Dad is cooking!
This is a course created by a single dad, for single dads. It quickly became the point of reference for not only single dads, but also single moms and students that need to cook for themselves or their kids. It’s a compilation of simple, clear, and good recipees.
The idea is to provide a survival kit for all those that have to cook but don’t have much time, or don’t particularly like it. The purpose is not to turn you into a 5 star chef, but rather to give you a turn-key solution that guides you from coming up with ideas for your meals (full weeks already designed for you), to planning the trip to the grocery store, to actually making the dishes.
I will regularly add new videos, ideas and tips, so stay tuned!
If I were interested in making Savory souffles accompanied by a choice of Coq au vin, Chicken with truffles Joannes Nandron, and Sausage and Tomato Paella, I’m pretty sure I could find at least ten YouTube videos telling me exactly what to do. All I’d need is a kitchen the size of a football field, an assistant, and a few extras hours per day in prep time. But what if I don’t have that? What if I’m just a single, working parent that needs to make a decent meal for my kids after work?
So, here’s what’s great about this course. No dishes with names we can’t pronounce, requiring time we don’t have. Just simple stuff and most of all, good ideas. After a long day at work, or school, coming up with ideas is a daunting task. The question: “what can I make?” is sometimes harder than: “how do I make it?”
My goal is to keep developing groups of recipes covering a full week at a time. You’ll learn both the “what” and the “how”, so you can rest assured you’ll always have a plan.
Course introduction
These are the tools I recommend you keep handy:
Sharp knife
Apron
Oven mitt
Non-sticky pan
Some plastic container, like the ones that you often get when buying salad. We'll use them both for storage and to assist with cooking
Trivets (hot pads)
Top 10 foods according to kids:
1 - Pasta
2 - Pizza
3 - Cupcakes
4 - Ice-cream
5 - Chicken
6 - Fruit Loops
7 - Rice
8 - French fries
9 - Burgers
10 - Hot Dogs
The basics
#1 Fish
#2 Bread
#3 Poultry
#4 Pork
#5 Ground beef
#6 Fruit (pears in particular)
#7 Milk
Eggs, on the other hand, last a long time
It's like when e go away for the weekend: do I have my toothbrush, my pj or when we leave the house: do I have my keys, wallet and phone. The kitchen equivalent is offered in this lesson. There are foods I always keep at home because I can make a last minute, decent meal in no time.
What are they:
Pasta
Eggs
Shredded cheese
Chicken
Ground beef
and....... Polenta
Zero time cooking
Ravioli butter & sage
Preparation: 3 minutes
Cooking time: 7 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes
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You need:
1.Pot and water
2.Butter (1/3 stick = 0.25 Oz or 35 gm)
3.Ravioli (or other kind of soft pasta, like gnocchi or tortellini)
4.Fresh sage (alternatively dry sage in a bottle)
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How to make it:
Bring the water to a boil
Put butter in a non-stick pan and melt on the stove at low temperature
When the butter is melted, add a few laves of sage
Stir
Take off the stove
When ready, remove the ravioli
Mix ravioli with butter and sage
Add some parmesan on top
Eat and enjoy!
Beef Tartare
Preparation: 5 minutes (although you should ideally let it sit in the fridge for one or two hours)
Cooking time: 0 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
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You need:
1.Ground beef, possibly organic, definitely from a butcher you trust
2.2 lemons
3.Olive oil
4.Salt
5.Black Pepper
6.Parmesan cheese
How to make it:
Cut and squeeze the lemons
Put the ground beef on a plate and then pour the lemon juice. At this point you should let it sit in the fridge for one or two hours hour. Then add black pepper, olive oil, salt, and cheese.
Then take it out of the fridge, let it reach room temperature (don't put it in the microwave!!!) and serve.
Eat and enjoy!
Every day a new idea
Pasta with bacon and cream sauce
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
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You need:
1.Pasta (any kind)
2.Grated cheese (Parmesan is good)
3.Vegetable oil
4.Cutting board
5.Sharp knife
6.Wooden spoon or a spoon that doesn't scratch the pan
7.One onion
8.Non stick pan
9.Heavy cream
10.Salt
11.Strainer
12.Pot + water
13.Bacon
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How to make it:
Chop the onion (for 2 people 1/3 is enough)
Cut the bacon in small pieces (for 2 people 1/2 cup should be ok)
Put pan on the stove, oil in the pan, and heat it up (couple of minutes)
Add onions - stir occasionally (2 minutes)
Add bacon. Cook until bacon is getting some golden color
Add heavy cream and turn heat way down so you don't fry the cream
Add grated cheese
If you want you can add some black pepper
Cook for 90 seconds
Make pasta of your choice
Add sauce
Eat and enjoy!
