herbs and spices – Page 6 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

11-5: Lemon Pepper Scallops

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses August 11, 2017July 6, 2020bay scallops, black pepper, boiled, bread crumbs, broiled, butter, butter sauce, casserole, deglazed, dinner, easy, fairly expensive, garlic, glazed, herbs and spices, lemon juice, lemon pepper, lunch, melted, minced, pan-fried, panko, parsley, pasta/noodles, poached, red bell peppers, reduced, sautéed, scallops, seared, simmered, tender-crisp, untested, vegetables, white wine, yellow bell peppers

Hey, y’all. Took a month or two off (I need SOME sort of summer vacation now that I’m not a teacher anymore), but as I’ve said before, I’m not going to let this die. Even though I haven’t been actively writing and publishing, I’ve still been cooking and photographing–I’ll get caught up here soon. Thanks for sticking around. 🙂

Here’s one I cooked a little while ago, but never finished writing–11-5: Lemon Pepper Scallops. My husband Adam LOVES seafood and at the start of this summer, we had decided we were going to try to knock out more of the Fish and Beef chapters of the book over the warm months. I can’t say that vow has worked out (I don’t think any of the ones in the queue are either one of those), but here’s a vestige of what was to be.

I’m gonna tell you right now–I can do a LOT of things in the kitchen, but poaching is my white whale. I always have a REALLY hard time with it (see 5-4: Eggs Benedict for an example of that), and I’ve yet to conquer it. Practice makes perfect, but to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of poached seafood anyway (very 1980s). I think for this one, I’m going to use a more flavorful searing technique, which I have less of a chance of screwing up (hey, scallops ain’t cheap).

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.

9-19: Meatballs on Skewers

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 7, 2017October 19, 2020allspice, almonds, appetizers, beef, broiled, chilled, chopped, cinnamon, cornstarch, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fairly easy, gluten-free, grated, Greek, grill pan, grilled, ground beef, ground lamb, ground meat, ground veal, herbs and spices, inexpensive, kebabs, lamb, lemons, lunch, meatballs, Middle Eastern, mint, nuts, olive oil, pan-fried, party food, peeled, salt, sautéed, skewered, tzatziki sauce, untested, veal, yellow onions, yogurt, zested

Gyro is probably my favorite preparation method of ground meat, so when I saw this recipe, I got very excited. This recipe, 9-19: Meatballs on Skewers is basically the same recipe as gyro, just served differently. However, I wish I had just bought a container of tzatziki at the store instead of making the yogurt sauce.

The rabbit handle piece on the end of the skewer in the example photo is simply incredible. I’ve never seen a set of skewers quite like that. It looks like the other skewers have other animal handles, I think I see a cat and a chicken on the other skewers that are slightly obscured by the meatballs. The serving dish is very neat, I’d like to add one to my collection.

20-15: Vary the Butter Sauces

Jamie Martin Group 20: Basic Recipes, Section 4: Cooking School June 5, 2017October 18, 2020appetizers, Béarnaise sauce, black pepper, breakfast, butter, butter sauce, chopped, cookbook project, cooking school, creamy, deglazed, dinner, double boiler, dried herbs, egg yolks, eggs, fish bouillon, fish sauce, fish stock, food processor, Foyot sauce, French, gluten-free, gravy, herbes de Provence, herbs and spices, Hollandaise sauce, lemon juice, lunch, Maltaise sauce, melted, minced, mounted, Mousseline sauce, orange juice, oranges, parsley, party food, peeled, peppercorns, purée, reduced, salt, shallots, side dish, tarragon, tomato paste, tomatoes, untested, vegetarian, vinegar, whipped, whipping cream, white wine, white wine vinegar, zested

Consider 20-15: Vary the Butter Sauces to be the advanced version of 20-13: Béarnaise and Hollandaise Sauces. There’s probably something that bridges the two better (whatever 20-14 is, but I don’t have that card in my collection), so 5-4: Eggs Benedict will have to do. This set of recipes is part of the Cooking School, the back section of Simply Delicious that provides instructions in basic techniques, ingredients, and recipes that any skilled cook should be familiar with.

Like I said in 20-13: Béarnaise and Hollandaise Sauces, Hollandaise and its variations comprise one of the five mother sauces, a big part of French cuisine. Mastering it (and the others) is one of the marks of an accomplished and talented chef. I’ve always appreciated a well-made butter sauce, and these variations are intriguing–I’d be interested in eventually trying each one out.

20-13: Béarnaise and Hollandaise Sauces

Jamie Martin Group 20: Basic Recipes, Section 4: Cooking School June 3, 2017October 18, 20204-6-09 dinner, appetizers, Béarnaise sauce, black pepper, breakfast, butter, butter sauce, chopped, cooking school, creamy, dinner, double boiler, egg yolks, eggs, fail, food processor, French, gluten-free, herbs and spices, Hollandaise sauce, lemon juice, lunch, melted, minced, mounted, parsley, party food, peppercorns, ranch house, reduced, revisited, salt, shallots, side dish, tarragon, vegetarian, vinegar, white wine vinegar

It took over 3 years and almost 300 entries, but I’ve finally cracked the final untouched category of Simply Delicious–the very last one, Group 20: Basic Recipes. These are part of the Cooking School segment in the back of the book, teaching you basic techniques, ingredients, and recipes that you’ll need to be an experienced cook. This recipe, 20-13: Béarnaise and Hollandaise Sauces covers the basics of butter sauces, which you can expand upon with 20-15: Vary the Butter Sauces.

