yellow onions – Page 5 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

8-22: Beef Tenderloin with Whole Garlic

Adam Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses January 24, 2018October 18, 2020beef, beef tenderloin, blender, butter, chilled, chopped, creamy, crushed red pepper, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, herbs and spices, lemons, melted, minced, pan-fried, parsley, pastry bag, piped, roasted, rosettes, salt, sliced, Tabasco sauce, tarragon, untested, Worcestershire sauce, yellow onions

Oooh-la-la! What a fancy recipe 8-22: Beef Tenderloin with Whole Garlic is!. I have never attempted a dish like this before, but I approached it with confidence because I’ve watched Jamie make both a spiced butter and oven roasted garlic. She makes it look easy, but making this dish was not as difficult as I thought it would be. I don’t have plates with fancy fluted edges and I was out of red wine to serve with my dish, but I served it as best I could.

This dish is definitely gourmet. With spiced butter and roasted garlic, this dish contains a lot more elements than my usual go-to dishes.

4-10: Spinach-Mushroom Ring

Adam Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 19, 2018October 4, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, butter, chopped, creamy, diced, dinner, eggs, fail, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, frozen, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, lunch, milk, mushrooms, nutmeg, ring mold, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, spinach, stews, tart pan, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

4-10: Spinach-Mushroom Ring claims to be perfect for a ladies’ luncheon…this light and fluffy egg and mushroom stew dish is yet another dish that I wouldn’t generally make for myself. I ate one of these rings and threw the rest out, and if you know anything about me, that’s something I rarely do.

This dish is described as luscious and from the most accepted and common definition, it can described as richly luxurious or appealing to the senses. The combined flavors of the mushroom sauce and spinach omelette could be described as rich and creamy, but that still doesn’t mean it was a tasty dish.

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! 🥂

9-3: Herb Garden Meat Patties

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses October 1, 2017October 19, 2020black pepper, burgers, butter, chopped, cilantro, cream sauce, creamy, diced, dinner, dried herbs, dried spices, easy, egg-free, garnish, gluten-free, ground meat, ground pork, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, pan-fried, paprika, party food, peeled, pork, salt, sliders, sour cream, thyme, untested, whipping cream, yellow onions

Finally, an interesting take on the ground meat patty. Let’s spice things up by adding fresh garden herbs with 9-3: Herb Garden Meat Patties! 🌿

I’ve tried burgers with added spices before. Here’s yet another Simply Delicious suggestion for preparing flavorful meat patties.

9-39: Zesty Meat Casserole

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 13, 2017October 19, 2020baking pan, butter, carrots, casserole, celery, celery root, cheese, chopped, creamy, dinner, easy, egg-free, gluten-free, grated, ground meat, half-and-half, inexpensive, julienned, milk, Parmesan, parsnips, peeled, piquant, potatoes, salt, sautéed, sweated, Tabasco sauce, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, yellow onions

Not every Simply Delicious recipe is a home run. With 9-39: Zesty Meat Casserole, perhaps unsuccessfully, tries to break the mold. By not forming the beef into a patty, meatball, or kebab, this casserole tries to do something different. To cook this recipe, I had to prepare a parsnip, something I’m not accustomed to. I made this dish before a trip out of town and brought it with me to have something homemade to eat.

I cut my vegetables in a manner similar to the photograph, but my substitution of milk for half-and-half made the sauce come out runny.

9-29: Ground Meat Kebabs

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 11, 2017October 19, 2020beef, broiled, cornstarch, dairy-free, Eastern European, easy, egg whites, eggs, garlic, gluten-free, grill pan, grilled, ground beef, ground lamb, inexpensive, kebabs, lamb, lunch, meatballs, minced, olive oil, pan-fried, paprika, party food, salt, sautéed, skewered, sweated, tzatziki sauce, untested, yellow onions, yogurt

The Ground Meat and Sausage category is mainly 2 types of dishes: ground meat patties and ground meat kebabs. 9-29: Ground Meat Kebabs is one of the kebab variety. I made this recipe at the same time as 9-19: Meatballs on Skewers because they called for almost identical ingredients.

Grilling outside is much more satisfying than using a grill pan in my apartment, but I currently don’t have a lot of space for grilling.

