WHEN IN DOUBT, DESSERT. It might be my new motto. It would make a good t-shirt, wouldn’t it? Hmmm. Anyway, it certainly is a motto I’m using for John, of Teaching John to Cook, my friend, and subject of an occasional series here on TSP on how to sister a pal into the kitchen.

So many of you have come to the aid of John, as we talked about simple, basic recipes to learn first, kitchen equipment, and then, of course,  cookbooks. He and I are so grateful to all of you who have showed up, digital aprons on, typing through your kitchen mitts.

There’s roadchick, whose humor has several times now made me spit my tea tight onto my computer screen, but who reeled it in just a little to lead off our recipe discussion, suggesting simple turkey meatballs, as well as the suggestion to never assume that someone knows how to cook the spaghetti to go with those meatballs.

D Wilson at Austin Agrodolce says “rice.” Yup. You bet. Maggie, at EatBoutique, reminded us of the kingly status of the simple omelet. Kelly Cline, food stylist, rolled up her sleeves and rolled out a regular menu of menus, suggesting salads, pastas, roasted vegetables, and well, go have a look, please. The bounty of her comment is its own horn of plenty.

Oh, yes, and Elyse reminded us to cook without fear. Thanks. I needed that.

When it came to cooking equipment, it was Janice who confirmed my belief that a  good cast iron pan is the very best ever thing to own, though our dear friend Christine at writing by ear, prefers nonstick, and kindly provided a tidy list of only what’s really needed. And who could live without Marilyn, at simmertildone’s suggestions of what to read?

So, next?

Next is dessert, which I have always found to be something of a default position in my life, falling back on one or two basics—a good chocolate cake, or a favorite pie. That is, until I saw Mark Bittman of  the Times’ Minimalist, as well as the Bitten blog, do on video which I have now done in my kitchen, oh 30 times this summer: make a frozen desert in 30 seconds. Uh huh.

Here it is.

Mark Bittman’s Miracle Dessert (is what I call it)

Serves 6

2 cups frozen fruit (I use organic cherries)

¼ cup sugar (I use none)

½ cup yogurt (or sour cream, he says)

2 Tbsp water

Into the food processor.

Pulse a few times.

Do not over pulse, or you’ll get a smoothie.

Serve in small bowls.

Cook on.

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IT’S TIME YOU MET JOHN, of Teaching John to Cook (the lovely man and dear friend of the Facebook self-portrait, above), to whom so many of you have reached out during his difficult time. I’m happy to report he’s doing marvelously well at it, and that he has mastered a new recipe. It’s one you may enjoy, as well.

But first, a recap. If you go back to my opening piece to this series, you’ll remember that at first there were three men–one whose wife of 20 years had just walked out, one who was living too high on the Manhattan hog, and John, whose partner suddenly passed away last autumn. Now there is one, since the other two are not taking us up on all our culinary help. John, however, has dutifully showed up in my kitchen, and we’ve progressed–in no small way because of your help.

Taking your cues, I homed in on a recipe that both utilized what he had on hand in his kitchen (Le Creuset, mostly; a little retail therapy indulgence after the loss of his beloved partner), and, as Sandy so rightfully suggested, got him to put down the Gourmet (for now, anyway), and, at Jim’s suggestion, got him instead to pick up Everyday Food, the Martha Stewart gem, a magazine to which I’ve subscribed from its very first issue, every issue of which I have saved.

I did not have far to look, since a May 2009 issue was just what we needed, and to tell you the truth, the results were perfect.

Of course, we changed the recipe somewhat, as all cooks do, since both he and I are limited both in our knife skills, as well as in what carbs we will eat. This taught him that lesson, as well: Any good recipe can survive (even thrive from) a little alteration.

Here it is.

From Everyday Food, May 2009
Jamaican Chicken Curry
This teaches the technique of stewing.

