vegetarian – Page 18 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

16-18: Lemon Basil Tart

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 2, 2016November 5, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, basil, boiled, butter, chilled, cornstarch, creamed, cut in, dessert, dusted, egg yolks, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, fruit, granulated sugar, grated, herbs and spices, lemon juice, lemons, milk, party food, pastry, pie crust, powdered sugar, salt, shortbread, steeped, strawberries, tart, tart pan, untested, vegetarian, zested

Here’s one I’ve wanted to make for a LONG time, but never got to. I had even intended to do a version of 16-18: Lemon Basil Tart when I worked at the restaurant and was doing tarts every week moonlighting as the pastry chef, but the day I intended to make it, we were short on lemons and basil. Now I finally have a chance, and I even have the big tart pan in which to properly make it.

I didn’t even see until now that they mention that basil is related to mint–it makes sense. In this tart, the basil functions a lot like mint, and gives the tart a “fresh” flavor that just lemon wouldn’t provide. It took me a while to get to it, but it was worth it. 🍋🌿

9-20: Meat Roly-Poly

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses May 1, 2016July 5, 20201998 dinner, all-purpose flour, baked goods, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, bread crumbs, breakfast, butter, canola oil, corn oil, diced, dinner, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, green bell peppers, ground beef, ground meat, herbs and spices, Hutton house, kneaded, lunch, melted, milk, mushrooms, panko, paprika, pared, party food, proofed, red bell peppers, revisited, salt, sautéed, sesame seeds, Silpat, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, yeast, yellow onions

Here’s one I’ve made before. In one of my previous entries (6-22: Crispy Chicken Drumsticks), I mentioned doing all the cooking for a family dinner party when I was 12-13 years old with a similarly-aged family friend of mine. 9-20: Meat Roly-Poly is another one of the recipes I remember making for that party.

Another memory from this dinner party: I had just gotten a new CD (Version 2.0 by Garbage) and we were listening to it on my parents’ GIANT 1970s hi-fi stereo system over and over as we spent the day cooking. Gives you an idea of how old I am, and how long I’ve been cooking from this book.

1-16: Mushrooms Escargot

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 29, 2016January 28, 2020appetizers, bacon fat, black pepper, bread crumbs, broiled, butter, dairy-free, easy, escargot, fairly inexpensive, French, garlic, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, melted, minced, mushrooms, panko, pared, parsley, party food, side dish, Silpat, snacks, snails, stuffed, untested, vegetables, vegetarian

Here’s another mushroom recipe for you. 1-16: Mushrooms Escargot is similar to the last recipe I did, 2-2: Mushrooms à la Grecque, in that it’s a fancy name for a pretty well-known dish. Simply Delicious does that a LOT. This one is essentially stuffed mushrooms, something most everyone’s familiar with.

This recipe in-and-of itself doesn’t contain or use actual snails, but it’s suggested you can add them if you want. I didn’t go quite that far (although I’m not opposed to the idea), but the mushrooms provide a similar experience that’s not quite as…exotic. 🐌

2-2: Mushrooms à la Grecque

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 28, 2016February 5, 2020à la Grecque, appetizers, black pepper, boiled, diced, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, French, garlic, gluten-free, Greek, herbs and spices, lemon juice, lunch, marinated, mushrooms, olive oil, parsley, party food, peppercorns, salt, shallots, side dish, snacks, thyme, untested, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, white wine, yellow onions

“À la Grecque” means “in the Greek way” in French, and 2-2: Mushrooms à la Grecque is a French preparation of vegetables (in this case mushrooms) in a seasoned oil and wine marinade. Simply Delicious considers this a salad, so I guess we’ll go with that description as well.

This is essentially marinated mushrooms, a pretty classic dish. This one’s pretty simple, it holds well, and most people are into it, so it makes a good party dish too. 🍄

3-20: Italian Tomato Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters April 25, 2016March 14, 2020alphabet, appetizers, basil, bay leaves, blanched, boiled, chili sauce, creamy, crushed tomatoes, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, garlic, herb salt, herbs and spices, inexpensive, Italian, lunch, olive oil, pared, parsley, pasta/noodles, salt, sautéed, simmered, soups, tomatoes, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, whole wheat flour, yellow onions

It’s been a while since I’ve covered something out of Group 03: Soups on here–the last one was 3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder back in January. 3-20: Italian Tomato Soup is pretty simple when it comes to ingredients…and flavor. I ended up inadvertently turning my batch into what was essentially Spaghetti-Os, but even that wasn’t terrible.

