The New Home Ec

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Skillet Pizza

This is the un-sexy version of pizza at home: no fancy prep, no pizza stone, not even a little finicky. It's pizza for people who just want some dinner. It's also good enough that I wished I could have had dinner twice last night. You will need a 12" skillet with curved sides and a lid for this. You can buy pizza dough and sauce, but that seems harder than just making it, especially in Lockdown. Skillet Pizza Serves two adults generously 10* oz pizza dough OR 4 oz. warm water 1 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. salt 2 tsp./1 packet yeast 1 cup/6 oz AP flour plus a bit for kneading 2/3 cup pizza/pasta sauce OR 1 tsp. olive oil 1 clove garlic 1 tsp. dried oregano 1 tsp. aleppo pepper flakes 1/2 tsp. ground fennel 1/4 tsp. rosemary powder 2/3 cup crushed tomatoes 1 cup/4 ounces mozzarella (fresh or low moisture, your call) shredded 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan or other nice hard cheese 1/4 cup finely sliced onion of some kind other toppings as desired, but keep it scant If you're ma

Savory Scones

Scones are quick breads (using chemical leavening instead of yeast) (also ready in 20 minutes instead of a lockdown craft project) and a good thing to know about in general. This batch is destined for the freezer so I can pull out one or two to put in my lunchbox next week. You can use any cheese and add ins that you like, provided they're not too wet. Fresh or dried herbs are nice too. Savory Scones makes 12 2 cups/240 g all purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter COLD 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. buttermilk (or milk plus 1 tsp white vinegar) 1/3 cup grated cheese 2 strips crispy bacon, chopped 2 Tbsp. minced raw shallot If you're using milk with vinegar, mix and let stand while you prep the rest. Preheat oven to 350F and find a cookie sheet. If you like to use parchment, get out a sheet now. If you have a bench knife, it will come in handy. Otherwise a butter knife will do. Mix the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt t

The Return of Bargain Menus

It’s the return of the weekly menu! Here’s dinner for two for 6 nights (assuming you want leftovers or take out once a week) complete with shopping list & recipes. These menus assume that you know how to cook already, so it may call for something like cooked rice without telling you how to cook it. Most recipes are super flexible so you can substitute whatever is in your pantry or fridge at will. Tips for cooking, or for cooking ahead are included - if you see “ Save for future meals ” then set those ingredients aside for later in the week. Since the original menus were meant to be low cost, they shopping lists don’t include a lot of luxury. If you have the extra funds you can toss in an avocado or fancier cheese. BARGAIN MENU B01 Saturday Fish Cakes Rice Peas Save for future meals cooked rice frozen peas egg yolk Tip: Cook and refrigerate extra rice for Tuesday night. Sunday Waldorfish Salad Cheese Toasts Save for future meals

Yeasted Waffles

Who doesn't like breakfast for dinner I was too hungry to take the food porn picture of waffle dripping with syrup and bacon once in a while? Yeasted waffles, which need to rise for at least 8 hours, are ideal for dinner service. I mix them up in the morning before I (used to and will hopefully once again) leave for work and they're ready to cook by dinner time. If you like to have breakfast for breakfast, go ahead and mix them 14 hours before you want to cook, then pop them in the fridge where the chill will slow the rise. Yeasted Waffles makes 5 double waffles 1/2 cup warm (105F)water 2 tsp. yeast* 2 Tbsp. sugar** 1/2 cup melted butter 2 cups buttermilk*** 1/2 tsp. salt 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 eggs 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. vanilla happy yeast Mix water, yeast and sugar in a bowl with at least 10 cup capacity. Let stand for 10 minutes until it starts to foam. Stir in melted butter, buttermilk and salt. Add flour a cup or so at a time, stirring

Instant Pot Yogurt

Greek Yogurt layered with rhubarb compote and toasted pecans. 1/2 gallon cow milk 1 Tbsp. yogurt Choose your milk: it must be animal milk (someone else will have to figure out vegan yogurt) and it must NOT be Ultra-pasteurized (so no Organic Valley.) I used Clover Organic Whole Milk. Choose your yogurt: it needs to say “live active cultures” because that’s what will magic your milk into yogurt. It should, naturally, be plain yogurt. I used Greek Gods full fat traditional plain yogurt. This has pectin in it, which didn’t seem to cause any problems despite dire warnings on the internet that you should use yogurt that contains only milk and cultures. That’s the internet for you. Choose your weapons: I used the non-stick inner pot. There was, ultimately, still a little sticking but no scorching. I also used the glass lid from my fry pan, which happens to fit my Instant Pot. That’s because Laura Doyle said her yogurt picked up the smell from the rubber seal of the metal lid

Smashed Potatoes and Bacon Gravy

A couple of years ago ago, at a restaurant that was cute but ultimately disappointing*, I decided to order fried chicken with smashed potatoes and bacon gravy, and green beans with slivered shallots**. As any cook worth her salt will tell you, restaurant fried chicken is a foolish order. The best fried chicken is lightly floured*** and shallow-fried, producing plenty of nice fat and cracklins for milk gravy, which is IMHO the entire point of fried chicken. Restaurant fried chicken is usually heavily breaded and deep fried, and the gravy, if it exists at all, is a sad broth based thing, or nothing more than white sauce. Also I don't like chicken very much. Nonetheless, I ordered it because I had never considered putting bacon gravy on potatoes. Readers, it was a divine combination. The potatoes were buttery and slightly lumpy (in a good way) and the gravy was just the right texture, smoky and not too rich with a good dash of pepper. I made it the next week at home, and I'