ginger – Page 3 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

7-14: Easy-to-Make Pork Casserole

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses June 29, 2016June 18, 20204-92 week, almonds, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, boneless, butter, casserole, celery, chicken, chopped, cubed, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, ginger, green beans, green onions, ham, herbs and spices, Hutton house, lunch, melted, pork, pork shoulder, revisited, salt, sautéed, scallions, soy sauce, toasted, vegetables, yellow onions

I think Simply Delicious was aimed at the working-mom demographic primarily–a lot of the recipes focus on easy weeknight meals just as much as the fancy dinner party options. 7-14: Easy-to-Make Pork Casserole is a casserole in the sense of a casserole being a bunch of random stuff thrown together in a vessel and then heated.

Casseroles are typically defined as the traditional green bean or tuna types that we (by that I mean mostly Americans) associate with that word. This dish is a loose mixing of vegetables and pork cubes, and is honestly much more reminiscent of 7-55: Sunday Pork Stew than of “casserole”. My mom seemed to like it though, when she made it back in April of 1992.

6-11: Chinese Duck

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses May 31, 2016June 17, 2020Asian, black pepper, bone-in, brown sugar, cast-iron, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, Chinese, Chinese/dark soy sauce, dairy-free, deglazed, dinner, duck, Dutch oven, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, garlic, ginger, granulated sugar, grated, herbs and spices, honey, lemons, minced, pan-fried, parsley, simmered, soy sauce, untested

Here’s a first for me: I’ve never attempted to break down a duck before this recipe, 6-11: Chinese Duck. I’ve cooked with duck a handful of times, but this is definitely the most involved with it that I’ve ever gotten. There’s one more duck recipe in this book, so expect a return sometime in the future.

I found myself with a duck after my husband took a trip past a local butcher a few weeks ago, so I decided to take a stab at one of the two recipes in the book. I assumed this would be similar to the Chinese dish Peking duck, and in true Simply Delicious style, it doesn’t quite come as close as recipes today can get you.

9-33: Teriyaki Meat Loaf

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses April 27, 2016July 6, 2020Asian, beef, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, blender, bread crumbs, canola oil, celery, dairy-free, diced, dinner, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, food processor, garlic, ginger, grated, green bell peppers, ground beef, ground meat, loaf pan, lunch, meat thermometer, meatloaf, panko, party food, picnic, red bell peppers, sautéed, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sherry, soy sauce, tamari, tender-crisp, teriyaki sauce, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

It’s taken me a while to think of something original to say about 9-33: Teriyaki Meat Loaf. Neither component is revolutionary at this point–there’s not too many people left in 2016 that are unaware of either concept, and Asian fusion is nowhere near a new culinary trend. There’s a million versions out there–here’s just a few. I’ve even already covered meatloaf on here before–9-28: Stuffed Meat Loaf.

Simply Delicious’ version of teriyaki is pretty close–usually it’s composed of soy sauce, mirin, and ginger. It was probably more difficult to source mirin in the 1980s, so they used sherry instead. Anyway, after the jump you can read about yet another way to do meat loaf.

12-22: Nasi Goreng

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses December 1, 2015July 28, 2020amchur powder, Asian, bean sprouts, canola oil, cashews, chili powder, chutney, coconut, condiments, crushed red pepper, curry powder, dairy-free, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, fish sauce, fried, galangal, garlic, garlic powder, ginger, granulated sugar, ham, Indian, Indonesian, inexpensive, julienned, lunch, omelette, pan-fried, paprika, pineapple, rice, salt, sautéed, scrambled, shredded, sliced, soy sauce, spice blends, spicy, Tabasco sauce, Thai, untested, yellow onions

Here’s something a bit different from the Pasta and Rice chapter. Simply Delicious has a lot of international recipes, some more authentic than others. 12-22: Nasi Goreng is a take on a popular Indonesian fried rice dish, a sweeter and spicier variation of the ubiquitous Chinese take-out version.

This recipe doesn’t give you much in the way of creating Nasi Goreng spices if you don’t have access to or want to use a premixed blend. After the jump, I’ll include a Nasi Goreng spice blend I used and a link to the book from which I pulled it.

19-11: Dried Herbs and Spices II

Jamie Martin Group 19: Basic Ingredients, Section 4: Cooking School November 22, 2015October 18, 2020cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, dried herbs, dried spices, fennel, five-spice powder, ginger, herbs and spices, how-to, mace, nutmeg, spice blends, vanilla bean, vanilla extract

Here’s the second part to this miniseries–this entry complements 19-10: Dried Herbs & Spices I, which came out a bit before this one. These are part of Simply Delicious’ Cooking School, which makes up the last 3 chapters of the book series.

Here’s some advice from Simply Delicious on how to buy & store spices. Don’t feel like you have to have a crazy, in-depth rack with obscure spices no one’s heard of. At least, not right away.

After the jump, I’ll share some more recipes from this project that make use of some of these recommended spices, and I’ll even let you see a glimpse or two of my spice collection.

17-53: Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods November 19, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, allspice, autumn, baked goods, baking powder, breakfast, canola oil, cinnamon, cocoa powder, dates, dessert, dried fruit, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, fall, gift ideas, ginger, granulated sugar, mace, milk, muffins, nutmeg, nuts, pumpkin spice, raisins, salt, snacks, spice blends, unsweetened, untested, vegetable oil, vegetarian, whole wheat flour

Another recipe that I intended to cover earlier (when it was more relevant). Whatever, you can totally still eat 17-53: Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins in mid-to-late November.

The recipe card says “not-too-sweet”…they’re not kidding. These are good, but only if you have some preserves or butter to go along with it. On their own, they’re a bit…dry.

17-36: Grandma’s Spice Cake

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods September 13, 2015September 13, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, breakfast, brown sugar, butter, cakes, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cranberries, creamed, dessert, dried spices, easy, eggs, gift ideas, ginger, grandma, granulated sugar, inexpensive, jam/jelly/preserves, loaf pan, melted, snacks, sour cream, untested, vegetarian, whipping cream

I don’t know about you, but my grandma is not much of a baker. Or a cook. In fact, if it can’t be cooked in a microwave, she’s really not that interested. However, someone at Simply Delicious must have had a grandma who liked to bake, since they included 17-36: Grandma’s Spice Cake.

I suppose they called it Grandma’s Spice Cake because it’s “old-fashioned”. Regardless of if an actual grandma baked/created this, it’s actually pretty good.