lunch – Page 22 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

12-2: Rice and Vegetable Bake

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses April 8, 2016July 27, 2020black pepper, bundt, butter, celery, cooked chicken, cooked rice, diced, dinner, easy, eggs, gluten-free, half-and-half, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, nutmeg, nuts, pared, parsley, pecans, red bell peppers, rice, salt, sausage, side dish, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, walnuts, yellow onions

I’ve done over 100 recipes for this project so far, and I’m about a week shy of working on it for 2 years. Most of those recipes weren’t bad. Maybe not repeats, but not too many of them stick out as YUCK in my mind…until now. I did NOT like 12-2: Rice and Vegetable Bake, but maybe that’s just me–I can admit that I’m weird about certain textures and flavors.

Simply Delicious describes this dish as “colorful” and “nutritious”, which is 1980s code for “bland diet/health food that nobody really likes but can tolerate to varying degrees”. Having had too much of this kind of stuff forced upon me throughout my parents’ yo-yo dieting phases, the mere notion sends a shiver down my spine.

Onward, for science. 💀

7-34: Grilled Pork Slices with Garlic

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses March 30, 2016June 18, 2020barbecue, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, blanched, boneless, broiled, canola oil, deglazed, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, grated, grilled, lemons, lunch, melted, olive oil, party food, pork, pork loin, salt, sautéed, untested, vegetable oil, zested

Since the last entry was a garlic & beef entry (8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping), here’s another garlic recipe for you, this time with pork: 7-34: Grilled Pork Slices with Garlic. I used a cast-iron grill pan for this, but you could use a BBQ or even just do a pan-sear if that’s what you’ve got.

This is some serious garlic game–whole cloves, in fact. But they’re right–blanching them does make them pretty mild and yummy. If you’re willing to risk some garlic breath, this recipe is a pretty decent one to check out.

1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 12, 2016December 31, 2019appetizers, breakfast, butter, chanterelle, chives, creamy, diced, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, fried, garlic, Glendale apt, green onions, hors d'oeuvres, lunch, melted, minced, mushrooms, pan-fried, parsley, party food, revisited, salt, sautéed, snacks, sour cream, thyme, toasted, vegetables, vegetarian, white bread, yellow onions

Well folks, this is the 100th cooked recipe I’ve made for this project, which is just shy of 2 years old at this point. I chose 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms to be the 100th recipe for a reason–it was one of two recipes (along with 1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip) that inspired me to do this project in the first place.

I made this for a birthday party I’ve mentioned before along with 1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks and 16-37: Double Decadent Brownie Torte. It’s a great appetizer and a delicious snack.

7-5: Spareribs

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses March 11, 2016June 18, 2020appetizers, barbecue, black pepper, brown sugar, brushed, canola oil, chili sauce, diced, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, lemons, lunch, minced, paprika, party food, pork, ribs, roasted, salt, spareribs, untested, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, yellow onions

There’s a couple of rib recipes in Simply Delicious, but this one’s probably the most basic. It’s still a bit too cold out to BBQ, but 7-5: Spareribs gives you a pretty decent oven method of cooking ribs. As is usually the case, the inspiration for these came from needing room in my freezer after picking ribs up on sale somewhere a month or two ago.

Simply Delicious seems to echo my sentiments. However, their choice of the creepy pig doll for the recipe picture was less than optimal. Anyway, this is pretty easy to do, not that hard to clean up, and works pretty well. Sounds like a winner to me.

17-6: Best Ever White Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 9, 2016August 23, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, baked goods, breads, breakfast, dairy-free, durum wheat flour, egg-free, gift ideas, kneaded, lunch, party food, proofed, revisited, salt, side dish, slit, snacks, steamed, vegan, vegetarian, white bread, yeast

Here’s a really simple and easy white bread recipe if you find yourself in need or want of fresh white bread. 17-6: Best Ever White Bread doesn’t have a lot to it, but if you want to use it for something like 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms, it works really well.

I made this particular recipe once before, a little under a year ago according to the red Sharpie notes on the card. I was working on this project then, but had taken a bit of a break at that point. I had been making a lot of bread at the restaurant at this point and was doing a bit of practice at home using what I had learned.

5-21: Omelette with Herbs

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 7, 2016October 14, 2020Alton Brown, black pepper, breakfast, butter, chervil, chives, dried herbs, easy, eggs, folded, French, gluten-free, green onions, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, omelette, parsley, salt, Saturday, Sunday, tarragon, untested, vegetarian

A few weekends ago, on a sleepy Saturday morning, I found myself with many eggs, some fresh parsley, and a desire for an omelette. Since I’m now at the point that every time I cook, I consider whether I could use up a Simply Delicious recipe on it, I knew there had to be a true omelette recipe in there, given their heavy reliance on French fine-dining recipes & methods. If you find yourself in a similar predicament, consider making 5-21: Omelette with Herbs.