Chicken in lemon sauce
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
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You need:
1.One or two lemons (one for 2 pieces of chicken)
2.Knife
3.Lemon squeezer (if you have it)
4.Flour
5.Vegetable oil
6.Thin sliced chicken breasts
7.Non-stick pan
8.Plastic container with a top (if you have it)
9.A Glass of water
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How to make it:
Cut and squeeze the lemons
Put three table spoons (more or less) of flour in the plastic container.
Put the chicken in the container
Close the lid
Shake to make sure the cutlets are fully coated in flour
If you don't have the plastic container just put the flour on a plate and lay the chicken in it on both sides
Put the pan on the stove, add one table spoon of oil, heat up but keep stove temperature low to avoid burning the outside of the chicken
After 2 minutes add the chicken
Add salt
If the chicken starts to look too dry, add a bit of water
Turn the chicken over from time to time
When the chicken looks kind of gold (10 minutes), add half of the lemon juice while still on the stove
Let chicken cook in the lemon juice for 5 minutes
Make a little cut in the chicken piece to make sure it's cooked
Remove from the stove
Put chicken on a plate
Add the rest of the lemon juice
Eat and enjoy!
Oven baked salmon with brown sugar (and almond) crust
Preparation: 4 minutes
Cooking time 13 minutes
Total time: 17 minutes
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You need:
1.Salmon fillet
2.Cutting board
3.Knife
4.Lemon
5.Lemon squeezer
6.Brown sugar (if you don't have it, use honey) - 2 table spoons
7.Almond meal or crushed almonds (if you have it). If not, bread crumbs
8.Olive oil
9.Small ball
10.Hot sauce or red pepper flakes (if you like it)
11.Oven pan
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How to make it:
Cut and squeeze the lemons
Put 2 table spoons of olive oil in the small ball
Add the lemon juice
Add brown sugar (if using honey, wait)
Stir
Couple of drops of hot sauce
Add almond meal (or bread crumbs)
Lay salmon in the pan, cover with lemon/oil mix
If using honey, pour a little bit of honey on top
Put in the oven at 385 F (195 C)
Without pre-heating cook for 10 minutes
Turn to broil and cook for additional 3/5 minutes
Make sure it's cooked - if fork or knife goes through smoothly, it's cooked
Eat and enjoy!
Crepes ham and cheese
Preparation: 10 minutes for the mix plus
Cooking time: 20 minutes to make crepes (active cooking) plus 15 minutes in the oven (passive cooking)
Total time: 45 minutes
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You need: (makes 5/6 crepes)
1.Non-stick pan
2.Oven pan
3.Spatula to flip the crepes over
4.Mixer
5.Measuring Cup
6.Small bowl
7.Larger bowl
8.Milk (2/3 cups, or 150 ml)
9.Salt ( a pinch)
10.Eggs (2)
11.Non-stick spray (like Pam)
12.Butter (2 table spoons)
13.Flour (1 cup, or 120 gr.)
14.Shredded mozzarella
15.Parmesan cheese (optional)
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How to make it:
Melt the butter (small bowl in the microwave) and let it cool down
In bigger the bowl mix flour with 1 full egg and 1 egg yolk
Use the mixer to mix it
Add milk (slowly)
Keep mixing for another 45 seconds until nice and creamy
Add butter
Add a pinch of salt
If you can, let it rest for 1 hour
Spray the pan with Pam
Heat up on the stove
With a ladle, put some mix in the pan covering the bottom and about 1/8 inch in thickness (3 mm)
When you see little bubbles on the surface of the crepe, wait 1 minute and then flip over
When crepe has golden color remove and put on a plate
Repeat until out of mix
Put a crepe flat on a plate
Lay ham on it
Lay cheese on top of the ham
Roll it up
Place it in the oven pan
Repeat with all other crepes
When done, cover all with mozzarella cheese
If you want, add parmesan cheese on top
Cook for 15 minutes
If it looks dry, add a bit of milk on top
Remove from oven
Eat and enjoy!
Oven baked pasta
Preparation: 10 minutes to make besciamella sauce plus 15 minutes to make pasta
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
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You need:
1.Pasta (short kind)
2.Butter (1.5 oz, 40 gr.)
3.Milk (2 cups, 400 ml.)
4.Shredded mozzarella
5.Flour (1/2 cup, 40 gr.)
