Udon for one that is as quick as ramen and only uses pantry things

Put on a pot of water to boil. 

Mix in a small bowl, not fussing too much over weights and measures:

1 T soy sauce

shy T oyster sauce

1/2 T mirin

1 t brown sugar or maple syrup

1/2 t rice wine vinegar

squort of sriracha

A minute or so before the water boils, set a skillet over med-high heat; heat with a small glug of oil + a smaller glug sesame oil.

When the water boils, put in 1 frozen brick of udon for just 1 min.

Transfer soba and sauce to the hot oil in the skillet and stir-fry it all up to a tight, clingy sauce.

Serve with a  generous dose of furikake.

Reb Roy Ramen

This is from the NYTimes recipe for "Perfect instant ramen."
My Korean friends did this when I was a kid-- but I have an American cheese prejudice, so I didn't think I'd like it. But American cheese isn't really exactly cheese, and that's important to this recipe. This isn't cheese-flavored ramen. Instead, the pasteurized process cheese product readily emulsifies with the broth to give it body and fat, almost to the point of seeming like a credible ramen broth. It's quite a neat trick.

I made it to the letter of Jeff Gordiner's transcription of the recipe. I liked it, but it was too brothy for me (I'm odd; I like a less brothy ramen); I wanted it saltier; and I could still taste just a bit more of the American cheese flavor than I would have liked. So I tried it again. I trimmed the 2 1/4 c water to 1 1/2 and cut the Kraft singles from 2 to 1. This solved all three problems-- less broth; less cheese per unit broth; and more flavoring packet per unit broth. I also don't find the described method of poaching the egg to work-- I have to keep it over heat and watch the egg set. Then I scoop the egg out and hover it over as I pour the noodles and broth over the cheese, butter, sesame seed, and scallion. Stirring everything to emulsify the cheese destroys the poached egg, and I like it whole.

boil 1 1/2 c water.
Add a packet of ramen noodles.
Cook 2 min. Meanwhile, put in your serving bowl:
            1 kraft single, torn up
            1 t butter
            1/2 t sesame seeds
            1 scallion, white and green parts, slivered
Add seasoning packet (roast chicken is good), stir, cook 30 sec.
Carefully plop in an egg. Don't stir, but you can fold the noodles up over it. Poach at least 1 minute, or until set.
Spoon out the egg. (Some noodles might come with it)
Pour the broth and noodles into your serving bowl and stir until the cheese is emulsified. Plop back in the egg and serve.

Yeasted bara brith

Beca Lyne-Pirkis represented her Wales home on The Great British Bake Off with this traditional bara brith. Then my friend Tamra repped it as her ancestral home at a vaccination celebration tea.

450 g /1 lb flour (bread or AP)

7g salt

20g/ 3/4 oz fresh yeast or 1/4 oz instant yeast

75g/ 2.5 oz butter, plus extra

50g/ 1.75oz brown sugar

2 t mixed spice

350g/ 12 oz mixed dried fruit, such as raisins, currants, sultanas, cranberries, cherries

1 egg

255 ml/ 8 fl oz strong warm tea (Tamra used Earl Grey)

oil, for greasing

for the glaze: 50 g /1.75 oz sugar + 50 ml/ 1.75oz water

Place flour, salt, and yeast into a large bowl and rub in butter to the texture of fine breadcrumbs. Mix in sugar, spice, and fruit until evenly distributed. Add egg and tea and bring mix together to form a dough. Knead until smooth. Cover it in the bowl with oiled cling film till doubled, at least 1 hr.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease a 2lb loaf tin.

Punch down the dough, shape it into the loaf tin. Cover and prove ~30 min. Bake in the center of the oven 20 min, then cover with foil and bake for 25 more minutes.

Turn out of the tin and cool for 20 min. Meanwhile, make the sugar syrup by bringing equal parts water and sugar to a boil and cooking till syrupy, then brushing the loaf with it. Cool before cutting, and serve plain or with butter.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

 More rhubarb, more custard, more Maine. This is from Jane Cleaves McKenna from Bowdoinham.