Simply Delicious shows the half-fold omelette method in their pictures–I’ve always preferred the Alton Brown tri-fold omelette method. This is a truly classic French-style omelette, unlike the last omelette I covered (and messed up), 5-11: Country Omelette.

6-49: Cheese-Glazed Chicken Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses March 6, 2016June 18, 2020black pepper, boneless, bread crumbs, breasts, butter, cheese, chicken, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, garlic salt, glazed, grated, lunch, melted, Monterey Jack, oregano, panko, Parmesan, parsley, party food, rolls, salt, stuffed, tenderized, twice-baked, untested

I had mentioned in 6-35: Chicken Diable that I had another recipe that I needed to save some of the chicken breasts for–6-49: Cheese-Glazed Chicken Rolls was it. I don’t usually keep chicken breasts around (I think they’re dry and not particularly flavorful), so when I do have them, it’s best to try to knock out as many recipes as possible.

Simply Delicious has a lot of variations of “light chicken breast dinners”–it was the 1980s. If you’re interested in some of these, check out 6-4: Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts, the aforementioned 6-35: Chicken Diable, or 6-40: Peppercorn Chicken Breasts.

9-22: Meat Pie

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses March 5, 2016July 6, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, black pepper, bread crumbs, brown sugar, butter, caramelized, chilled, cookie cutters, cut in, decorative, dinner, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, flute, French, garlic, gift ideas, ground beef, ground meat, ground pork, ground turkey, lunch, melted, milk, mushrooms, nutmeg, panko, pared, parsley, party food, pastry, pie crust, pies, pot pie, revisited, roach motel apt, salt, sautéed, sun-dried tomatoes, vegetables, Worcestershire sauce, yellow onions

Meat pies have been around for a LONG time (like 9500 BCE old, according to Wikipedia). They cross a lot of cultures and are featured in some fashion in most cuisines (even if they look somewhat different–for example, empanadas, lahmacun, and samosas all are meat/pastry combinations from varied places). 9-22: Meat Pie is probably closest to the French Canadian tradition of meat pies, otherwise known as tourtière.

This one’s got some of my old notes on it–I’ve made this one before, about 6-7 years ago for my friend’s birthday party (the same friend from the 80s party in 1-22: Onion-Potato Diamonds). It was a “pie party” because he was (at the time) obsessed with the Keri Russell movie Waitress, which apparently has something to do with a lot of pies.

I made some adjustments to the recipe the first time (you can see those listed on the side), but this time, we’re going legit.

6-35: Chicken Diable

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses March 5, 2016June 18, 2020black pepper, boiled, boneless, bread crumbs, breasts, broiled, butter, cayenne pepper, cheese, chicken, chicken bouillon, coated, cornstarch, crispy, Dijon mustard, dinner, dredged, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, French, grated, lunch, melted, olive oil, panko, Parmesan, parsley, salt, shallots, sifted, simmered, slurry, tarragon, tarragon vinegar, tenderized, untested, vinegar, white pepper, white wine

Here’s a pretty basic “chicken with sauce” type recipe that can be fancy or not-so-fancy. “Chicken Diable” or “Chicken a la Diable”, as evidenced by the name, is essentially “the Devil’s chicken”, evoking images of spices and fire. 🌶 🔥 As Serious Eats notes in their version of the dish, the French have a very different idea of spiciness than some other cultures.

Everyone’s got their version of this dish–here’s Bon Appetit’s, and Google turns up many more results. Whether it’s actually spicy is up to you–if you actually like things spicy, prepare to have to add some heat to this one.

12-9: Pasta with Salmon and Basil

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses February 29, 2016July 27, 2020al dente, all-purpose flour, basil, black pepper, blanched, boiled, butter, canola oil, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, half-and-half, lunch, melted, milk, pan-fried, pasta/noodles, roux, salmon, salt, sautéed, smoked salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, tomatoes, untested

Another recipe attempt born of Costco sale inspiration and brought down by too much time between buying stuff and using it up. I did my best with 12-9: Pasta with Salmon and Basil, but I probably didn’t do it justice.

This was the only recipe in Simply Delicious that I could find that used salmon filets, not steaks. I somehow had it in my head that there were several recipes that used salmon, and so was disappointed to find that this was the only one that I was going to knock out, despite now having a few pounds of salmon.