purée – Page 2 – 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! 🥂

18-15: Basic Kitchen Utensils

Jamie Martin Group 18: Basic Techniques, Section 4: Cooking School June 10, 2017September 30, 2020carved, china caps, chopped, colanders, cooking school, cored, cutting board, grated, how-to, juiced, juicer, measuring cups, measuring spoons, melon baller, purée, sieves, strained, strainers, whipped, zested

Doing a bit of housekeeping…here’s one that’s been sitting in my draft queue since around Christmas. 18-19: Basic Kitchen Utensils covers exactly what it says–basic tools even novice cooks should have in their kitchen. This is part of Cooking School, the back segment of Simply Delicious that covers basic techniques, ingredients, and recipes for all levels of aspiring chefs.

After the jump, I’ll show you what I’ve got in my own kitchen (similar to how I covered 18-3: Good Kitchen Knives and 18-6: Basic Pots and Pans). None of it’s super fancy, but it gets the job done.

20-15: Vary the Butter Sauces

Jamie Martin Group 20: Basic Recipes, Section 4: Cooking School June 5, 2017October 18, 2020appetizers, Béarnaise sauce, black pepper, breakfast, butter, butter sauce, chopped, cookbook project, cooking school, creamy, deglazed, dinner, double boiler, dried herbs, egg yolks, eggs, fish bouillon, fish sauce, fish stock, food processor, Foyot sauce, French, gluten-free, gravy, herbes de Provence, herbs and spices, Hollandaise sauce, lemon juice, lunch, Maltaise sauce, melted, minced, mounted, Mousseline sauce, orange juice, oranges, parsley, party food, peeled, peppercorns, purée, reduced, salt, shallots, side dish, tarragon, tomato paste, tomatoes, untested, vegetarian, vinegar, whipped, whipping cream, white wine, white wine vinegar, zested

Consider 20-15: Vary the Butter Sauces to be the advanced version of 20-13: Béarnaise and Hollandaise Sauces. There’s probably something that bridges the two better (whatever 20-14 is, but I don’t have that card in my collection), so 5-4: Eggs Benedict will have to do. This set of recipes is part of the Cooking School, the back section of Simply Delicious that provides instructions in basic techniques, ingredients, and recipes that any skilled cook should be familiar with.

Like I said in 20-13: Béarnaise and Hollandaise Sauces, Hollandaise and its variations comprise one of the five mother sauces, a big part of French cuisine. Mastering it (and the others) is one of the marks of an accomplished and talented chef. I’ve always appreciated a well-made butter sauce, and these variations are intriguing–I’d be interested in eventually trying each one out.

6-33: Lime-Marinated Chicken

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses November 27, 2016October 15, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, butter, canola oil, chicken, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chimichurri sauce, chopped, diced, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, food processor, garlic, grated, lime juice, limes, lunch, marinated, minced, parsley, purée, red onions, salt, shallots, South American, sunflower oil, untested, white wine, zested

Two-packs of whole chickens were on sale at Costco and the other chicken in this pack was used to make 6-20: Rosemary Chicken. This recipe, 6-33: Lime-Marinated Chicken required me to rub a few brain cells together to prepare the chicken as written on the card.

Lime flavor added to anything is a winner with me. Chicken and lime is a great combination, the white wine sauce added a unique twist.

3-33: Broccoli Wild Rice Soup

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 31, 2016October 4, 2020allspice, appetizers, blanched, blender, boiled, broccoli, butter, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chilled, chopped, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, Glendale apt, green bell peppers, green onions, healthy, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, milk, purée, revisited, salt, sautéed, scallions, side dish, soups, sour cream, sweated, thyme, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, wild rice, yellow onions

This is not my first time to the broccoli soup rodeo, so 3-33: Broccoli Wild Rice Soup should be a snap. 🏇🏼 A while back, I made 3-21: Broccoli-Celery Soup and broccoli is still in season at the time I am writing this post.

