salt – Page 16 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

4-3: French Potato Gratin

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 7, 2016October 4, 20204-6-09 dinner, au gratin, black pepper, casserole, creamy, dinner, easy, food processor, French, garlic, gluten-free, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, mandoline, milk, minced, nutmeg, peeled, potatoes, ranch house, revisited, salt, side dish, sliced, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream

4-3: French Potato Gratin is a great side dish for a dinner. It was easy to make and it only takes one pan to cook this recipe.

Jamie made notes on this recipe that I completely ignored. I used the mandoline to cut the potatoes and I used 9 medium/small potatoes.

Editor’s note: I did indeed make notes on this, from when I made this for a fancy dinner for my family during Spring Break of 2009. I stand by my recommendation of using the food processor, but you do you, boo.

3-16: Hearty Beef Soup

Adam Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 5, 2016October 4, 2020beef, beef stew, boiled, butter, canola oil, chili peppers, chopped, chuck roast, crushed tomatoes, cumin, diced, dinner, Dutch oven, egg-free, fairly easy, garlic, green bell peppers, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, minced, paprika, potatoes, red bell peppers, rump roast, salt, sautéed, seared, simmered, sliced, soups, stews, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

The winter is the best time of year for soup, especially 3-16: Hearty Beef Soup. This dish made a great lunch dish that was easy to pack for multiple servings.

As the card says, it reheats very well and tastes great even without a side of sour cream.

17-5: Hot Seedy Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 4, 2016August 23, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breads, breakfast, canola oil, cottage cheese, dinner, dough, egg-free, healthy, kneaded, lunch, milk, party food, proofed, rolls, salt, side dish, snacks, soaked, steamed, TGV 2016, Thanksgiving, untested, vegetarian, whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour, whole wheat kernels, yeast

We’ve finally reached the big day: 17-5: Hot Seedy Rolls were the fifth dish I cooked for my big Thanksgiving feast (TGV 2016), and in true baker fashion, I started them before the sun rose on Thanksgiving Thursday. These served as my rolls for my dinner–I served them with a tomato butter and a roasted garlic & herb butter.

I wanted something a bit healthier to balance out the sugar in the cranberries and in the desserts (two of which were 15-49: Chocolate Pudding Deluxe and 16-52: Apple Nut Saucepan Torte). These were definitely seedy, but I think it worked well for a harvest-themed dinner such as Thanksgiving.

Other dishes I made the day of Thanksgiving (Thur. 11/24): 1-5: Pigs in a Blanket, a crudité platter, 6-29: Stuffed Turkey, along with assembling & heating all the other dishes.

12-40: Spinach Pasta with Mushrooms

Adam Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses December 3, 2016October 27, 2020black pepper, boiled, chopped, creamy, Dijon mustard, dinner, easy, fettuccini, herbs and spices, inexpensive, linguine, lunch, milk, mushrooms, olive oil, parsley, pasta/noodles, salt, side dish, sliced, spaghetti, spinach, tagliatelle, tender-crisp, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream

Pasta with sauce is the most basic style of dish that Simply Delicious teaches a novice chef to cook. 12-40: Spinach Pasta with Mushrooms is appropriately classified as “Easy“.

Mustard-scented sauce is a recent addition to my diet, but it is one of my favorite additions. Dijon mustard is used in a lot of Simply Delicious sauces and it adds a tangy quality to the sauce that cannot be beat.

5-31: Oven Pizza Pancake

Adam Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 1, 2016October 13, 2020anchovies, appetizers, black olives, black pepper, breakfast, butter, celery, cheese, cooking class, dinner, dried herbs, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, grated, ham, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, milk, Mozzarella, mushrooms, omelette, oregano, pancakes, Parmesan, party food, pepperoni, pizza, red onions, revisited, rosemary, salami, salt, seafood, shellfish, shredded, shrimp, sliced, tomatoes, toppings, twice-baked

Cooking a pizza on a pancake dough creates a very kooky, weird pizza experience. 5-31: Oven Pizza Pancake is not your usual pizza–this soft-crusted abomination is another dish created when the Simply Delicious editors decided to have one too many beers at the office.

The beer in the background of this image should have been my first clue that this was a strange dish.

Editor’s note: I used this recipe for when I taught cooking in an after-school program for K-8 kids a few years ago–I didn’t have the time or resources to make a traditional rising dough using yeast on that particular site, so this method provided me a somewhat valid shortcut.

10-1: Springtime Lamb Stew

Adam Martin Group 10: Lamb & Veal, Section 2: Main Courses November 29, 2016October 27, 2020all-purpose flour, boiled, bone-in, boneless, butter, carrots, dinner, Dutch oven, easy, fairly inexpensive, French, green beans, herbs and spices, lamb shoulder, lunch, parsley, peeled, potatoes, Provençale, red potatoes, salt, sautéed, seared, simmered, sliced, spring, stews, sweet peas, tender-crisp, thyme, untested, vegetables, white wine, yellow onions, zucchini

Stew happens to be one of my favorite dishes. 😍 It contains all the things I really enjoy: tender meat, vegetables, and gravy. That being said, even though it’s the opposite of springtime right now, 10-1: Springtime Lamb Stew was right up my alley.

I’ve never been to the Provence region of France to try this style of cooking in it’s natural habitat, so learn more from someone who has.

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.

4-27: Mushroom-Parsnip Au Gratin

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters November 26, 2016November 14, 2020all-purpose flour, au gratin, blanched, boiled, broiled, butter, Cheddar, cheese, crab, creamy, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, food processor, grated, half-and-half, lunch, mandoline, melted, mushrooms, Parmesan, parsnips, peeled, salt, sautéed, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, side dish, sliced, Swiss, TGV 2016, Thanksgiving, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream

It’s been a hell of a month, y’all. Between my birthday at the very beginning, the election, an aunt passing away, unexpected horse-sitting, and planning/executing my very first self-made Thanksgiving dinner, I unfortunately didn’t do a lot of writing. However, our Thanksgiving this year (TGV 2016) was Simply Delicious-themed, as I used 7 recipes for this year’s feast.

I started the cooking marathon on Tuesday 11/22 with 4-27: Mushroom-Parsnip Au Gratin–I thought parsnips would make an interesting variation on the “vegetable” dish for Thanksgiving. I also cooked this one first because I knew I could cook it most of the way, and save the final broiling for right before the dinner was served.

I don’t know much about parsnips being the “poor man’s lobster” (a quick Google search reveals butter baking cod/haddock/etc. to be the most common modern use for that term), but I’d describe them as a cross between potatoes and carrots. Too potato-y to be a carrot, but too carrot-y to be a potato.

8-31: Roast Beef

Adam Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses November 1, 2016October 18, 202012-11-08 dinner, baked potatoes, beef, beef broth, black pepper, boneless, dairy-free, deglazed, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, gluten-free, gravy, meat thermometer, party food, revisited, rib eye, roach motel apt, roast beef, roasted, salt, white pepper

This recipe is the best kind of recipe from Simply Delicious, an easy one. I’m not the most confident at preparing roast beef in this manner, however, the method shown in 8-31: Roast Beef is easy and can be applied to other cuts of meat such as lamb. 🍖

Simple is the best way to describe baking a roast beef in the oven.

Editor’s note: I’ve made this one before–it was part of my fancy dinner party I had in my first apartment after college. You know, before I had to surrender it to the roaches. 😯 I’ve continued to use it as a basic roast beef recipe, although now I like to do a beef broth/mixed-herb/red wine marinade before roasting.

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. ❄