lunch – Page 9 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

3-19: Soupe Saint Germain

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 31, 2017October 4, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, blender, boiled, butter, champagne, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fail, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, food processor, French, frozen, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, horseradish, lunch, milk, mounted, Prosecco, purée, roux, sage, salt, soups, sour cream, sparkling, sweet peas, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetarian, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions

Working on the Simply Delicious Cookbook Project with Jamie has given me an opportunity to learn and expand my culinary palette. As with a lot of these dishes, I have never tried 3-19: Soupe Saint Germain before. This soup is made with ingredients I generally enjoy, but the end product was hardly enjoyable. The sparkling white wine was probably my least favorite component of the dish and not something I normally drink.

To the best of my recollection, I haven’t eaten many other classic French soups. My version of this dish may have been less than stellar due to a less than fresh bottle of sparkling white wine and my substitution of sour cream for cream.

Editor’s note: Potage St. Germain is essentially “pea soup”. There’s many variations out there, but not too many with sparkling wine in them. Since it’s New Years’ Eve, here’s an interesting alternative for all that Champagne you may have on hand…Happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2018! 🥂

7-29: Polynesian Spareribs

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses December 20, 2017October 15, 2020apple cider vinegar, Asian, black pepper, broiled, brushed, canola oil, chilled, citrus, crushed, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, fruit, glazed, grilled, inexpensive, lunch, marinated, orange juice, oranges, party food, pineapple, Polynesian, pork, ribs, sliced, soy sauce, spareribs, untested, vinegar

Polynesian-style spareribs are my second or third favorite preparation of spareribs. As I described when I wrote 7-16: Orange-Glazed Spareribs, my grandmother’s recipe for Barbecue Spareribs still can’t be beat. However, these ginger and pineapple glazed ribs are more than acceptable. My dish came out of the oven tender and delicious, and maybe a little burnt from cooking too close to the broiler.

This meal is indeed, delectable, as described by the editors of Simply Delicious. I served this dish at a time of the year when corn-on-the-cob was not in season so my final plate looks a little different. The bright yellow corn would provide a nice contrast to the dark ribs on the plate.

20-12: Basic Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 20: Basic Recipes, Section 4: Cooking School December 19, 2017October 18, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, baguette, baked goods, bread series, breads, breakfast, brushed, butter, cardamom, cheese, chopped, cinnamon, coarse salt, cooking school, crescents, cumin, curry powder, dried herbs, egg wash, eggs, granulated sugar, grated, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, milk, nuts, party food, poppy seeds, pretzels, proofed, rolls, saffron, salt, scored, sesame seeds, slit, snacks, sunflower seeds, untested, vegetarian, white bread, yeast

Playing a bit of catch-up here since unscheduled interruptions, other non-food-related projects, and massive amounts of holiday baking have put me far behind in terms of keeping up with posts. I had started working on a Bread Series, starting with 18-1: Basic Yeast Dough I which I published back in October. Covering 20-12: Basic Rolls was intended to play off of that concept, giving you an easy recipe to utilize the lessons presented in both that post and its follow-up, 18-2: Basic Yeast Dough II.

Quick review: the last three chapters of Simply Delicious are part of its Cooking School, intended to review basic techniques, ingredients, and recipes with which all aspiring chefs should be familiar. I’ve covered a few bits and bobs out of those last few chapters, but much of it still remains untapped.

7-16: Orange-Glazed Spareribs

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses December 18, 2017October 15, 2020black pepper, brushed, chilled, Chinese/dark soy sauce, citrus, country-style, dairy-free, dinner, dried spices, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fruit, ginger, glazed, herbs and spices, lunch, marinated, orange juice, oranges, party food, pork, ribs, salt, scored, sliced, soy sauce, spareribs, untested

Spareribs are one of my favorite cuts of pork. I have fond childhood memories of my mother’s spareribs recipe that she got from her mother. I know it sounds cliché, using a recipe handed down from your mother’s mother, but I still use that recipe to this day. 7-16: Orange-Glazed Spareribs is not quite my grandmother’s recipe, but it gets the job done.

The set dressing in the example photo is amazing. The mug full of beer and the basket full of oranges give an incredible ambiance to the scene. My photography is more utilitarian and I don’t spend nearly as much time setting up a beautiful background, mostly because I’m starving by the time I’ve got my plate ready to snap the final plate photo.

