The first steps to kitchen mastery for absolute beginners
We all have to start somewhere. That’s the inspiration behind this small but mighty collection of recipes for absolute beginners. We’re talking can-hardly-boil-water beginners. Maybe you just graduated from college and are on your own for the first time, or perhaps you never quite got the hang of cooking. Not to worry! These dishes — ranging from a no-cook tuna mayo rice bowl to oven-roasted chicken thighs with potatoes and lemons — are a fantastic place to start. Because no one wakes up one day and can suddenly, say, run a marathon or, in this case, cook.
But anyone can make something good to eat. With a little help from food columnists Melissa Clark, Genevieve Ko and Eric Kim, you’ll become the cook you always wanted to be: a confident one. Start with
the recipes below, which are ordered from easiest to hardest. With practice, repetition and patience, you’ll not only develop a set of skills that you can apply to other recipes, but you’ll have 10 delicious dishes under your belt worth cooking on repeat.
Roasted Mixed Vegetables
Perhaps you’ve heard about the
glories of cooking on sheet pans. For those who are busy, have limited means or time, or have picky eaters to feed, sheet-pan cooking can be a lifesaver. You’ll be blown away by the flavorful, satisfying meals you can pull off with nothing but a sheet pan, including these simple roasted vegetables that you can mix-and-match according to your taste.
Yield: 2 to 3 servings
Total time: 45 minutes
For the vegetables:
8 cups vegetables (any combination of broccoli, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms), cut into 1-inch pieces (see tip)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
Freshly ground black
pepper
4 fresh thyme sprigs or 1 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
For the (optional) garlicky yogurt sauce:
1 cup whole-milk Greek
yogurt
1 to 2 garlic cloves, finely
grated or minced 1 tablespoon extra-virgin
olive oil
Pinch each salt and freshly ground black pepper
Prepare the vegetables: Heat oven to 425 degrees. Add the vegetables to a rimmed sheet pan. Add 2 tablespoons oil, the salt, pepper and thyme (if using), and gently toss vegetables to coat. Use your hands to spread the vegetables out into one layer, spacing them evenly all over the pan.
Transfer to the oven, and roast until they are tender and browned, 30 to 40 minutes, stirring at least once during roasting for even cooking.
While vegetables roast, you can make yogurt sauce if you like: In a small bowl, combine yogurt, garlic, oil, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Serve roasted vegetables with a dollop of garlic yogurt, if desired, and a drizzle of oil on top.
Tips: If you’d like to swap these vegetables for denser vegetables, use any combination of carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, butternut squash and cauliflower, cut into 1-inch chunks. Add an extra tablespoon of oil and extra ½ teaspoon of salt. Roast for 40 to 50 minutes. These vegetables take longer to cook and absorb more oil while roasting.
— By Melissa Clark
Turkey Chili
What better way to feed a big group than this hearty turkey chili? (It’s also a great way to make lots of meals for yourself: Leftovers will last for days in the fridge or a month in the freezer.) The recipe starts with frying onions and canned tomatoes in olive oil before adding chili powder and chipotles to the mix for spice and heat. You’ll have to let things burble away for a good 20 minutes, but you can trust that, like these 10 recipes, the process is working. Yield: 2 to 4 servings Total time: 45 minutes
3 tablespoons olive oil 1 large white onion, diced 1 (28-ounce) can whole
peeled tomatoes Salt
2 tablespoons chili
powder
1 pound ground turkey 1 (7-ounce) can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce Shredded extra-sharp Cheddar, sour cream and whole cilantro leaves, for serving (optional)
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until translucent and starting to brown at the edges, 5 to 7 minutes.
Use a fork to fish the tomatoes out of the can, and add them to the pot, leaving behind the juice for now. Season with salt, and cook the tomatoes, breaking them up with the wooden spoon and stirring occasionally, until jammy and their liquid has reduced significantly, 5 to 7 minutes.
Stir in the chili powder, and cook until fragrant, just a few seconds. Add the ground turkey, season with salt and stir to combine, breaking up the meat with the spoon. (Don’t worry about browning or cooking it through here, as it will do so when it simmers.) Stir in the reserved liquid from the tomato can.
Use the fork to fish out as many chipotle peppers from the can as you would like, starting with two or three, and add to the pot, breaking them up with the wooden spoon, along with all of the adobo sauce. The more peppers you use, the spicier your final chili will be; if you like spice, just add the entire can. (Store any peppers you don’t use in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week and in the freezer for up to 2 months.) Fill the empty chipotle can with cold tap water, swish it around and add to the pot. Stir to combine.
Bring the chili to a simmer over medium-high heat — you should see occasional small bubbles breaking the surface of the mixture — then cover the pot and reduce the heat to continue simmering over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced and the tomatoes have broken down, about 20 minutes. The chili should look thick and shiny, but not too thick that you couldn’t ladle it into a bowl. (If it’s too watery, then simmer with the lid off for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.) Taste and add more salt if desired. Serve with cheese, sour cream and cilantro, if using.