Don't be afraid of it Opanel. Cooking is about trusting yourself.
Prior to the beginning to shelter in place we started about two months ago, my sons had limited cooking skills. One cooked for himself most days and was likely to pan fry a pork chop with a little salt and pepper and boil part of a bag of frozen vegetables or he would oven bake a couple of chicken dark quarters with salt and pepper and grab a handful of salad out of a bag. The other son rarely cooked at all except to bake cookies at Christmas (usually in my kitchen and with help). The boys are now isolated together at one son's house and my SO and I are isolated at our house. We get together 3-5 nights a week for dinner at one house or the other.
The guys are grabbing cookbooks off my shelves to find things to make that they have ingredients in their refrigerator or pantry. Last evening the guys cooked and they advertised it as being a 'quiche'. It was not a quiche but not really a frittata either. They had a box of frozen spinach they gently cooked/thawed and drained, some mushrooms they sliced and cooked in a dry skillet to get about half the water out of them before adding a pat of butter to finish cooking with some rough chopped onion. While the onions were cooking a red bell pepper got chopped up and added to the mushrooms and onions. Ham scraps from a ham cooked last week were cubed up and stirred into the pan to warm a bit. A 9 x 13 Pyrex was lightly greased with baking spray from a can and the spinach was spread evenly over the bottom, then the frying pan contents were dumped atop and spread out. 9 eggs were lightly scrambled with a hefty grind of black pepper (no salt because the ham was salty) and a couple of pinches of oregano (not nearly enough to make a difference) and poured into the pan. The top was sprinkled with shredded mozzarella (the only cheese in the refrigerator that had not molded) and the dish went into the oven at 350 until the egg set (about 40 minutes). The ideas had come from a couple of recipes they had read. The result was pleasant, nutritious and a completely acceptable dinner. They critiqued their own work and learned from it--I kept my mouth busy eating. The spinach needed to be squeezed harder to get more of the water out, the pepper added texture and color but little flavor, some garlic would have helped, as would more oregano, cheddar would have been better than mozzarella. They are learning to cook and learning to think about what goes together that would please themselves.
Cooking terms are like any other jargon--a single word to describe a concept. If I suggested you 'proof' your bread for an hour, it is shorthand for saying 'pull the dough together into a smooth ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Turn the dough ball to make sure all surfaces have a light coating of oil and cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel. Place the bowl in a warm place for the yeast to double the size of the dough ball, which should take about an hour.' Make yeast bread once and 'proof' will be in your vocabulary.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2020 02:08AM by Flash.