6.Ham
7.Oven pan
8.Pot (for the pasta)
9.Small pot and wooden spoon
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How to make it:
Melt the butter over low heat
When butter is melted, slowly add the flour
When butter and flour form a nice mix, slowly add the milk
Keep stirring!!
After 5-6 minutes, the mix will feel a little more dense, somewhat in between the consistency of heavy cream and yogurt. Remember to always stir!
Remove the mix from the stove
Make pasta
When pasta is ready, place a layer on the bottom of the oven pan
Cover the pasta layer with besciamella sauce (the butter, milk, flour mix you made)
Add pieces of ham
Cover with shredded mozzarella
Add a new layer of pasta and repeat
Finish by covering the last layer with mozzarella
When done (3 or 4 layers in general) put in the over at 385 F (195 C) for 25 minutes
When top layers of pasta is assuming a golden color, remove from the oven
Eat and enjoy!
Breaded chicken and cheese
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
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You need:
1.Slices of cheese that melts, like Swiss, American, provolone, etc
2.Garlic
3.Non-stick pan
4.Eggs
5.Bread crumbs
6.Sharp knife
7.Cutting board
8.Three plates
9.Thin sliced chicken cutlets
10.Salt
11.Vegetable oil
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How to make it:
Chop the garlic
Put three plates in front of you
Put bread crumbs and a bit of salt in the middle plate
Put a full egg in the first plate: to your left if you're lefty, to the right if you're righty
Take the chicken pieces, dip in the egg, roll in the bread crumbs (once, twice, whatever number of times feels good)
Put chicken on the third plate
Repeat
Put vegetable oil in the pan, heat up keeping temperature quite low
After 2 minutes, add the garlic
After 2 more minutes, add the chicken
Always keep the temperature low!
When one side picks a nice, golden color, flip it over
When both sides of the chicken look nice and cutlets are cooked, cover the pieces with the cheese and let it melt
Serve
Eat and enjoy!
Minestrone
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 55 minutes
Total time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
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You need:
1.Shredded mozzarella cheese
2.Parmesan cheese
3.Pasta (dry, short kind like penne, rigatoni or shells)
4.Canned tomatoes
5.Sharp knife
6.Cutting board
7.Bacon
8.Onion
9.Pot and water
10.Olive oil
11.Chicken stock (if you can, if not bouillon is fine)
12.Red pepper flakes
13.Any fresh vegetables you have in the fridge
14.Potatoes
15.Plastic container or large bowl (to wash and mix things)
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How to make it:
Clean the veggies that need to be pealed and washed, like carrots, potatoes, fennel, turnip, etc
Chop the onion
Mix all veggies
Fill 1/3 pot with water and bring to a boil
Put olive oil in a pan and heat up
After a couple of minutes add onion, then bacon
After three minutes add all veggies to the pan with the onion and the bacon
Let it cook for 5 minutes or so
Add chicken stock (o bouillon) to the boiling water
Add some salt to the water
Add the canned tomatoes
Add veggies to the water
Add red pepper flakes
Let it simmer for 45 minutes or so, or until it feels right
Go by your own business: have a glass of wine, take a shower, watch TV, read, whatever...
After 45 minutes add the pasta
Cook the pasta for as long as it says on the box
Add shredded cheese
Use a ladle to transfer to a bowl
Eat and enjoy!
You need:
Pasta (farfalle, if possible)
Cherry tomatoes
Mozzarella
Grated cheese (optional)
Olives
Pepper
Canned tuna
Salt
Olive oil
Scallion
Jumbo weiner
For dads only!
Gnocchi gorgonzola (or blue) cheese
Preparation: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Total time: 17 minutes
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You need:
1.Gnocchi
2.Salt (for the water)
3.Fresh (or dry) sage
4.Olive oil
5.Milk or cream
6.Parmesan or other grated cheese
7.Crumbled gorgonzola or blue cheese
8.Pot
9.Small pan
10.Wooden spoon
11.Ground nutmeg if you have it
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How to make it:
Put water in the pot and bring to a boil
Put small pan on the stove
Add a couple of table spoons of olive oil and turn heat
After two minutes add a little bit of milk
Immediately after, add a handful of crumbled cheese (gorgonzola or blue)
Add a couple of leaves of sage
Let it sit at low temperature for two minutes. If too liquid, add some more cheese
Add a pinch of nutmeg
As the water is boiling, add the salt and the gnocchi
Cook the gnocchi for as long as it says on the box
When ready (don't overcook!) scoop the gnocchi out and put them in the pot with the sauce
Mix well and transfer to the bowls
Eat and enjoy!
