Making Nan with a Three Year Old

I trashed my kitchen this afternoon making silk road nan with my three year old. I was inspired by this essay at Culinate, and when I read the recipe for playdoh bread, I immediately thought of this nan. It has several steps that are fun for kids: rolling the balls of dough flat, dimpling with the fingertips, painting with butter (my son's favorite part), and sprinking salt and cumin seeds on top. Flour got everywhere -- all over the floor and table, and my son -- and the butter painting extended a bit beyond what I would have liked. I managed to check my neat-freak-out impulse, and just went with it. After, I set him up with a swiffer, and he pretended to be a street sweeper.

Recipe adapted from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's Home Baking. I cut the original in half, correctly judging that my son's attention span couldn't handle more than six breads.

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons melted butter

for topping:
2 tablespoons melted butter
salt and cumin seeds
(could also add chives or garlic here)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast and warm water. Stir in one cup of flour to form a batter. Add the salt and melted butter. Stir in two more cups of flour. Then, using the dough hook, put the mixer on 2, and add flour until it forms a kneadable ball of dough. Knead eight minutes, scraping dough as necessary. Remove dough hook, cover bowl, and let rise for at least two hours.

Put pizza stone in oven, and preheat to 500 degrees F. Turn out dough onto a floured counter or board, and divide into six pieces. Form pieces into balls, and flatten. (If child can be persuaded, let dough rest 10 minutes at this point.) Using a rolling pin, roll to roughly 8 inches diameter. Transfer to pizza peel very lightly dusted with flour. Dimple all over with fingertips, brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with salt and cumin. Slide onto pizza stone, keeping child far far away from the oven, and bake 7-8 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack, then wrap in a light cotton towel.

Trader Joe's Dinner Hack

Need dinner in twenty minutes? Semi-healthy, almost sophisticated?

1 package Trader Giotto's frozen gnocchi al gorgonzola
1 handful of mushrooms, sliced
2-3 handfuls baby spinach (as much as your kid will tolerate without fuss), rinsed and large stems removed
2 slices bacon, cooked until crisp, crumbled (optional)

Prepare gnocchi according to directions for stovetop. In another pan, saute mushrooms. When the gnocchi is almost finished cooking, stir in spinach and mushrooms. Cover, and cook until spinach wilts. Top with bacon if using. Add a grind of fresh pepper for adults.

101 Simple Meals for Stressed Moms

Last Wednesday the food section of the New York Times ran an article on strategies for cooking for a family. It was nice to see, although a bit impractical from my perspective — I'm probably not going to be spending Sunday figuring out what to cook for the rest of the week, and I'm definitely not making pot roast any time soon.

But today, Mark Bittman and his list came to the rescue for the rest of us: those of us who find ourselves facing, on a regular basis and despite all good intentions, the problem of what to cook at the end of the day. His list of 101 ideas may have been intended for hot cooks in New York kitchens, but most would work decently well for kids too (and some, like number 54, seem aimed right at them). I thought it was genius. Now if only the Times would print the list in a convenient size for hanging on the fridge, I'd be the first in line to send in my $4.95 plus shipping and handling.