mussels – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

2-1: West Coast Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 20, 2022December 20, 2022asparagus, black pepper, California, canola oil, cooked shrimp, crab, creamy, Dijon mustard, dill, dinner, dressing, easy, fairly expensive, fish, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, grated, half-and-half, horseradish, iceberg lettuce, lemons, lettuce, lobster, lunch, mayonnaise, minced, mushrooms, mussels, new book, rockfish, salads, salt, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, sliced, sour cream, tomatoes, vegetable oil, vinaigrette, vinegar, yellow mustard

A wise man once said, ” You don’t win friends with salad.” I’m not sure how many friends you’ll be winning with 2-1: West Coast Salad, but if you’re looking for something keto-friendly (we used to call that low-carb or “Atkins-friendly” back in the day, kids) and you need a break from the cookies and candies that are EVERYWHERE around this time of year, this might be the ticket.

By Western shore/West Coast, we’re referring to the western coast of the United States which includes the states of California (where I live and am from), Oregon, and Washington. The seafood is in fact different in the Pacific versus the Atlantic–you won’t find a lot of lobster here, but you will find an abundance of crab and mussels.

1-12: Mixed Seafood Au Gratin

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 29, 2022July 29, 2022appetizers, au gratin, bay scallops, bay shrimp, black pepper, broiled, butter, cheese, crab, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish stock, French, gluten-free, grated, hors d'oeuvres, lobster, mounted, mussels, Parmesan, peeled, reduced, salt, sautéed, scallops, seafood, serving shells, shallots, shellfish, shrimp, untested, whipping cream, white wine

Greetings, and happy Friday! It’s been a minute, but I’ll always come back eventually–I’ve put way too much time/work/energy into this project to give up now. Today, I present to you 1-12: Mixed Seafood Au Gratin. Au gratin is not new for Simple Delicious, and neither is the use of the pictured serving shells. I finally broke down and bought some a year or two ago for 11-10: French Scallops–I’m happy they’ll get another use here.

When was the last time you heard the phrase “tantalize the taste buds”? I feel like that went out of style around the same time as soufflé humor.

1-9: Four Seasons Pizza

Adam Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters August 9, 2016October 2, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, artichoke hearts, autumn, baked goods, black olives, cheese, cooked shrimp, dinner, dough, dried herbs, engagement party, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, fall, green olives, ham, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, Italian, kneaded, lunch, Mozzarella, mushrooms, mussels, olive oil, oregano, party food, pizza, revisited, salt, seafood, shrimp, sliced, spring, summer, Tarzana apt, tomato sauce, toppings, vegetables, whole wheat flour, winter, yeast

1-9: Four Seasons Pizza is a weird little pizza. This appetizer uses ingredients from the 4 different seasons (from my interpretation): ham for spring, olives for summer, mushroom for autumn, and shrimp for winter. The marinated artichoke heart in the middle reminded me of the sun. 🌞

As I stated in the 13-11: Vegetarian Pizza post, I do enjoy pizza. I made these 4 small pizzas and was able to freeze 2 of them whole to eat later. 🍕

11-26: Fish Gumbo

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses April 27, 2016July 7, 2020all-purpose flour, basil, bay leaves, boiled, Cajun, canola oil, catfish, cayenne pepper, celery, chicken broth, chili powder, chopped, crab, crushed tomatoes, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, fish, flaked, garlic, green bell peppers, green onions, gumbo, herbs and spices, krab, lunch, minced, mussels, New Orleans, parsley, red bell peppers, rice, roux, salt, scallops, seafood, shrimp, simmered, soups, stews, thyme, tomato paste, tomatoes, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables

I’ve often talked during this project about my mother and her predilection towards recipe experimentation. One of these instances was where she attempted to make gumbo–I’m not sure where she got the recipe from, but I remember the family failing to choke down poorly cooked okra and my father making a quick run to KFC while she surreptitiously got rid of the rest.

The mere mention of gumbo usually brings this unsavory memory back, and so I attempted 11-26: Fish Gumbo with a fair amount of trepidation.

Roux is something I’ve covered several times throughout this project, and it’s an essential flavor and texture component of gumbo. Letting a roux brown deepens its flavor, and there’s a fine line between too light and over cooked.

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.