roux – Page 3 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

14-3: Grand Marnier Soufflé

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods August 16, 2016July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, butter, cornstarch, creamy, dessert, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, folded, French, Grand Marnier, granulated sugar, half-and-half, hot desserts, liqueur, liquor, melted, milk, orange juice, paper collar, parchment paper, party food, powdered sugar, roux, soufflés, stiff peaks, untested, vegetarian, whipping cream

My posting’s slowed down a bit (and my husband Adam has been cranking out his posts like crazy), but I am still cooking (and eating) from this book. It’s good to take breaks every so often, and rather than abandon the blog for those break times (as I have in the past), I’m glad that he’s here to keep it alive and to lend another voice besides my own. Just wanted to get that out there. I’ll pick it back up to speed soon, but for now I’m enjoying watching it be interpreted through someone else’s eyes for a bit.

I find myself with extra heavy whipping cream now and then due to other cooking activities, and I’m the only one in the house that can consume it without much gastrointestinal distress. When I have excesses of ingredients, I try to find Simply Delicious recipes to burn off that kill two birds with one stone–using up a recipe AND the cream, 14-3: Grand Marnier Soufflé is one of those recipes.

I’ve permanently borrowed a bottle from my parents (when you’re in your 30s, parents don’t seem to mind as much if you raid their liquor cabinet), and it’s what we’ve been using for flambéeing and any other instances that call for brandy/cognac/Grand Marnier. Why buy a brand new bottle when there’s plenty of barely touched ones sitting at their house? 🍾

12-17: Curly Pasta with Creamy Chicken

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses August 8, 2016July 27, 2020al dente, all-purpose flour, basil, boiled, butter, chicken, chicken broth, chives, chopped, cooked chicken, creamy, crème fraîche, diced, Dijon mustard, dinner, easy, fairly inexpensive, grated, herbs and spices, Italian parsley, lemons, lunch, melted, pasta/noodles, roux, salt, sour cream, untested, yellow mustard, zested

12-17: Curly Pasta with Creamy Chicken sounds like a recipe my mom or I would have attempted back in the days we were cooking out of this book–it’s possible we did and never marked the card. Both of us were suckers for dishes just like this. 🐓

I probably would have made this recipe earlier if curly pasta was easier to come by–I wanted to find just the right shape for this dish. I have a fascination with different pasta shapes. 🍝

4/13/19 EDIT: Speaking of pasta shapes, take a look at the cover photo for the very similar 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken and the one above. Notice anything strange?

11-25: Best Ever Sole Au Gratin

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses June 27, 2016July 7, 2020all-purpose flour, au gratin, black pepper, butter, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, cooked shrimp, creamy, dinner, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish stock, grated, lunch, mashed potatoes, melted, mushrooms, pared, Parmesan, revisited, roux, Rozie house, salt, sautéed, seafood, shrimp, sole, stuffed, twice-baked, vegetables, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions

This recipe is already setting high expectations with the title 11-25: Best Ever Sole Au Gratin, and I’m not here to completely dash those hopes. This is a pretty decent fish recipe, as those go (I’m usually wary of home-cooked fish recipes), but it’s nothing spectacular, despite Simply Delicious’ assertions. 🐟

This one gets fancy with the piping bag and tips for the potatoes. I still haven’t replaced my piping/pastry bag set-up since it all failed during the making of 17-52: Apricot Macaroons for the holidays last year (2015). Since I’ve yet to replace it, I’ll have to get creative again.

3-5: Creamy Cheese Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 26, 2016March 14, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, bacon, black pepper, butter, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, crab, creamy, croutons, dinner, easy, egg yolks, eggs, grated, green onions, half-and-half, inexpensive, Jarlsberg, leeks, lunch, melted, milk, parsley, roux, salt, sautéed, shredded, shrimp, side dish, soups, Swiss, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream

Here’s a question for you: is cheese soup really soup? To me, it’s essentially the sauce from macaroni and cheese, thinned down and maybe dressed up with some onions or bacon. Often potato or broccoli gets added as well, in an attempt to “healthify” it. No matter what, it just seems…indulgent. I was on my own to make and eat 3-5: Creamy Cheese Soup, so I kept this one simple.

