, minced, mushrooms, salt, scallions, seafood, shelled, shellfish, shrimp, sliced, soy sauce, stir-fry, sweet peas, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables, wok

As another clue to the era from which it emanates, Simply Delicious offers a lot of stir-fry recipes, along with quite a few other “pan-Asian” options. 11-32: Shrimp and Cashew Stir-Fry isn’t much different from a lot of these other types of dishes, but if you like shrimp and cashews, this is your dish.

Simply Delicious suggests serving this with some steamed brown rice. I remember my mom pushing the brown rice on us in the 80s and 90s…it wasn’t great. I know it’s healthier for you, and there are some dishes where it works, but I’m just generally NOT a fan.

11-13: Flounder with Sautéed Vegetables

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses March 22, 2021March 22, 2021black pepper, bread crumbs, breaded, butter, chopped, coated, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, flounder, halibut, mushrooms, oregano, pan-fried, peeled, salt, sautéed, seafood, sole, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

I’m still on my quest to finish off the Fish/Seafood chapter, so expect some more fish entries in the near (maybe-not-so-near) future. 11-13: Flounder with Sautéed Vegetables sounds pretty…plain, but maybe that’s not a bad thing when it comes to whipping up an easy-ish dinner these days.

This card looks like it got slightly impacted during the “Great Roach Massacre of ’09“, but the important part (the recipe) is still plenty legible. All you’re missing here is Simply Delicious acting as 1980s hype man for including fish as part of your diet.

2-3: Salad Niçoise

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 27, 2020November 24, 2020anchovies, black olives, black pepper, capers, chilled, dairy-free, dressing, eggs, emulsion, fish, flaked, French, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, green beans, minced, olive oil, peeled, potatoes, Romaine lettuce, salads, salt, seafood, sliced, summer, tuna, vinegar, white wine vinegar

Salads are usually a good choice when it’s hot out, and since we’re currently in the middle of summer (here in the U.S.), 2-3: Salad Niçoise (pronounced nee-swah) might be a good choice for an upcoming meal. Plus, it primarily uses readily-available canned/jarred ingredients, which can be helpful for both budgets and pandemic shopping.

Salade niçoise is a well-known dish (like the last recipe I covered, 14-8: Baked Alaska), and there are many different versions of it out there. Even Simply Delicious alludes to the different variations in their blurb above– although what they insist as a “must” (eggs, tuna, olives) seems to be up to interpretation.

11-9: Fried Jumbo Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses April 20, 2020July 7, 2020all-purpose flour, Asian, batter, beer, boiled, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chilled, Chinese, Chinese/dark soy sauce, cornstarch, crispy, dairy-free, deep fryer, deep-fried, dinner, egg-free, expensive, fairly hard, fish, fried, leeks, lunch, mushrooms, party food, peeled, sautéed, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, sliced, sweet-and-sour sauce, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth

As I mentioned in my last post, this project just passed the 6-year mark, and a lot has changed since I first started it–careers, cities, kitchens, vehicles, family, presidents, even dietary preferences.

For the last two years, we’ve been sticking to a plant-based diet, with the very occasional seafood or dairy indulgence (however, traditional meat itself is totally gone). We’ll still go out for a real sushi dinner here and there (although, not lately due to coronavirus), and every so often, I’ll make a recipe like 11-9: Fried Jumbo Shrimp with real shrimp as a treat.

“Fruit from the sea” as a description for shrimp seems strange to me, even though I know Simply Delicious didn’t coin the term. “Fried Jumbo Shrimp” is what they use to lure you into mediocre chain restaurants–it’s not quite haute cuisine.

I’m not doing a good job of selling you on this dish, am I? Well, since fried food doesn’t travel well as takeout, maybe you’d like to take this “opportunity” to learn how to fry your own?

11-30: Sea Bass with Peppers

Adam Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses September 4, 2018October 27, 2020almonds, basil, bass, black pepper, broiled, canola oil, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, fish filets, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, green bell peppers, halibut, lemon juice, lime juice, limes, lunch, marinated, olive oil, red bell peppers, rockfish, salt, seafood, sliced, sole, tender-crisp, toasted, untested, vegetables, whitefish, yellow bell peppers

Here’s another seafood recipe: 11: 30: Sea Bass with Peppers. To me, fish and peppers are not the most logical combination, but these veggies are mostly a garnish to serve alongside a rockfish (instead of sea bass) fillet.

