milk – Page 4 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

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.

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.

18-1: Basic Yeast Dough I

Jamie Martin Group 18: Basic Techniques, Section 4: Cooking School October 5, 2017September 30, 2020all-purpose flour, anise, baked goods, beer, bread series, breads, breakfast, butter, cake yeast, canola oil, cinnamon, cooking school, cumin, dairy-free, dried herbs, dried spices, durum wheat flour, eggs, fennel, garlic, granulated sugar, herbs and spices, milk, olive oil, poppy seeds, rye flour, saffron, salt, sesame seeds, shortening, snacks, untested, vanilla extract, vegetable juice, vegetable oil, vegetarian, wheat germ, whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour, whole wheat kernels, yeast

I’ve made a lot of bread during the 3.5 years I’ve been working on this project (both for the project and outside of it), and I hear a lot of the same remarks whenever I talk about making bread: “Oh, that seems hard”, or “It’s too much work to make bread”. I used to feel the same way, and shied away from yeast recipes for a long time out of a fear of failure. In cooking (like most things in life), you have to be ready to embrace failure and learn from it–otherwise, you’ll never get past heating up Hot Pockets in the microwave.

Simply Delicious even notes in their recipe blurb that bread making is perceived as hard. It’s maybe not the easiest thing in the world, but you’ll make a lot of friends fast if you can make them fresh bread. 18-1: Basic Yeast Dough I is the first in a three-part series on bread making, where you’ll learn some tips and tricks for improving your bread baking, as well as a few basic recipes that you can use.

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.

17-14: Nutty Muffins

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods September 15, 2017August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, almonds, at work, baked goods, baking cups, baking powder, breakfast, butter, candied, chopped, cinnamon, citrus, creamed, dessert, dried fruit, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, granulated sugar, hazelnuts, melted, milk, muffins, nuts, oranges, pecans, peeled, reduced, simple syrup, snacks, tangerines, toppings, untested, vegetarian, walnuts, zested

Here’s one of the last few recipes left from the chapter on baked goods, Group 17: Baked Goods. I made 17-14: Nutty Muffins for work–I thought they’d make a nice accompaniment to everyone’s morning coffee. ☕️

See? Even Simply Delicious shows them being served with coffee. Wikipedia offers a deeper dive on the history of muffins if you’re interested/bored. There’s a difference between these types of muffins (referred to as “quickbread” muffins or “American” muffins due to the fact that they’re very similar to a cupcake or other types of sweet, dense, cake-like bread) and the traditional “English” muffins that you get with Eggs Benedict or an Egg McMuffin.

9-39: Zesty Meat Casserole

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 13, 2017October 19, 2020baking pan, butter, carrots, casserole, celery, celery root, cheese, chopped, creamy, dinner, easy, egg-free, gluten-free, grated, ground meat, half-and-half, inexpensive, julienned, milk, Parmesan, parsnips, peeled, piquant, potatoes, salt, sautéed, sweated, Tabasco sauce, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, yellow onions

Not every Simply Delicious recipe is a home run. With 9-39: Zesty Meat Casserole, perhaps unsuccessfully, tries to break the mold. By not forming the beef into a patty, meatball, or kebab, this casserole tries to do something different. To cook this recipe, I had to prepare a parsnip, something I’m not accustomed to. I made this dish before a trip out of town and brought it with me to have something homemade to eat.

I cut my vegetables in a manner similar to the photograph, but my substitution of milk for half-and-half made the sauce come out runny.

9-1: Spicy Beef Patties

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 9, 2017October 19, 2020beef, beets, black pepper, bread crumbs, burgers, butter, canola oil, capers, chopped, cucumbers, diced, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, grated, griddle, ground beef, ground meat, half-and-half, lunch, milk, pan-fried, panko, pickled, pickles, potatoes, relish, Russian, salt, spicy, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

Any excuse to pull out the electric griddle is alright with me! After all of the meatball-style recipes in the Ground Meat and Sausage section, I was ready for a patty-style recipe again and 9-1: Spicy Beef Patties did not disappoint. I’ve never thought to put pickled beets into a burger before, but after trying this recipe, I would consider it again.

