She's 11 and she's already taught herself how to boil an egg (a damn good soft-boiled one at that) and cook rice. I started teaching myself how to cook when I was 14 and I'm doing a commercial cooking program in post-secondary, so I've already been teaching her knife skills and some basic stuff but I haven't had many chances to actually cook with her due to living a couple hours away. I'll be home a bunch over the next month, so that's prime time to show her a few dishes.
I have a couple of ideas, like fried rice and a couple different kinds of soup, but I also want to demonstrate just how creative she can get with cooking and introduce her to food she might not otherwise try. The recipes will have to be relatively easy so I don't overload her, but I want her to have fun too! I'm willing to go out and pick up ingredients specifically for this.
Spaghetti aglio e olio.
This would be a good intro once it is safe for her to (1) boil a pot of water and (2) fry with medium-hot oil (about 1/4 cup olive oil). It's something like seven ingredients: olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, water, spaghetti, parsley, and optionally black pepper and/or a little lemon.
It also tastes super good.
Recipe:
Put salted water in a pot and start heating on high.
Cut 5-8 cloves of garlic into slices. Wash and chop between 1/2 and a whole bunch of parsley.
Put 1/4 cup good olive oil into a cold skillet along with the garlic and some red pepper flakes (one shake is often enough). Heat on medium until the garlic starts bubbling, then turn to low or off.
Boil the spaghetti according to instructions and save a half cup of pasta water when draining.
Put parsley and pasta into the frying pan and mix. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta water. Add ground pepper and lemon to taste (I usually skip the lemon).
That's it. You made a really good pasta dish in 10-15 minutes
I respectfully disagree, while simple, aglio e Oglio is deceptively difficult, to do well at-least. It’s A very timing sensitive dish and the pasta water won’t accomplish what it’s supposed to unless the pasta is fresh enough to throw off a lot of extra starch into the water. If you pay extra and get fancy pasta that can work but I still worry she might be unimpressed by the result. I think Cacio e Pepe might be better, it’s similarly simple but does not require properly deglazing garlic and the end result is akin to Mac n cheese!
I've had good luck with all kinds of pasta, just keep adding pasta water and cooking down if it's not starchy enough. Eventually it will nicely incorporate and turn a nice sticky emulsion rather than oily. Worst case, it ends up a little salty.
Though I haven't tried it, I wonder if one could just toss in some flour at the beginning of boiling to get starchier/easier water. It's also tasty even when it's an oily mess, just not amazing.
PS :im-vegan: so didn't recommend cacio e pepe.
Oh completely agree, very tasty even as an oily mess. I just felt something like cacio e Pepe is a little more consistent and ends up feeling more like an accomplishment.
That’s A really cool idea, a little semolina in the pasta water could probably help fudge the effect of fresh pasta water. I’ll try that someday!
I’m actually Vegan too lol, there are some really good Vegan Parmesans where I am so I completely forgot that Cacio E Pepe is not a vegan dish. If the alternative is actual cheese then do Aglio E Oglio OP. Cheese is highly addictive and you don’t want em hooked young!
Ha, nice! I forgot that vegan parm existed! Gonna make a cacio e pepe soon, yusssss.
I think I'm gonna try the semolina-in-da-water trick today or tomorrow! Hope I remember and check back in with the results.
Can confirm that putting a little semolina works great! I added maybe a pinch total? Only needed about two teaspoons of pasta water, turned out perf
o7 glad you’re having delicious pasta comrade