This is another dish where you can substitute the type of fish if you want–we split the rockfish filets between this recipe and the ones Jamie used for 11-21: Baked Whitefish with Shrimp.

11-8: Almond Trout

Adam Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses June 15, 2018October 27, 2020all-purpose flour, almonds, black pepper, boiled, butter, candied, creamy, dinner, dredged, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, fish, ginger, herbs and spices, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, milk, nuts, pan-fried, parsley, salt, sautéed, seafood, sliced, trout, untested, whipping cream, Worcestershire sauce

Almonds are grown in California in abundant numbers so luckily, the featured ingredient in 11-8: Almond Trout is fairly inexpensive for us. This is not the first recipe to include almonds in a main course. Jamie chopped some for the sauce of the 11-16: Indian Fried Fish and I added them whole to 9-27: West Indian Meat Casserole. Jamie also combined pork and almonds in 7-55: Sunday Pork Stew. Who could forget the chopped almonds in the sauce from the mauve chicken in 6-24: Mushroom-Almond Chicken? Once you go into desserts, Simply Delicious offers tons of recipes that contain this wondrous drupe, which is technically a seed, but commonly called a nut.

Pan-fried fish has to be my second favorite preparation of fish, second only to full frying in a deep fryer, of course.

11-21: Baked Whitefish with Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses June 10, 2018November 24, 2020basil, bass, boneless, broiled, butter, catfish, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, cod, cooked shrimp, creamy, deboned, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, fish filets, flaked, flounder, gluten-free, grouper, haddock, herbs and spices, lemon juice, lemons, melted, milk, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, parsley, Provolone, rockfish, salad shrimp, salt, seafood, shellfish, shredded, shrimp, simmered, spice blends, trout, untested, whipping cream, whitefish

Here’s 11-21: Baked Whitefish with Shrimp—Simply Delicious is big on fish and cheese together. We’ve seen that combination already with 11-21: Best Ever Sole Au Gratin and 11-4: Calzone with Seafood.

You don’t see too many creamy, cheesy baked fish recipes these days, do you? 🤔

11-19: Oven-Baked Red Snapper

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses May 9, 2018July 7, 2020black pepper, bread crumbs, butter, capers, chopped, crispy, diced, dinner, easy, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish filets, fish stock, garlic, herbs and spices, panko, parsley, red snapper, roasted, rockfish, salt, seafood, sliced, tomatoes, toppings, untested, white bread, white wine, yellow onions

Looking for an easy weeknight dinner? 11-19: Oven-Baked Red Snapper will remind you of the all-too-familiar crunchy oven-baked chicken, but with a lighter fishy twist. If you find yourself with some fish filets (red snapper not required), give this one a try.

Another way to look at this: a more elegant presentation of fish sticks. 🐟

11-1: Steamed Halibut with Vermouth

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses January 18, 2018July 6, 2020blender, butter, creamy, crème fraîche, dinner, dry vermouth, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish filets, flaked, food processor, frozen, garnish, gluten-free, green bell peppers, halibut, lemon pepper, liquor, melted, red bell peppers, salmon, salt, seafood, seafood steak, sour cream, steamed, strained, sweet peas, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, white pepper, white wine

I had mentioned in 11-5: Lemon Pepper Scallops that we had a plan to cook more of the Fish/Seafood and Beef recipes since we had already gone through a good portion of the Chicken/Poultry, Pork, and Ground Meat/Sausage ones. Summer got busy, and not as many of those recipes got made as I had intended. I made 11-1: Steamed Halibut with Vermouth during those summer months but I never wrote about it until now (while I clear out the queue).

I’ll agree with the method of cooking being excellent: the fish component came out great. I’m not a huge pea or vermouth fan so the sauce was probably not one I would repeat, but it was a well-done sauce otherwise. Technique-wise I feel like it’s definitely one of Simply Delicious‘ stronger offerings–if you’re really into 1980s-style food.