Photo and recipe of Pantry Brownies by Spencer Margolis.

Just because all of us are at home and practicing social distancing, doesn’t mean that you have to eat frozen dinners. You can still have simple weeknight meals elegant enough for a Saturday night dinner all with items found in your pantry. With a little bit of time, effort, and creativity, you can put together any meal with the ingredients on hand. And now that you don’t have school, what else can you do all day but cook? Here are a few recipes to try.

French Onion Soup

For this you will need:

3.5 lbs sweet onions
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
6 cups beef or veggie stock
1 bunch of thyme
1-¼ cup non-alcoholic white wine
Water as needed
Salt and pepper to taste
1 baguette
8 oz gruyere cheese

Step 1

Peel your onions and chop them in half through the root to the top end. Then cut them against the grain to get equally sized moon-shaped slices. Melt 1 tbsp of butter and oil in a large heavy bottom pot. Once melted, add onions and salt and cook on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions turn brown in color and caramelize. This should take about 2 hours and you can add ¼ cup of water every 15 minutes to prevent the onions from sticking to the bottom. You really want them to be moist.

Step 2

Once the onions have been caramelized, add some more water to deglaze the pot and add in the non-alcoholic white wine. Stir frequently until the wine is reduced by half. Add in the beef or veggie stock and bring to a simmer. Add the bundle of thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes until it is slightly thick.

Step 3

While simmering, slice the baguette into ½ inch slices and shred the cheese. Once the soup is done, put into oven-proof bowls, top with a slice of bread, some shredded cheese, and place under the broiler on high until the cheese is bubbly; this should take about 3 minutes. If you don’t have oven-proof bowls, then toast some bread with cheese on top and then dip that into your soup. Wait a couple of minutes for the soup to cool down and enjoy.

Notes:

This recipe is great for when you have tons of time and don’t know what to do with it. If you have limited time, you can add a teaspoon of sugar to the onions to speed up the caramelization process.

Pasta Aglio e Olio

For this you will need:

Any long grain pasta *I used linguine boiled al dente (to the bite)
1 cup of reserved pasta water
½ cup parsley, finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic
½ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes *optional

Step 1

Add oil to a pan and heat it to medium heat and add in the thinly sliced garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add in the cooked pasta and toss to combine, add reserved pasta water little by little until creamy. Remove from the heat and toss in the parsley; salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

This recipe is versatile; you could add bacon, pancetta, peas, or even some asparagus. The possibilities are endless when it comes to pasta as simple as this.

Baked Ziti

For this you will need:

1 large yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
¼ cup olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lb of whole milk ricotta
1 lb mozzarella cheese cut into ½ inch cubes
½ cup of shredded parmesan-about 2 oz
½ cup heavy cream
Short tube pasta such as ziti, rigatoni, or manicotti
Salt and pepper

Step 1

To make the tomato sauce, heat olive oil in a heavy bottom pot. Add diced onion, garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until translucent, about 8-10 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook until it deepens in color and turns the oil orange, about 1-2 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and squeeze the peeled tomatoes with your hands into the pot along with the juices. Add red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 30 minutes and stir every 5-10 minutes.

Step 2

While the tomato sauce is simmering, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and boil the pasta in heavily salted water until it is almost al dente. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven, so cook for two minutes less than instructed on the package. After the pasta is done, take out a cup of the pasta water and set it off to the side, strain the rest of the pasta through a colander.

Step 3

To make the cheese mixture, combine the ricotta with the parmesan and the heavy cream in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add pasta water to the sauce and stir to combine. In a large bowl, combine the pasta with 2 cups of tomato sauce to coat.

Step 4

To assemble, put a 3-quart baking dish on a baking sheet (this is to prevent the cheese from spilling over onto the bottom of your oven) and spoon in some of the sauce. Add ⅓ of the pasta, ⅓ of the sauce, and dollop half of the cheese mixture on top with half of the mozzarella. Repeat with another ⅓ of the pasta and another ⅓ of the sauce and half of the cheese mixture. Layer with the remaining pasta and sauce and then dot with the remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle with some shredded parmesan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Notes:

This recipe is great for big families, meal prepping, or freezing. It’s a delicious dish that you can always have on hand. To customize it, you could add some fennel seed, oregano, basil, or any other spices you’d like.

Pantry Brownies

For this you will need:

½ cup of butter
½ cup of cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
¼ cup of flour
1 cup of chopped walnuts *optional
1 tsp of vanilla
A pinch of salt

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease an 8-8 inch baking dish. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add cocoa powder. Whisk to combine. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Add eggs and whisk to combine.

Step 2

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, walnuts, and salt. Add in chocolate mixture and vanilla and fold until the flour is just incorporated. Pour into the prepared dish and bake for 30-35 minutes. They should still be gooey; make sure not to overbake. Let cool in the pan until it is cool to the touch. Cut into squares, remove from the dish, and enjoy.

Notes:

This is another versatile recipe; add any fillings you want like chopped peanuts, pecans, pretzels, caramels, or even more chocolate chunks if you’d like.

These recipes are adaptable to whatever you have on hand, and you can change them up or make them your own very easily. In short, quarantine doesn’t mean that you have to sit around all day doing nothing; you can follow a few easy steps and not only fill your time but produce excellent, healthy, simple meals for you and your family. The possibilities are endless. Now get off your butts and go cook!