Category: By Technique

Barley porridge

Simmer 1/2 cup barley in 2 cups of almond milk. Use the lowest possible heat; almond milk boils over if you look at it sideways. In about 45 minutes, the grains will have absorbed all the almond milk. Options: add a couple of eggs to the hot pot, spoon hot barley on top, put the

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients: Potatoes, onion, butter, cream, flour, Parmesan, pepper, salt. Options: ham, garlic. Method: Cast-iron skillet; medium hot (350ºF) oven for over an hour. Pre-heat oven (and pan, while you are collecting your ingredients). Butter bottom of skillet. Slice onion, cover bottom. Slice potatoes (mandoline if you have one), layer. Sprinkle with flour, parmesan, salt, pepper,

Basic Hot Sauce

Heat a knob of butter in a skillet on medium-high heat. Slice and sauté a large purple onion and a large handful of fresh chili peppers along with their seeds (washing your hands afterwards). When those are soft, clear a space in the middle of the pan and add a whole head’s worth of garlic

Ginger Jubilee Cookies

This was the surprise winner of this year’s Christmas baking: a dense cookie with a rich flavor, suitable for dunking in coffee or nibbling with your after-dinner adult beverage. Adapted from Joy of Cooking. In a double boiler, over simmering water, mix 2/3 c honey, 1 c sugar, and 2 oz butter. When combined, thoroughly

Focaccia

I wish I had known twenty years ago that we could have home-made focaccia as often as we wanted and with just fifteen minutes of effort. Start by making a basic no-knead bread dough: this step takes less than ten minutes. In a large bowl, mix three cups of all-purpose flour, a teaspoon and a

No-Knead Bread

I tried to bake bread one or two times in my twenties, failed horribly, and then didn’t try again for twenty years. I might have waited another decade if it wasn’t for the disruption of the Covid lockdown, when getting a fifty pound bag of flour delivered seemed like a more sensible choice than going

Enchilladas

Like all of the “ethnic” foods I cook, this dish doesn’t make any claims to being particularly “authentic,” but it is tasty and filling. Once you learn the technique, you can ring changes on it with different fillings and varieties of sauces. See also the recipe for Enchilasagna, which uses the same kinds of ingredients but

Buttermilk biscuits

Preheat oven and cast-iron frying pan to 450ºF. Mixing bowl, large fork: 300g. cake [or Southern all-purpose or biscuit] flour 1T baking powder 1T sugar 1t salt Stir together. Pastry cutter: 1 stick (4 oz). butter 1c. (8 oz.) buttermilk Cut butter into dry ingredients. You can mash with a fork or use your fingers,

Shortbread

1 lb. butter 2 c. superfine sugar 2 c. rice flour 2 c. flour Cream butter & sugar together, mix in flours well. Turn dough out onto a baking sheet or press into a baking dish, 3/4” to 1/2” thick. Prick with fork. Chill at least 30 min. Bake in moderate oven (375ºF) for 5

Challah (bread machine)

2T (25g) butter 1 egg + water = 8 fl. oz. 400g bread flour (3 1/4 c.) 2T sugar 1.5 t salt 1t yeast glaze: 1 egg yolk, 2T water sprinkle: poppy seeds Recipe courtesy Cappy Harrison.