Italian – Page 3 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

4-34: Italian Roasted Vegetables

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 14, 2016October 13, 2020appetizers, asparagus, black pepper, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, corn, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, eggplant, favorites, gluten-free, green beans, green bell peppers, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, Hutton house, inexpensive, Italian, lunch, mushrooms, olive oil, pared, party food, red bell peppers, revisited, roasted, Rozie house, salt, side dish, snacks, tender-crisp, Thanksgiving, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow bell peppers, zucchini

This one’s short and sweet. I’ve made 4-34: Italian Roasted Vegetables a few times before, once as part of a big dinner party I cooked for when I was about 13 (6-22: Crispy Chicken Drumsticks and 9-20: Meat Roly-Poly were part of that as well) and Thanksgiving 2000 based on my mother’s notations on the back of the card. I know I’ve used the concept multiple times in other instances, even if I wasn’t following this exact recipe.

This is more a method than a particular recipe–you can use pretty much whatever vegetables you want with this one. Now’s a perfect time for this recipe–farmer’s markets are open and there’s lots of good stuff out there to roast. 🔥

3-20: Italian Tomato Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 25, 2016March 14, 2020alphabet, appetizers, basil, bay leaves, blanched, boiled, chili sauce, creamy, crushed tomatoes, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, garlic, herb salt, herbs and spices, inexpensive, Italian, lunch, olive oil, pared, parsley, pasta/noodles, salt, sautéed, simmered, soups, tomatoes, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, whole wheat flour, yellow onions

It’s been a while since I’ve covered something out of Group 03: Soups on here–the last one was 3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder back in January. 3-20: Italian Tomato Soup is pretty simple when it comes to ingredients…and flavor. I ended up inadvertently turning my batch into what was essentially Spaghetti-Os, but even that wasn’t terrible.

This soup is pretty basic–Simply Delicious has you add a bit of cream to make it more of a bisque-type tomato soup. If it’s not tomato season, no worries–you can make this with canned tomatoes too. 🍅

4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 29, 2016October 13, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, asparagus, black pepper, blanched, boiled, butter, butter sauce, chervil, chives, creamy, dinner, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, herbs and spices, Italian, Italian parsley, melted, milk, mounted, parsley, roux, salt, sautéed, side dish, spring, steamed, tarragon, tender-crisp, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions

Late March/early April is right around the time asparagus begins its short season, so if you happen to find yourself with some in the near future, here’s a recipe for you: 4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce. I served this as a side dish along with 8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping.

There’s such a short window of time when asparagus is in season–you start seeing it around March-April, and it’s done around early summer, in June-July. We’ve recently signed back up for our CSA box after a break, and asparagus was waiting for us in the first one.

19-13: Cooking with Cheese

Jamie Martin Group 19: Basic Ingredients, Section 4: Cooking School March 5, 2016October 18, 2020blue cheese, Brie, cheese, cooking school, cottage cheese, Feta, French, goat cheese, Gorgonzola, Greek, how-to, Italian, Jarlsberg, Parmesan, Swiss

There’s a lot of recipes in Simply Delicious that use cheese–all different types. While by no means an exhaustive list, 19-13: Cooking with Cheese goes over a few different types that you’ll probably encounter in your own culinary adventures. This is part of the last section of the book, a Cooking School compendium of basic culinary reference material.

Cheese might not be a big part of your diet, but it’s always been a big part of mine (for better or worse–what can I say, my maternal grandparents were Swedish and French and lived in the Midwest USA). After the jump, read more about some common types of cooking cheese.

11-4: Calzone with Seafood

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses February 25, 2016July 7, 2020all-purpose flour, calzone, caramelized, cheese, crab, diced, dinner, dough, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, garlic, Italian, kneaded, krab, lunch, melted, minced, Mozzarella, mussels, olive oil, oregano, pared, pizza, proofed, salt, sautéed, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, stuffed, untested, vegetables, yeast, yellow onions

Here’s one from the Fish & Seafood chapter, which I haven’t delved into for awhile. 11-4: Calzone with Seafood sounds rather strange on paper, and was in fact strange in reality. If you’re picturing a pizza-like calzone with tomato sauce…think again.

If you’ve come here from a search engine looking for a good seafood calzone recipe (which apparently a lot of you do), here’s the TL;DR–the crust and overall cooking method are decent on this recipe, but be prepared to come up with your own fillings. Oh, and if you’re wondering what the heck this site is, read this.