Editor’s note: Putting on my ex-history teacher hat for a second–note that Simply Delicious claims this dish is from the vineyards of Yugoslavia, which hasn’t been a country since the late 80s/early 90s, around the time the Soviet Union collapsed. These remind me a lot of lule kabobs, which were one of my favorites when we lived in a heavily-Armenian area in Los Angeles (the apartment with the blue tiles and yellow walls from the beginning of this project). These are NOWHERE near as good as those ones, but I suppose they could pass in a pinch.

9-1: Spicy Beef Patties

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 9, 2017October 19, 2020beef, beets, black pepper, bread crumbs, burgers, butter, canola oil, capers, chopped, cucumbers, diced, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, grated, griddle, ground beef, ground meat, half-and-half, lunch, milk, pan-fried, panko, pickled, pickles, potatoes, relish, Russian, salt, spicy, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

Any excuse to pull out the electric griddle is alright with me! After all of the meatball-style recipes in the Ground Meat and Sausage section, I was ready for a patty-style recipe again and 9-1: Spicy Beef Patties did not disappoint. I’ve never thought to put pickled beets into a burger before, but after trying this recipe, I would consider it again.

I love the little skinned potatoes they served alongside the patties in the example photo. I haven’t quite learned the technique to cook those yet. Their side salad is very photogenic, but not very filling. 3 tomato slices and 1 leaf of lettuce.

7-13: Thai Pork Loin

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses June 8, 2017October 15, 2020Asian, boiled, bone-in, boneless, braised, butter, canola oil, chopped, cinnamon, cornstarch, cubed, deboned, deglazed, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fish sauce, green onions, herbs and spices, hot sauce, leeks, lunch, Oriental, peeled, pork, pork loin, salt, sautéed, scallions, sliced, slurry, soy sauce, sriracha, Thai, Thai soy sauce, untested, vegetables, white onions, yellow onions

Pork and pineapple are two of my favorite ingredients. Sweet and Sour Pork from almost any Chinese restaurant makes me happy. Simply Delicious finally put these two powerhouse ingredients together in this recipe for 7-13: Thai Pork Loin.

Looking at the size of the chunks in the sample photo, I see how I could have cut my ingredients differently, however, I still stand by the choices I made. The method of preparation I chose is what Jamie and I would prefer versus what the book tells you to do.

9-19: Meatballs on Skewers

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses June 7, 2017October 19, 2020allspice, almonds, appetizers, beef, broiled, chilled, chopped, cinnamon, cornstarch, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fairly easy, gluten-free, grated, Greek, grill pan, grilled, ground beef, ground lamb, ground meat, ground veal, herbs and spices, inexpensive, kebabs, lamb, lemons, lunch, meatballs, Middle Eastern, mint, nuts, olive oil, pan-fried, party food, peeled, salt, sautéed, skewered, tzatziki sauce, untested, veal, yellow onions, yogurt, zested

Gyro is probably my favorite preparation method of ground meat, so when I saw this recipe, I got very excited. This recipe, 9-19: Meatballs on Skewers is basically the same recipe as gyro, just served differently. However, I wish I had just bought a container of tzatziki at the store instead of making the yogurt sauce.

The rabbit handle piece on the end of the skewer in the example photo is simply incredible. I’ve never seen a set of skewers quite like that. It looks like the other skewers have other animal handles, I think I see a cat and a chicken on the other skewers that are slightly obscured by the meatballs. The serving dish is very neat, I’d like to add one to my collection.

5-4: Eggs Benedict

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters June 4, 2017January 21, 2023breakfast, brunch, butter, butter sauce, Canadian bacon, caramelized, cayenne pepper, creamy, double boiler, easy, egg yolks, eggs, English muffins, fail, garlic, ham, Hollandaise sauce, inexpensive, lemon juice, lunch, MD2017, Mother's Day, Mousseline sauce, pan-fried, parsley, poached, salt, sautéed, sliced, smoked ham, spinach, toasted, untested, vegetarian, vinegar, whipped, whipping cream, white bread, yellow onions

I believe in a couple of things–nobody’s perfect, and all things eventually balance out. My experience with this recipe, 5-4: Eggs Benedict, especially relative to how the rest of the meal went, encapsulates both of those ideas.

In the days leading up to making this Mother’s Day brunch (MD2017), I knew I needed to practice two things before the big day: poaching eggs and hollandaise sauce–I’ve had trouble with both in the past. Guess what I didn’t do?

I procrastinated on practicing both my egg poaching and my hollandaise, and those were my exact failure points on this recipe. After the jump, you can read about what went really well (my homemade English muffins) and what didn’t (my broken hollandaise sauce, for one).