garnish – Page 2 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

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.

15-34: White Chocolate Strawberry Soufflé

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 31, 2021December 31, 2021boiled, chilled, cold desserts, dessert, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, folded, food processor, fruit, garnish, gelatin, gluten-free, granulated sugar, individual, meringue, mint, party food, purée, sliced, soufflés, stand mixer, stiff peaks, strawberries, temper, untested, vanilla chips, vanilla extract, wax paper, whipped, whipping cream, white chocolate

Happy New Years’ Eve! 2021 has not been my favorite year (probably not yours either), and so I’m not sad to see it go–in fact, we’re going to celebrate its departure with a holiday-ish dessert today: 15-34: White Chocolate Strawberry Soufflé. This soufflé is not baked, but does include meringue being folded in. I’m not sure if that makes it “not a soufflé,” but at this point, does it matter?

“Dramatic” is definitely a good way to describe this past year, so perhaps this is the perfect dessert/recipe for today. However your 2021 has been, I hope that 2022 is a safe and prosperous year for you and yours.🎇

Now–let’s get off the heavy stuff and into something much lighter–discussion of this “soufflé”.

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.

9-8: Mushroom Beef Patties

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses November 29, 2021December 30, 2021all-purpose flour, beef, black pepper, burgers, butter, chopped, cornstarch, dinner, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, garnish, green onions, ground beef, ground meat, half-and-half, lunch, meal prep, melted, mushrooms, new book, parsley, roux, salt, sautéed, sliced, untested, yellow onions

I’ve done quite a few recipes lately that include mushrooms, and now we’re doing one that expressly features them: 9-8: Mushroom Beef Patties. Simply Delicious also has several “patty” recipes, and now here’s one with mushrooms. I know–really pushing the culinary envelope here with both mushrooms AND beef patties.

I had mentioned in my last Group 09 entry (9-23: Fruity Sausage Kebabs) that I believed that I had run out of recipes for this section. HOWEVER, after I obtained the NEW book, I was able to squeeze out at least one more for you. There’s still another one hanging out in the queue (9-11: Stuffed Peppers), so we’re not quite done with it yet.

11-17: Sole Fillets in White Wine Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses November 4, 2021November 3, 2021black pepper, boiled, butter, chopped, crab, dill, dinner, expensive, fairly easy, fish, fish bouillon, fish filets, fish stock, garnish, lemon juice, lemons, lobster, mounted, mushrooms, new book, party food, reduced, salt, sautéed, seafood, shallots, shellfish, shrimp, sole, steamed, untested, whipping cream, white wine, whitefish, yellow onions

Simply Delicious likes to try to mix it up with the types of fish recipes they offer, but a lot of them can actually use the same types of fish interchangeably. I made 11-25: Best Ever Sole Au Gratin with the recommended sole, but I also made 11-13: Flounder with Sauteed Vegetables with sole as well. 11-17: Sole Fillets with White Wine Sauce is a new one to add to the list (it’s even from the NEW book), and looks just as fantastically 1980s as the rest of them.

Simply Delicious claims this “elegant and luscious fish dish” could be the makings of a global phenomenon–big, if true. Wouldn’t be the first time something ocean-related took the world by storm.

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.

15-14: Knickerbocker Glory

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 28, 2021June 28, 20214th of July, American, chilled, chopped, cocktail, cold desserts, dessert, dollop, easy, fairly inexpensive, frozen, fruit, garnish, gluten-free, ice cream, maraschino cherries, mason jars, New York, nuts, powdered sugar, purée, raspberries, raspberry sauce, sorbet, stiff peaks, summer, sundaes, toppings, untested, vegetarian, walnuts, whipped, whipping cream

Hi there–it’s been a while, but things got busy recently. Here’s one that’s been half-finished in my draft queue for way too long.

We got onto a “ridiculous desserts” kick recently, and made 15-14: Knickerbocker Glory along with its similar cousin, 15-7: Banana Split. If you’re still holding off on going out somewhere for ice cream, either one of these are pretty easy to make at home and are definitely ridiculous. Not quite on the level of “cake hanging off of a milkshake for Instagram“, but also definitely not something you’d eat very often.

“Knickerbocker glory” is a real thing that Simply Delicious didn’t just make up, and has been around for about a hundred years at this point. They were allegedly invented in the US (at the Knickerbocker Hotel), but seem to be a much bigger deal in the UK these days than they are here. They’re even mentioned in Harry Potter!

Since Independence Day is just around the corner, maybe you can make these as an “American” summer treat–especially if it’s super hot where you are right now.

16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 24, 2020December 28, 2020all-purpose flour, butter, cakes, chilled, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Eve, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, dough, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, fruit, garnish, glazed, granulated sugar, layers, melted, parchment paper, party food, powdered sugar, raspberries, revisited, semisweet, stiff peaks, tart, TGV 2019, Thanksgiving, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream, XMAS 08

I had a goal to finish all the ones I cooked in 2019 by the end of 2020…not sure if I’ll meet that goal (EDIT: I did!), but here’s one more from last year: 16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart. Not only is this from last Thanksgiving (along with 6-42: Turkey Pot Roast and 17-15: Cream Puffs), but I also made a version of it as part of a fancy Christmas dinner 12 years ago (XMAS 08) as well. Since today is Christmas Eve, I think it’s a good day to tell you about it.

When I made this back in ’08, I made 6 individual tarts instead of one big one–I was afraid it would look weird once I cut it, so I thought individual servings would look better. I had been watching a LOT of Top Chef at that point (and still do, but that’s the ONLY cooking show I’ll watch).

Since I had a few of the same guests attending as that Christmas dinner back in ’08 (and the same number), I decided to make the same modification this time. Usually I will reverse modifications when I recook recipes I’ve already done to try to honor the “original” recipe, but this time I decided to stick with it.

16-16: Chocolate-Frosted Nut Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 4, 2020December 3, 2020all-purpose flour, baking powder, butter, cakes, chocolate, cocoa powder, dessert, egg whites, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, frosted, frosting, garnish, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grind, hazelnuts, melted, meringue, nuts, peeled, powdered sugar, stand mixer, stiff peaks, toasted, unsweetened, vegetarian, wax paper, whipping cream

Think of 16-16: Chocolate-Frosted Nut Cake like a Nutella cake–same flavor profile (chocolate and hazelnuts), and maybe even somewhat healthier?

This is a pretty simple cake–it’s just one layer, and all you have to do is frost and garnish it. Or you can do it like me and make little individual cakes instead.

14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 1, 2020December 1, 2020broiled, brown sugar, chocolate, dessert, dollop, easy, fairly inexpensive, fruit, garnish, ginger, Grand Marnier, granulated sugar, grapes, hot desserts, liqueur, mint, pears, poached, untested, walnuts, whipping cream

In case you hadn’t had your fill of weird pear desserts with 15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping and 14-21: Pear Pandowdy, I have a third one for you: 14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate. To add to the weirdness, even Food Network considers this a recipe.

It does look nice, but I don’t know about the taste claims. Is it the pear that they think makes this taste so good, or the mint chocolate/whipped cream/liqueur?