Quarantine Recipes - share some favorites!

With most of the country on some form of quarantine, there’s far more time to cook. Normally I run through a list of 15-20 ‘favorites’ at home, but there’s so much more time, I’d like to explore some new options. Food availability is limited, however, so that adds another tricky angle.

What’s everyone cooking during the quarantine?? I’d love some ideas!

I made a huge pot of vegetable soup over the weekend (carrots, celery, onion, fennel bulb, potato, green beans, garbanzos, frozen corn, frozen peas, lacinto kale, red bell pepper, Parmesan rinds, Rosemary, small pasta, parsley, and 3 quarts of vegetable broth). Doesn’t take too long and the family will feed off it for a week.

Supplementing with Flannery hanger steak tonight for the meat eaters

I’m making lots of things to freeze. We’re self quarantined and expect more than 2 weeks of food necessary. Can’t have too much Flannery hanger steak, but the Instant pot has been busy with chicken and rice soup and black beans. A couple of extra proofed pizza dough went to bacon/carmelized onion/gruyere pizzas for freezer. Also made some hummus which freezes well. Had some defrosted chicken thighs which went into hunter chicken and frozen as well. Add to pasta or rice and it stretches well. Had large bag of carrots so made carrot puree today for the freezer as well. Frozen in Oregon—Mike

This has been a winner at my house - easy, delicious and freezes easily.

I love to make eggplant stew, bean soup, stovetop thin pizza, and omelet.

Pizza for lunch.

I am a bbq nerd and this is my go to rub recipe. I love using it on St Louis style ribs, and you can have it with or without your favorite sauce.
Also fantastic on chicken and pork.

What is stovetop thin pizza?

• Grease a shallow, non-stick pan lightly with butter or oil.
• Grease both sides of either an aluminum foil or parchment paper disc, fitted to at least the pan rim.
• Spread a thin layer of raw pizza dough onto the foil or paper disc. Brush the top lightly with oil.
• Place face upward, disc downward, into the unheated pan.
• Then apply only medium heat.
• After the dough has cooked enough to set the top, flip it over—directly now onto the pan—and strip off the foil or paper disc (save in freezer for re-use!!!).
• Turn up the heat to high, until browned and crispy on one side.
• Flip over, dress lightly with pre-cooked, pre-heated sauce or toppings of your choice.
• When the second side is browned and crispy, slide onto a plate, and cut with scissors.

I taught Jay Hack this technique, applicable on a Big Green Egg. If my noodle shop ever re-opens, I may start selling these pizzas.

Steps.
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Doesn’t belong in Asylum - we have a forum for this, and I’ll merge the threads

Risotto with little smoked bay scallops from the freezer (Simple yet Died and went to heaven good)

Pizza in a cast iron pan (similar to victor above, but here’s a linky… Claire Makes Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza | From the Test Kitchen | Bon Appétit - YouTube )

We love a hearty pot of green lentils:

-In a large pot, sweat a classic mirepoix (finely diced carrot, onion, celery)
-When soft, add two heads of minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes
-Add in green lentils and enough ham stock* to cover
-Cover and gently boil until lentils are tender (about 20 minutes)
-Add browned, sliced kielbasa, picked ham meat (below) and large pieces of washed kale
-Cover, and cook just until kale is wilted and soft
-Serve with crusty bread

*Boil two smoked ham hocks with water, carrot, celery, onion, bay leaf, parsley, and peppercorns for 2-3 hours. Remove ham hocks and pick off meat and reserve. Strain the liquid.

Shashouka for family brunch today

This is a great time to do large roasts, because you’ll be home to eat the leftovers. Pork roast, pork shoulder, leg of lamb and lamb shoulder have been our go to cuts. A nice rub, a nice roast or braise or time in the pressure cooker, with aromatics that have been plentiful in the grocery (at least here), and we have dinner for two for at least two nights, plus a couple of lunches.

I can’t eat legumes or pulses, so we can’t do any bean or lentil dishes, but soups are a must. Love chicken and escarole, plus here is a fantastic lamb neck and cauliflower soup - a variation on a Chinese lamb and mung bean dish. We love this because the flavors are a delicious change, it makes a lot, and lamb necks are very inexpensive. Enjoy!

CHINESE LAMB NECK AND CAULIFLOWER SOUP
Here is our soup method, as developed over a couple of years. It makes a VERY large pot, so feel free to reduce it. All amounts are “ish” – you can adjust as you like.

Grate a 4” piece of ginger and 6 cloves garlic into a large pot with some oil (less oil if your pot is non-stick, more if it’s not) and cook a few minutes to aromatize the oil. Any end pieces of garlic and ginger can get minced and put in as well. Remove from pot and set aside.

Brown meat in the same pot – roughly 6 lbs lamb necks and two pounds of very well-trimmed shoulder, as well as a couple of bones from the shoulder if your butcher will supply. Brown about 5 minutes. The necks we get are split both vertically and horizontally, which gives you more access to the meat and collagen in between. This cut is ideal, but you won’t lose much if they aren’t split so much. Higher quality lamb makes no difference in this soup, we’ve found, and more expensive cuts are not as good. The necks are essential for the gelatin etc. The shoulder fills it out and adds some depth of flavor.

Add 7 quarts of water, 3 star anise, ¼ C of soy sauce, ¼ C whisky or brandy, a bit more salt and bring to a simmer, skimming throughout. Continue to simmer for 1-2 hours, skimming as needed, depending on how soft you want the lamb and if you want it falling off the bones. We like closer to 1 hour, as we like picking up the bones and working the meat off. At 2 hours, the necks are almost completely falling apart, which is better for people afraid of bones (most Americans!). The nature of the necks is such that you’ll get the extraction you need with an hour.

While the meat is simmering, dry toast 1-2 T Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant and visibly smoking, but not charring, and set aside to cool. You can do a larger batch and keep in an air tight container, but the flavor is best if they are toasted right before. Once cool, run the toasted peppercorns through a spice grinder. Don’t make the mistake of using a coffee grinder, as the powder lingers!

Remove meat and bones from the pot and add 2 medium heads of cauliflower, rough chopped, plus 2 chopped jalapeno peppers and 1 habanero pepper (to taste). Add in the ground toasted peppercorns. Simmer about 10 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, puree the liquid and vegetables until rough, not fine. Note, you can skip this step, and just leave the vegetables at the size you chop them to. You can also simmer the vegetables with the bones and get more flavor extraction, but less intact pieces.

Add back in the meat, necks, the sautéed grated garlic and ginger, 1 peeled and chopped medium daikon and cook a few more minutes.

At this point, you can serve, or you can cool overnight and skim the fat off the next day, as you like. Though the fat removal is entirely a personal choice, this soup gets better and better as it sits. So definitely make a large pot and eat it over several days.

Serve with chopped cilantro on top. We also put in some Taiwanese pepper paste with good flavor for a bit more heat. Choose any condiments you like.

***Edited to add that this freezes VERY well.

Any recipe for real (safe) 'merican lamb? pileon newhere

Wait…does this mean you mod-shamed yourself?? [wow.gif] neener

I’m looking for some ridiculously complex recipes to kill some time. Maybe some mole or something. Here’s my posole today… finding hominy was not so easy. Never thought I would say that.
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For dinner tonight, I made risotto with tinned tuna, artichoke hearts from a jar, lemons, and stock made from crab shells that have been in the freezer a couple of months. Would probably be serviceable with good chicken or vegetable stock.

Because my much simpler approach does not bake the pizza in the oven, it works fine during the summer, when someone wishes not to heat up the entire kitchen.