This soup is pretty basic–Simply Delicious has you add a bit of cream to make it more of a bisque-type tomato soup. If it’s not tomato season, no worries–you can make this with canned tomatoes too. 🍅

12-2: Rice and Vegetable Bake

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses April 8, 2016July 27, 2020black pepper, bundt, butter, celery, cooked chicken, cooked rice, diced, dinner, easy, eggs, gluten-free, half-and-half, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, nutmeg, nuts, pared, parsley, pecans, red bell peppers, rice, salt, sausage, side dish, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, walnuts, yellow onions

I’ve done over 100 recipes for this project so far, and I’m about a week shy of working on it for 2 years. Most of those recipes weren’t bad. Maybe not repeats, but not too many of them stick out as YUCK in my mind…until now. I did NOT like 12-2: Rice and Vegetable Bake, but maybe that’s just me–I can admit that I’m weird about certain textures and flavors.

Simply Delicious describes this dish as “colorful” and “nutritious”, which is 1980s code for “bland diet/health food that nobody really likes but can tolerate to varying degrees”. Having had too much of this kind of stuff forced upon me throughout my parents’ yo-yo dieting phases, the mere notion sends a shiver down my spine.

Onward, for science. 💀

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.

1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 12, 2016December 31, 2019appetizers, breakfast, butter, chanterelle, chives, creamy, diced, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, fried, garlic, Glendale apt, green onions, hors d'oeuvres, lunch, melted, minced, mushrooms, pan-fried, parsley, party food, revisited, salt, sautéed, snacks, sour cream, thyme, toasted, vegetables, vegetarian, white bread, yellow onions

Well folks, this is the 100th cooked recipe I’ve made for this project, which is just shy of 2 years old at this point. I chose 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms to be the 100th recipe for a reason–it was one of two recipes (along with 1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip) that inspired me to do this project in the first place.

I made this for a birthday party I’ve mentioned before along with 1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks and 16-37: Double Decadent Brownie Torte. It’s a great appetizer and a delicious snack.

16-37: Double Decadent Brownie Torte

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 11, 2016November 6, 20204-6-09 dinner, all-purpose flour, baked goods, birthday, brownies, butter, cakes, chilled, chocolate, chocolate chips, cornstarch, creamy, custard, dessert, easy, egg yolks, eggs, fairly inexpensive, frosted, gift ideas, glazed, granulated sugar, Kahlúa, light corn syrup, macadamia nuts, melted, party food, pastry, pastry cream, pecans, revisited, roach motel apt, semisweet, strawberries, torte, vanilla extract, vegetarian, walnuts, whipping cream

I had mentioned in 1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks that I had attended a birthday party recently–I used 16-37: Double Decadent Brownie Torte as part of the birthday cake that I made for it. This is one I’ve made before, and this time I kept some of the changes I made the first time.

I noted that I made this with Kahlúa whipped cream the first time. I did that this time too, along with a Kahlúa pastry cream to layer between 2 layers of torte.

17-6: Best Ever White Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 9, 2016August 23, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, baked goods, breads, breakfast, dairy-free, durum wheat flour, egg-free, gift ideas, kneaded, lunch, party food, proofed, revisited, salt, side dish, slit, snacks, steamed, vegan, vegetarian, white bread, yeast

Here’s a really simple and easy white bread recipe if you find yourself in need or want of fresh white bread. 17-6: Best Ever White Bread doesn’t have a lot to it, but if you want to use it for something like 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms, it works really well.

I made this particular recipe once before, a little under a year ago according to the red Sharpie notes on the card. I was working on this project then, but had taken a bit of a break at that point. I had been making a lot of bread at the restaurant at this point and was doing a bit of practice at home using what I had learned.