Don’t get me wrong–I do enjoy broccoli cheese soup (and make one every few months or so for work), but leek & cheese (which this one is) doesn’t excite me as much. This one was a bit leek-y for me, but maybe I just lack appreciation for the leek.

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.

4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 29, 2016October 13, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, asparagus, black pepper, blanched, boiled, butter, butter sauce, chervil, chives, creamy, dinner, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, herbs and spices, Italian, Italian parsley, melted, milk, mounted, parsley, roux, salt, sautéed, side dish, spring, steamed, tarragon, tender-crisp, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions

Late March/early April is right around the time asparagus begins its short season, so if you happen to find yourself with some in the near future, here’s a recipe for you: 4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce. I served this as a side dish along with 8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping.

There’s such a short window of time when asparagus is in season–you start seeing it around March-April, and it’s done around early summer, in June-July. We’ve recently signed back up for our CSA box after a break, and asparagus was waiting for us in the first one.

12-9: Pasta with Salmon and Basil

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses February 29, 2016July 27, 2020al dente, all-purpose flour, basil, black pepper, blanched, boiled, butter, canola oil, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, half-and-half, lunch, melted, milk, pan-fried, pasta/noodles, roux, salmon, salt, sautéed, smoked salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, tomatoes, untested

Another recipe attempt born of Costco sale inspiration and brought down by too much time between buying stuff and using it up. I did my best with 12-9: Pasta with Salmon and Basil, but I probably didn’t do it justice.

This was the only recipe in Simply Delicious that I could find that used salmon filets, not steaks. I somehow had it in my head that there were several recipes that used salmon, and so was disappointed to find that this was the only one that I was going to knock out, despite now having a few pounds of salmon.

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.

12-8: Penne with Broccoli

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses January 26, 2016July 27, 2020all-purpose flour, basil, blanched, boiled, broccoli, butter, Cheddar, cheese sauce, dinner, easy, inexpensive, lunch, milk, mushrooms, oregano, pared, Parmesan, pasta/noodles, penne, roux, salt, sautéed, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

As you’ve probably figured out, I don’t always write these immediately after I’ve cooked the dish. I usually remember a lot about them though, and I make a lot of mental notes as I go, especially now that I’ve done 80+ of these at this point.

I don’t remember a damned thing about 12-8: Penne with Broccoli. I’m pretty sure the only thing I remember was that it was pretty unmemorable.

My guess is it’s one of those one-pan-skillet-easy-weeknight-dinner kind of things that gets you to eat vegetables by covering them in cheese and noodles. Not that that’s bad, but it’s nothing new.

18-18a: Cooking Glossary IIa

Jamie Martin Group 18: Basic Techniques, Section 4: Cooking School November 16, 2015September 30, 2020cooking class, cooking glossary, cooking school, glossary, how-to, lukewarm, marinated, melted, minced, mounted, parboiled, pared, poached, pot-roasted, purée, reduced, rehydrated, rendered, roasted, roux, sautéed, scalded, scored, scrambled, seared, shucked

I mentioned in 18-17: Cooking Glossary I (the first installment of this mini-series) that I’ll be mixing in Cooking School entries from the last three chapters of Simply Delicious along with the regular recipe/photo entries that I usually do.

Here in 18-18: Cooking Glossary IIa, we find the second page of the glossary that I introduced to you previously. There’s one more page after this one, which you can find at 18-18b: Cooking Glossary IIb. I split the second entry to limit the amount of links/pics/content in one post.

Follow the jump for links to recipes I’ve covered that will help you practice each and every one of these terms & techniques! If I haven’t covered the term yet in one of these recipes, I’ll be sure to update it when I do!