Hollandaise is one of the five mother sauces, a big part of French cuisine. Mastering it (and the others) is one of the marks of an accomplished and talented chef. I’ve been cooking for a long time and I’m still working on mastering this one.

3-9: Mexican Chicken Soup

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 27, 2017October 4, 2020bay leaves, black pepper, boiled, carrots, celery, chicken, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chili peppers, chili powder, chopped, cooked chicken, crushed red pepper, crushed tomatoes, deboned, diced, easy, egg-free, garlic, gluten-free, herbs and spices, inexpensive, leeks, lunch, Mexican, nuts, paprika, peanuts, peeled, peppercorns, potatoes, red bell peppers, salt, sliced, soups, spice blends, Tex-Mex, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

Chicken soup is always good on a day when you are feeling sick. I made 3-9: Mexican Chicken Soup on a really hot day, basically the worst type of day to make chicken soup. I was able to freeze and store all of this soup for future meals. Later on in the week that I made this soup, I caught a nasty cold and having a stockpile of chicken soup really helped me feel better.

The spice mixture is the only part of this soup that is remotely Mexican.

Editor’s note: Simply Delicious has another “Mexican” soup–check out 3-15: Quick Mexican Soup if you want what is essentially a ground-beef version of this soup.

1-37: Savory Cheese Appetizers

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 26, 2017August 5, 2020appetizers, blender, blue cheese, buttermilk, cayenne pepper, cheese, chives, cream cheese, creamy, crème fraîche, dips, easy, food processor, fruit, garnish, Gorgonzola, grapes, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, paprika, parsley, party food, radishes, salt, savory, sherry, sliced, snacks, sour cream, untested, vegetarian, white bread

We can pretend that 1-37: Savory Cheese Appetizers is something fancy and unique, but it’s really just a blue cheese spread on squares of white bread. If you like blue cheese, I suppose this could be an exciting concept–the 1980s were big on both blue cheese and dips (which this recipe can double as).

Simply Delicious has a lot of blue cheese-related recipes–a few I covered just recently include 5-20: Golden Cheese Tartlettes and 1-20: Prosciutto Appetizers. After making all three of these essentially back-to-back, I’m a little burned out on blue cheese for a while.

6-10: Savory Chicken Wings

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses May 21, 2017October 14, 2020American, appetizers, black pepper, bread crumbs, breaded, butter, canola oil, chicken, chili sauce, chopped, coated, creamy, crème fraîche, deep-fried, diced, dinner, dips, dredged, dried herbs, eggs, fairly easy, fried, fried chicken, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, inexpensive, lunch, melted, pan-fried, panko, parsley, party food, piquant, red bell peppers, salt, savory, snacks, sour cream, sriracha, untested, white bread, wings, yellow onions

“Chicken wings are a longtime American favorite.” Truer words have never been written, editor of Simply Delicious. To complement another recent wing recipe that Jamie made (1-1: Orange-Glazed Chicken Wings), here’s 6-10: Savory Chicken Wings.

I love having chicken wings as both an appetizer and a snack. The editor of Simply Delicious know me too well.

17-39: Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 20, 2017September 20, 20204-6-09 dinner, all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, basil, biscuit cutters, biscuits, butter, buttermilk, cookie cutters, cut in, Dijon mustard, dough, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, flute, green onions, herb salt, herbs and spices, inexpensive, minced, parchment paper, parsley, ranch house, revisited, salt, scallions, shortening, side dish, Silpat, snacks, vegetarian

If you’re looking for a relatively easy homemade buttermilk biscuit recipe, 17-39: Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits isn’t a bad choice. I made these once before for a dinner I made about 8 years ago. I remember thinking they were very bland as written–hence my notes written on the front and back about adding more salt. After following my own suggestions this time around, they’re much improved.

I didn’t make these for any particular dinner or reason this time around, but they still made decent snacks and accompaniments to meals throughout the week.

2-23: Grilled Chicken Salad

Adam Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 8, 2017October 4, 2020balsamic vinegar, black olives, black pepper, boneless, breasts, broiled, brushed, chicken, cilantro, dairy-free, Dijon mustard, dinner, dressing, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, gluten-free, green onions, grill pan, grilled, herbs and spices, iceberg lettuce, inexpensive, lemon juice, lettuce, lunch, marinated, minced, mushrooms, olive oil, radicchio, red bell peppers, red wine vinegar, Romaine lettuce, salads, salt, sliced, spinach, Tabasco sauce, thighs, tomatoes, untested, vegetables

Who doesn’t love a simple salad? The editors of Simply Delicious knocked one out of the park with 2-23: Grilled Chicken Salad. Combining fresh vegetables with nicely cooked chicken is an easy method for creating a killer salad. My final product didn’t look much like the photo below, but the flavor is totally on point.

I love the bowl of strawberries and fresh baked biscuits behind the salad in the product photo.