Cold isn’t my favorite temperature when eating soup, but with so much sour cream, the soup may separate during reheating. ❄

3-21: Broccoli-Celery Soup

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters August 23, 2016August 26, 2022black pepper, boiled, broccoli, butter, celery, Cheddar, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chilled, crushed red pepper, diced, dinner, easy, egg-free, garlic, Glendale apt, gluten-free, herbs and spices, inexpensive, leeks, lunch, melted, milk, minced, potatoes, purée, revisited, salt, shredded, simmered, soups, vegetables, whipping cream

Jamie made this recipe, 3-21: Broccoli-Celery Soup, for me before on a mild Christmas Eve. 🎅🏽 We were living in Glendale at the time, it doesn’t exactly get cold there. ❄

(Editor’s note: I didn’t make this on Christmas Eve–my mom did. I don’t know which Christmas Eve, but that’s definitely her writing. I did however, make this when we lived in Glendale, CA, and he’s right about that–it doesn’t get that cold there.)

I really enjoyed the soup the first time around, so I took my own shot at cooking this recipe.

15-51: Frozen Strawberry Yogurt

Adam Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods August 15, 2016October 29, 2020blender, chilled, cold desserts, creamed, creamy, dessert, easy, eggs, food processor, frozen, fruit, gluten-free, ice cream, ice cream maker, inexpensive, lactose-free, loaf pan, powdered sugar, purée, snacks, strawberries, summer, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, yogurt

15-51: Frozen Strawberry Yogurt: I really liked this cold concoction. I have never attempted a frozen desert before this. I’m glad to say this recipe was a great success. 🍧

This card describes the flavor like a certain presidential candidate I am loathe to quote, except it’s so quotable…it’s fantastic. 🍓

13-7: Falafel

Adam Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses July 24, 2016October 28, 2020appetizers, Asian, black olives, black pepper, blender, canola oil, chickpeas, creamy, crispy, dairy-free, deep fryer, deep-fried, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fairly hard, food processor, fried, garbanzo beans, garlic, Greek, herbs and spices, hummus, inexpensive, Israeli, kalamata, lemon juice, lettuce, lunch, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, minced, onion salt, Oriental, parsley, party food, pita bread, purée, salt, sesame paste, side dish, snacks, soaked, Tabasco sauce, tahini, thyme, tomatoes, tzatziki sauce, untested, vegetarian, wheat germ

I do enjoy getting falafel when I go out to a Middle-Eastern restaurant. It’s much easier to cook them when you have a deep fryer. In the past, I have pan-fried some falafel, but it tastes the best when it is crispy and fried. Since we happened to be borrowing a deep-fryer, I made 13-7: Falafel.

I didn’t have any pita on hand, so I served the balls with a spicy dipping sauce instead of in the traditional pita pocket.

9-30: South American Meatballs

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses April 9, 2016July 6, 2020appetizers, beef, black pepper, bread crumbs, canola oil, chili powder, coated, coconut, diced, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fried, grated, green bell peppers, ground beef, ground meat, ground pork, herbs and spices, lemons, limes, lunch, meatballs, milk, pan-fried, panade, panko, paprika, parsley, party food, pork, purée, salt, Silpat, South American, tomato paste, untested, vegetables, yellow onions, zested

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.

3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 28, 2016March 14, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, boiled, butter, carrots, celery, chowder, corn, creamy, dinner, easy, egg-free, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, mirepoix, purée, roux, salt, sautéed, simmered, soups, summer, thyme, Tyler Florence, untested, vegetarian, yellow onions

Corn is more of a summer thing, but the recipe for 3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder calls for fresh, canned, or frozen corn, so you can have it anytime you have a hankering for corn chowder. I’m not personally a huge fan of corn chowders, but I know a lot of people are, and my in-house reviewer claimed to like it, so it comes recommended.

I’ve made a variation on Tyler Florence’s corn chowder at my current job, which was also a hit. Both call for thyme, but Simply Delicious chooses to bulk with mirepoix vegetables & milk rather than potatoes, roux, & heavy cream like Tyler Florence. Another example of the lean/health-conscious 80s.