5-16: Richmond Omelette

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 30, 2017January 26, 2021all-purpose flour, Béchamel sauce, black pepper, breakfast, broccoli, broiled, butter, casserole, Cheddar, cheese, cheese sauce, creamy, easy, eggs, Emmental, filling, French, garnish, grated, Gruyère, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, Mornay sauce, mushrooms, omelette, Parmesan, port wine, roux, salt, sliced, sour cream, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, white Cheddar

A lot of Simply Delicious‘ recipes are takes on already-established dishes, like 9-4: Swedish Meatballs, 2-13: Waldorf Salad or 3-2: New England Clam Chowder. I did a fair amount of searching for anything that resembled 5-16: Richmond Omelette, but besides some rankings of places to get a good omelette in Richmond, VA, there’s not much out there for that particular dish with that name.

I’ve put this one off for a while due to not having port wine on hand. After a trip to the store and a rather haughty store clerk who carded me for it despite the clearly visible gray streaks in my hair, I have the wine–let’s make a weird mushroom omelette-casserole with cheese sauce.

11-35: Grilled Pacific Halibut

Adam Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses October 23, 2017October 27, 2020black pepper, broiled, California, cast-iron, chili powder, chili sauce, cumin, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, fish filets, garlic, gluten-free, grill pan, grilled, halibut, healthy, herbs and spices, Hutton house, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, marinated, Mediterranean, minced, piquant, revisited, rosemary, salt, seafood, steak, teriyaki sauce, white wine vinegar

I have never been known for my skills in preparing fish, but this recipe, 11-35: Grilled Pacific Halibut, helped me become a halibut grilling master! 🐟

Many of the times I failed at cooking fish, I did not marinate the flesh first. Skipping that step definitely makes a difference.

Editor’s note: By the looks of the notations on this card, my mother made this in what looks like July of 1995, although that last digit is difficult to clearly determine–her handwriting has always been a challenge. It might be 1990. She noted that it was “Very Easy” on the back–sounds like Adam may have had a similar experience.

9-3: Herb Garden Meat Patties

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses October 1, 2017October 19, 2020black pepper, burgers, butter, chopped, cilantro, cream sauce, creamy, diced, dinner, dried herbs, dried spices, easy, egg-free, garnish, gluten-free, ground meat, ground pork, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, pan-fried, paprika, party food, peeled, pork, salt, sliders, sour cream, thyme, untested, whipping cream, yellow onions

Finally, an interesting take on the ground meat patty. Let’s spice things up by adding fresh garden herbs with 9-3: Herb Garden Meat Patties! 🌿

I’ve tried burgers with added spices before. Here’s yet another Simply Delicious suggestion for preparing flavorful meat patties.

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).

6-39: Chicken Pot Stickers

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses June 12, 2017October 14, 2020appetizers, Asian, canola oil, chicken, chili oil, chili sauce, Chinese, Chinese/dark soy sauce, chopped, cooked shrimp, cornstarch, dairy-free, dim sum, dinner, dips, dumplings, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, filling, ginger, green onions, ground chicken, ground turkey, gyoza, hors d'oeuvres, Japanese, lunch, minced, pan-fried, party food, pot stickers, rice vinegar, rice wine, salad shrimp, scallions, sherry, shrimp, side dish, snacks, soy sauce, stuffed, turkey, untested, water chestnuts, wonton skins

6-39: Chicken Pot Stickers are another case of a food that I “can” make, but would choose not to after seeing all of the mess and work involved.

“Steamed, stuffed dumplings” sound delicious. Mine came out a little more fried than steamed, still delicious.

9-29: Ground Meat Kebabs

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 11, 2017October 19, 2020beef, broiled, cornstarch, dairy-free, Eastern European, easy, egg whites, eggs, garlic, gluten-free, grill pan, grilled, ground beef, ground lamb, inexpensive, kebabs, lamb, lunch, meatballs, minced, olive oil, pan-fried, paprika, party food, salt, sautéed, skewered, sweated, tzatziki sauce, untested, yellow onions, yogurt

The Ground Meat and Sausage category is mainly 2 types of dishes: ground meat patties and ground meat kebabs. 9-29: Ground Meat Kebabs is one of the kebab variety. I made this recipe at the same time as 9-19: Meatballs on Skewers because they called for almost identical ingredients.

Grilling outside is much more satisfying than using a grill pan in my apartment, but I currently don’t have a lot of space for grilling.

Editor’s note: Putting on my ex-history teacher hat for a second–note that Simply Delicious claims this dish is from the vineyards of Yugoslavia, which hasn’t been a country since the late 80s/early 90s, around the time the Soviet Union collapsed. These remind me a lot of lule kabobs, which were one of my favorites when we lived in a heavily-Armenian area in Los Angeles (the apartment with the blue tiles and yellow walls from the beginning of this project). These are NOWHERE near as good as those ones, but I suppose they could pass in a pinch.