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 bone-in skinless chicken breasts halved, 10-12 ounces each, halved crosswise
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 medium onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp ground cumin
3 Tbsp curry powder
½ tsp dried thyme
4 carrots thinly sliced
1 can (13.5 ounces coconut milk)
1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas, thawed
Cooked rice for serving

1.    In large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in two batches, brown chicken, 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer to plate.
2.    Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, garlic, cumin, curry, thyme and ½ cup water and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion has softened, 3-5 minutes.
3.    Add carrots, coconut milk, ½ cup water, and chicken with any accumulated juices. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover partially and cook until chicken is cooked through and carrots are tender,  about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peas. Serve curry over rice.

So here’s how we adapted it: We used whole chicken breasts (bone in), letting the whole thing cook longer, about 30 minutes.

Also, both of us are low-carb people, eschewing rice, so we set the curry on quinoa, instead. Yum.

You? What recipes would you like John and me to try?

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SMACKING MY HEAD seems to be my favorite pastime. Why else would I have utterly missed the obvious, the totally abundantly clear-as-gin issue that all of my three guy friends have that is keeping them from learning to cook? What more simple problem could there be than this one? You tell me and I’ll smack my head for you each time you send in the correct answer.

Teaching John to Cook has been going along nicely, I thought, for a few weeks now. With your help, I’ve been supplying my three guys first with recipes. Then, after last week’s appeal for cooking-utensil tips, I thought we were pretty much on our way.

Then John came to dinner and I got him talking about what we was making in the kitchen, and it seemed he wasn’t making much. And someone else had the good sense to ask, “What are you reading?” to which he replied “Gourmet.”

Aha! While I love Gourmet as much as the next eater, it’s like eating a fancy dessert first, wouldn’t you say, when he’s still trying to find his way to the stove? I know it would scare the crap out of me at that stage of a cooking life. And since I already admitted to a “D’Oh!” in last week’s post on Teaching John to Cook, this week I’ll plead to a HELP ME NOW!

What should John be reading so that he can nourish himself? I’m thinking something easy. Jim, as you may remember, commented that Glorious One Pot Meals by Elizabeth Yarnell would be a great book. It is. It’s perfect.

But what about magazines? Other books?

C’mon, sisters, three adult-male lives depend on your suggestions.

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TEACHERS NEED TEACHING. And the best of teaching comes from the students. Years ago, a Swiss friend making his first trip to America was looking for a typically New Yorker thing to do. I took him to a Mets game, where I spent the first three innings describing and defining such intricacies as the designated-runner rule, the infield-fly rule, the real specs, nuts and bolts of the game of summer. Right around the fourth inning my friend turned to me, owl-eyed and asked, “What’s a base? Yes, well, there you have it. I had forgotten the essentials, which is exactly how I felt when John, of Teaching John to Cook, came to dinner over the Memorial Day weekend and seemed more flummoxed than helped by the recipes we’ve been offering him. One of three men whose aid we’ve come to, he well represents what I’ve heard from all three “Johns” we’re writing about here at TSP.

It seems that after his partner died, John did a bit of retail therapy and, as a result, possesses a lovely fish poacher, and some Le Creuset. Lucky man. But he just wanted a fried egg, poor guy.

I found myself thinking back on that baseball game. The essentials. What are the essentials we teach when we teach someone to cook? Is it as Jim suggests, that we start with all-in-one-pot and that great book Glorious One-Pot Meals by Elizabeth Yarnell?  Such a good idea.

I could pretty much cook everything I cook (and I pretty much do) in the large cast iron skillet that was given to my mother-in-law as a wedding gift more than 65 years ago, and was then passed along to me. To this day, sometimes that divine pan sees three meals in a day in our house: it fries, it sautees; it even goes into the oven, its heavy lid securely on, and becomes the perfect roasting pan.

So, putting our best pan forward, what do you suggest I show our three friends who are learning to cook, what to cook in?

Thanks, sisters. Despite my stumble, they all report eating a little better this week.

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