Here’s yet another boneless/skinless chicken breast recipe born of the health-conscious 1980s. We ate a LOT of chicken breast when I was growing up, so I’m surprised my mom never busted 6-43: Cheesy Chicken Cutlets out for yet another version.
I’m sorry, but it’s ALWAYS seemed just a bit morbid to dip chicken in egg. I realize it’s often a big part of one of my favorite things (fried chicken), but it still always nags. I’ll leave it there–you do the math if you want to. 🐣
Hope you’ve been enjoying my husband/co-writer Adam’s posts–he’s having fun writing them. I’m a bit behind on my own posting, so this is one I “cooked” a while ago. 1-4: Ham and Cheese Sandwich is exactly what it sounds like, hence the quotations around “cooked”–it’s basically a grilled cheese with ham in it.
As in 2-24: Parisian-Mushroom Salad, this is a French recipe somewhat simplified–the running theme throughout much of Simply Delicious. The croque monsieur is indeed a well-known French recipe, and lots of different takes on it exist out there.
Hello readers, I’m Adam, your usual author’s husband, chiming in with a guest post. Jamie has these Simply Delicious recipes hung on our kitchen cabinets like a restaurant rail full of orders. There were some easy level recipes that I thought I could cook while Jamie was busy trying to finish her backlog of blog entries. 9-15: Peppercorn Beef Burgers are my first such attempt at preparing a recipe and photographing the process. I have to say that I had a lot of fun (I lit the sauce on fire!🔥) and you’ll see a few more guest posts from me coming up.
I’ve made more than a few burgers in my day, but the sauce on these patties did elevate the dish to a higher level.
Here’s a first for me: I’ve never attempted to break down a duck before this recipe, 6-11: Chinese Duck. I’ve cooked with duck a handful of times, but this is definitely the most involved with it that I’ve ever gotten. There’s one more duck recipe in this book, so expect a return sometime in the future.
I found myself with a duck after my husband took a trip past a local butcher a few weeks ago, so I decided to take a stab at one of the two recipes in the book. I assumed this would be similar to the Chinese dish Peking duck, and in true Simply Delicious style, it doesn’t quite come as close as recipes today can get you.
We’ve covered the fact that burger patties are a common recipe for using ground meat–9-25: Juicy Grilled Meat Patties, 9-44: Wok-Fried Beef Patties, and 9-31: Savory Turkey Patties are just a few of the methods outlined by Simply Delicious. 9-24: Tangy Double Meat Patties are another variation, this time with a flavorful filling of your choice.
Snappy is such a great adjective for describing food. I don’t think anything past about 1988 has been described as such, but if you dig into the 1950s-60s era of cookbooks (of which I have a ton), it’s all over the place.
Oh boy, another pork tenderloin recipe. This is the last of my Costco pack, but I’m going tomorrow, so who knows what I’ll come home with. 7-1: Pork Tenderloin with Mushrooms is the first card in Group 07: Pork, and a pretty straightforward recipe. Other pork tenderloin recipes I’ve covered so far include 7-27: Pork Tenderloin in Creamy Sauce, 7-34: Grilled Pork Slices with Garlic, and 7-36: Pork Tenderloin with Curry Sauce.
This recipe includes parsnips, a root vegetable related to carrots and parsley. Parsnips are usually winter vegetables, but I think you could probably still get away with it in mid-April.
There are LOTS of different ways to prepare meatballs–at least 20 according to this Serious Eats piece. So far, the only meatball recipe I’ve covered on here is 9-4: Swedish Meatballs, although 9-44: Wok-Fried Beef Patties are pretty close. A quick Google search brings up albondigas for “South American meatballs”. Prior to 9-30: South American Meatballs, my only experience with either of these concepts is something similar to this recipe that you get at Mexican restaurants. And none of it involves coconut. 🌴
Coconut is the main thing here–it’s meatballs with coconut all up in there. It’s not a bad taste, just an an acquired one. Paprika is usually associated with Hungarian (European) cuisine, but its origins are in the Americas, brought over during all of that New World/Old World business in the 16th century.
In 8-17: Pan-Fried Steak with Onions, I talked about using a different method to cook steaks than what’s usually written in these recipes–namely, the restaurant method where you sear the meat on the stove and finish cooking in the oven. If you want some practice with that method, 8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping is a decent (and garlicky) recipe for it.
Honestly, it sounds like even Simply Delicious couldn’t think of anything especially creative or memorable to say about this dish. It’s not much more than steak with some garlicky cheese on top, but if that interests you, read on.
I had mentioned in 7-36: Pork Tenderloin with Curry Sauce that I had an abundance of pork tenderloin due to a Costco sale. As I work my way through the freezer (mostly because I keep adding new things into it), I find myself with another pork tenderloin–this time, we’ll try it as 7-27: Pork Tenderloin in Creamy Sauce.
There’s not a HUGE difference conceptually between this one and 7-36: Pork Tenderloin with Curry Sauce–the major differences are just spices & condiments added to the final sauce. Otherwise, this is another perfectly serviceable weeknight dinner option, or even a decent meal for entertaining.
Here’s a decent way to do a nice restaurant-style steak at home. 8-17: Pan-Fried Steak with Onions–with a few of my tweaks–is (hopefully) bound to impress whomever you’re cooking for.
I’m a hippie when it comes to some things, but I just love a good steak. My dad is a steak man, and his parents before him. I’ve made quite a few in my day, in a lot of different ways. This is probably the easiest, quickest, and most consistent method. Plus, it won’t set off your smoke detector or require you to go outside.