They’ll mention later that the dough is really what they want you to get out of this recipe–the filling is a variable. Knowing that now (after I followed their suggestions), I would have definitely made some adjustments.

12-11: Italian Macaroni and Cheese

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses November 21, 2015July 27, 2020al dente, black pepper, boiled, carrots, Cheddar, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, cooked chicken, dinner, fairly easy, grated, half-and-half, ham, inexpensive, Italian, julienned, layers, lunch, macaroni, Parmesan, party food, pasta/noodles, quiche lorraine, salt, shredded, smoked ham, untested

Before you make up your mind on 12-11: Italian Macaroni & Cheese, I must let you know that it is not what you are expecting. If you are envisioning just another creamy cheesy béchamel-based sauce, this is NOT that.

This has ham in it and NO cheese in the sauce. All the cheese is on top. The noodles are suspended in a cream and egg base similar to a quiche filling. Jump behind the cut and see what this wacky mac & cheese is all about.

4-30: Cheese-Stuffed Potato Croquettes

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 13, 2014April 14, 2022appetizers, black pepper, boiled, bread crumbs, breaded, canola oil, cheese, chicken fat, crispy, deep fryer, deep-fried, dinner, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fail, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fried, hors d'oeuvres, Italian, lunch, mashed potatoes, Mozzarella, pan-fried, panko, Parmesan, potatoes, rendered, side dish, snacks, sticks, string cheese, stuffed, tomato sauce, untested, vegetarian

This one…was challenging. And it seemed so simple! 4-30: Cheese-Stuffed Potato Croquettes are essentially mozzarella sticks with a mashed potato/panko coating. These turned from a quick snack into a multi-day attempt.

Now, before I scare you off this recipe: it was 100% my fault it went south. I tried to improvise in several places, and it proved to be my downfall each time. Sometimes you can take liberties, and sometimes you can’t.

Here’s how you learn those lessons.

7-50: Parma Schnitzel

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses October 7, 2014June 19, 2020all-purpose flour, basil, black pepper, bread crumbs, breaded, butter, coated, crushed tomatoes, dinner, dredged, dried herbs, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, fried, ham, Italian, lunch, oregano, pan-fried, paprika, Parmesan, pork, pork loin, pork shoulder, reduced, salt, schnitzel, tenderized, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, white bread, yellow onions

Schnitzel has been a favorite of mine ever since I went on a trip with my family to Israel when I was 13 (I chose that instead of the party–I never say no to a chance to travel, especially abroad). Obviously, they didn’t serve a lot of pork schnitzel there, but 7-50: Parma Schnitzel is a good version all the same.

This is a quasi-Italian-style schnitzel, which according to Wikipedia, is one of the few countries that schnitzel is not a cuisine of. Well, this one’s good anyway.

13-10: Zucchini Piccata

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses October 4, 2014July 30, 2020appetizers, basil, black olives, black pepper, boiled, bread crumbs, breaded, capers, coated, crispy, crushed tomatoes, deep fryer, deep-fried, dinner, dredged, dried herbs, easy, eggs, inexpensive, Italian, lunch, olive oil, pan-fried, Parmesan, piccata, red onions, reduced, salt, side dish, simmered, snacks, summer, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, zucchini

If you still have any zucchini or tomatoes lying around from a late summer harvest, this is a great vegetarian recipe with which to use those up. 🍅

Also note the new background: my first entry from my new (hopefully somewhat permanent) kitchen. 🙂

I styled mine in more of a fried zucchini-appetizer way, but the casserole way works too.

12-1: Lasagna

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses October 3, 2014July 27, 2020all-purpose flour, basil, Béchamel sauce, beef bouillon, black pepper, butter, cheese sauce, creamy, crushed tomatoes, dinner, dried herbs, fairly easy, garlic, ground beef, ground meat, ground turkey, inexpensive, Italian, lasagna, lunch, meat sauce, melted, milk, minced, Mozzarella, nutmeg, pasta/noodles, roux, salt, sausage, sautéed, simmered, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, yellow onions

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t had lasagna before. It’s not very difficult to make, but often very time-consuming. The first entry in the Pasta & Rice section is the old standby: 12-1: Lasagna.

This version is different than what I’m used to making: it uses a cheese sauce (similar to a béchamel) in place of a ricotta/egg mixture. It was good, but I think I’d choose the ricotta/egg mixture in terms of what I think of when I think of “lasagna”.