I love the little skinned potatoes they served alongside the patties in the example photo. I haven’t quite learned the technique to cook those yet. Their side salad is very photogenic, but not very filling. 3 tomato slices and 1 leaf of lettuce.

17-23: Mocha Éclairs

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 2, 2017September 5, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, boiled, brunch, butter, chilled, chocolate, choux, coffee, cored, cornstarch, creamy, crispy, custard, dark chocolate, dessert, dough, éclairs, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, filling, folded, French, gift ideas, glazed, granulated sugar, hard, icing, lactose-free, MD2017, melted, milk, mocha, Mother's Day, party food, pastry, pastry bag, pastry cream, piped, powdered sugar, profiteroles, salt, Silpat, sliced, slit, stiff peaks, temper, untested, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

As part of my Mother’s Day brunch this year (MD2017), I wanted to push my limits by attempting some of the hardest pastry recipes in the book. I tested my skills not only with 17-44: Homemade Danish Pastries, but with this recipe as well, 17-23: Mocha Éclairs. My mom always referred to éclairs as something that challenged her when she was learning to cook and bake, and that a well-executed one was something that really impressed her. With that in mind, I knew this recipe was a must-do.

I may have to make a few adjustments to Simply Delicious‘ version of the recipe–first of all, there’s no chocolate listed anywhere in this recipe, and it’s advertised as “mocha”, which is coffee AND chocolate. We may have to do something about this “slicing the tops off” idea as well.

17-44: Homemade Danish Pastries

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 29, 2017September 21, 2020all-purpose flour, applesauce, baked goods, breakfast, brunch, butter, cake yeast, chilled, chocolate, creamy, custard, Danish, dark chocolate, dollop, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, flaky, folded, glazed, granulated sugar, layers, MD2017, melted, milk, Mother's Day, party food, pastry, powdered sugar, proofed, pudding, puff pastry, salt, sliced, untested, vegetarian, yeast

Strap in ladies and gents, this one’s a long one. As part of my Mother’s Day brunch this year (MD2017), I thought I’d raise the bar and attempt some of the harder ones in the book–nothing impresses your mother like showing her you can cook (and bake). My mom LOVES pastries, so I made her 17-44: Homemade Danish Pastries to nosh on while I worked on trying to serve up 5-4: Eggs Benedict. Luckily, these turned out better than my hollandaise sauce attempt did.

Obviously, mine look a bit different than what’s pictured on their card–we’ll get into all the decisions and pitfalls that led to that being the case after the jump.

17-11: Scones

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 5, 2017January 29, 2021all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, breakfast, brown sugar, butter, buttermilk, cakes, coffee, cut in, dessert, dough, easy, egg wash, eggs, English, gift ideas, inexpensive, jam/jelly/preserves, marmalade, milk, pastry, quick breads, salt, scones, scored, Silpat, slit, snacks, tea, untested, vegetarian, whole wheat flour

Scones have a lot of different methods of preparation, usually depending on varying geographical interpretations. There’s even different pronunciations of the word “scone”–some rhyme it with “tone”, while others rhyme it with “gone.”

Simply Delicious‘ take, 17-11: Scones, seems to most closely adhere to the British version of scones in that they make theirs into round cakes, score them, and then break them apart into triangle shapes after baking. The North American versions tend to be individually-sized, round, and more often than not closely resemble what we refer to as biscuits.

One of my first memorable experiences with scones were at an 18th birthday tea party I attended in the last few months of senior year of high school–we had just come back from a Spring Break trip to England & Ireland, and I came to the tea party prepared with white gloves and pinkies up. They had scones with clotted cream & jam, finger sandwiches, and lots of flowery, delicate pots of tea. ☕️

Wouldn’t have been my choice for an 18th birthday party (I spent a good portion of mine in my freshman dorm room hungover from the Halloween extravaganza the night before), but it was definitely unique.