Cover Image: Todd Quackenbush/Unsplash

Bring out the kitchen goddess in you while self-quarantining with these easy-to-prepare dishes

Since we will all be hunkering down at home until June 1, we might as well pick up a few more life skills, and eat well at the same time. Of course, you can have food from your favourite restaurants delivered to your home, but if you feel like stepping up your cooking game, here are a few celebrity chefs' go-to recipes that were also shared on Instagram. They are meant to be simple, giving you the opportunity to master some basic skills and gain more confidence in your cooking. 

Read also: At Home Recipes: Explore Asian Flavours With These Shrimp Recipes

1. Nigella Lawson's Spaghetti With Lemon And Garlic Breadcrumbs

This recipe is perfect for home cooks loooking to put bread that's about to expire to good use. 

INGREDIENTS

200 grams spaghetti or spaghettini
Salt for pasta water plus 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
15ml tablespoon regular olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
Approx. 50 grams (½ cup) breadcrumbs
2 x 15ml tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 small clove garlic (peeled)
Black pepper (to taste)
1 small bunch fresh flatleaf parsley (chopped)

METHOD

1. Bring water to the boil for your pasta, salting generously when it starts bubbling. Add the pasta, stir with a pasta fork or your equivalent and let the pasta cook according to packet instructions, tasting a couple of minutes before it's meant to be ready.
2. Warm one tablespoon of regular olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and add the lemon zest; it will sizzle fragrantly. Now add the breadcrumbs and toast by stirring them in the warm pan until they turn a deep gold colour. Remove immediately to a cold dish.
3. Important step: before draining the pasta, remove a cupful of the starchy water. It is a crucial step.
4. Tip the drained pasta back into its own cooking pan, then add the extra-virgin olive oil and half the lemon juice, and toss to combine in the hot pan until a lot of the liquid is absorbed. Add the dried chilli flakes and salt (to taste) and grate in (or mince and add) the garlic, and toss again, adding some pasta-cooking liquid to help it amalgamate into a sparse but gleaming sauce. Season to taste and to check whether you want to add the remaining lemon juice.
5. Mix the chopped parsley into the toasted breadcrumbs and add most of the breadcrumb-parsley mix to the pasta, tossing well.
6. Divide between two warmed bowls and sprinkle the remaining lemony, parsley-flecked breadcrumbs over each.

This recipe originally appeared on nigellissima.

 

2. Gordon Ramsay's 10-Minute Stir-Fry

This is a good way to use up wilting vegetables in your fridge. Ingredients can also be swapped with whatever vegetables you currently have. It appears the amount required is flexible. As such, seasoned to taste and taste often.  

INGREDIENTS

Ground beef
Leftover rice
Mushroom
Ginger
Red onion
Red and yellow pepper
Snow peas
Spring onions/scallions
Bok choy
Egg
Chilli
Garlic
Soy sauce
Fish sauce (optional)

METHOD

1. Heat the pan.
2. On a plate, break up the minced beef. Season with salt.
3. Once the pan is hot, add a touch of oil and fry the beef.
4. Toss in the sliced red chilli.
5. Grate ginger and garlic into the mixture.
6. Once the beef is cooked, let it rest on the plate.
7. Clean the pan and add a touch of oil. Fry the sliced red and yellow bell peppers.
8. Season lightly with salt.
9. Add the snow peas, bok choy, sliced mushrooms, a touch of soy and fish sauce (optional), and spring onions.
10. Once they’re caramelised, put on the plate to rest.
11. Clean the pan and add a touch of oil.
12. Add egg, whisk around the pan before tossing the leftover rice. Season lightly with salt.
13. Combine the rest of the ingredients and serve.

3. Eric Ripert's Two-in-One Lentil And Salmon Dish

You can cook the lentils and eat them on their own or with another meat of fish. If you do without the lardons and fish, this is still a tasty vegetarian dish.

INGREDIENTS

1 salmon
1 pound (about 450g) of lentils
1 carrot, diced
5 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
Lardons
Chicken stock (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Sauté a few lardons with a bit of oil, one diced carrot, five garlic cloves and one small onion for five minutes on medium heat.
2. Add lentils and two quarts water (about 1.9l; alternatively you can use chicken stock).
3. Simmer for around 30 minutes or until lentils become soft and retain a bit of liquid. Remove from heat.
4. Season salmon with salt and pepper on both sides and fry in hot, non-stick pan with vegetable oil on medium heat until coloured (around two minutes)
5. Turn the salmon over and cook for another two minutes for medium-rare.
6. Plate the lentils, add a bit of the broth and top with the salmon.

4. Pierre Hermé's Five-Ingredient Chocolate Cake Recipe

The secret to making this sumptuous cake is to use high-quality chocolate. And this version by the world's most famous pastry chef uses Valrhona's premium Guanaja chocolate.

INGREDIENTS

250g soft butter at room temperature
180g sugar
200g eggs
70g sifted flour
250g melted chocolate

METHOD

1. Mix the ingredients in the order they are listed then pour into a buttered and floured cake tin. Bake in the oven at 180C for 30 to 35 minutes and leave to cool.

5. Dominique Ansel's French Yoghurt Cake

This is another really easy cake recipe that needs only yoghurt and a few pantry staples. If you don't have a measuring cup, use the yoghurt container.

INGREDIENTS

1 container (7oz) yoghurt (plain full fat or Greek yoghurt)
2 (yoghurt) containers flour
1 (yoghurt) container sugar
1/2 a (yoghurt) container olive oil or vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 360F.
2. Butter and flour your cake/loaf pan (you can also use cooking spray).
3. Combine all ingredients except the eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Stir with a spatula (or wooden spoon) until smooth and free of any lumps. Add the eggs and vanilla in stir until combined.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake/loaf pan. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a paring knife/cake tester comes out clean. Once baked, let cool for 5 to 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

6. Thomas Keller's Salmon And Spinach

This is a quick and easy recipe that only needs one cookware.

INGREDIENTS

2 pcs salmon (with the skin off)
1 bowl spinach
Butter
Olive oil

METHOD

1. Heat the pan and add oil.
2. Sprinkle salt on the fish.
3. Pan-fry the fish. Add a cube of butter while frying. Remove from pan.
4. Discard oil in the pan, and use the same pan to fry the spinach leaves.
5. Season the spinach in layers. (When wilted) squeeze (using a spatula) to remove excess water; discard the excess water.
6. Continue to wilt the spinach leaves in the pan. Add a cube of butter.
7. Plate the spinach and top with salmon. Drizzle with olive oil to serve. 

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