1 generous T butter

1 1/4 c sugar

3 eggs

1 generous T flour

2.5-3 c finely chopped rhubarb

pastry for a double crust pie

Preheat oven to 425. 

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, then flour. Beat well until smooth and creamy. Add the chopped rhubarb.

Bake in a latticed crust for 15 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 for 30-40 min more until nicely browned. Cool.

Grapenuts Pudding

 More from the Maine cookbook! I really like Grapenuts ice cream, and (weirdly) like pudding even better than ice cream most of the time.

This one is credited to Ada Foss Cobb of Monson, Piscataquis County.

4 eggs

1/2 c sugar

1 t vanilla

1/4 t nutmeg, + extra for sprinkling

3 c milk

1/4 c Grapenuts cereal

Beat eggs. Stir in sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and milk, then stir in Grapenuts. Pour into a buttered baking dish and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake in a water bath at 375 degrees for about (30) minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake until a knife comes out clean.

Prison commissary peanut butter fudge

I made this last July 14 on vacation in Massachusetts. The plan had been to go to Maine, but Covid derailed that. We made some Maine recipes anyway. This is from the Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook and is credited to "State Prisoner Matthew." The recipe uses ingredients and tools available to the inmates. I thought it was delicious and had a fascinating texture (was it supposed to? I don't know, but ours did)-- soft/chewy fudge, but also kind of like a butterfinger with ribbons of crystallized sugar.

1 1/2 jars peanut butter

1/2 jar Fluff

1 - 1 1/2 c sugar 

1 bag M&Ms (maybe we used peanut butter M&Ms?)

Empty peanut butter and Fluff into a large bowl. Microwave until it starts to rise. Take it out and stir. Let sit. When cooler, mix in M&Ms, if using.

Pour a small amount of water in a separate bowl with the sugar. Mix. It should be thick. Microwave until it begins to boil. Take it out and stir for 10 seconds. Put it back in the microwave and let the sugar boil until it turns a golden brown sugar-- it should be at the point of crystallizing. I suppose you could also do this on the stove unless you're in prison.

Pour the sugar mixture into the PB/Fluff mixture. Quickly!! stir-- the fudge will begin to harden fast. After mixing well, pour into a greased pan (or if, in prison, a box lined with a trash bag). spread it out evenly with a spoon and press it down with a gloved hand. Let sit for 1.5-2 hours.

Sausage rolls

The inclusion of onion is not unusual in posted recipes, including those from Britain, but always seems controversial in the comments. ("There is NEVER onion in a sausage roll!"next to comments like "English person here. Feel free to mix it up with MANGO.") I like onion, so I'm keeping it.

1/2 large onion or 1 small onion, finely chopped

oil

1 lb sausage meat (such as Jimmy Dean sage flavored sausage)

2 eggs

salt, pepper

flour

sesame seeds or poppy seeds or everything bagel seasoning

1 sheet puff pastry 

Brown onion in a little glug of oil over medium heat. Let it cool, then mix with sausage meat and 1 egg in a large bowl. Season-- but remember the meat is already seasoned, you're just making up for 1 egg and the onion. So not much. I cooked off a bit to test it.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry to 8x12 inches. Cut into two long strips and lay them on a parchment paper-lined baking tray. Rest them in the fridge at least 10 min.

Dampen your hands. In the center of each strip of pastry, form the meat into a long cylinder right down the center, all the way to the edge. Lightly beat the other egg and paint it down the sides of each strip of pastry, off to the side of the meat. Fold the pastry over the top of the meat to form long rolls, and then turn it so it's seam-side down. Lightly brush the top surface with egg and sprinkle with seeds. You may chill them a bit to make them cleaner to cut. Cut the rolls into 1.5 inch lengths, or whatever suits your fancy. If you cut them longer, score the tops. Even if the cuts look messy they'll puff up when baked and be ok.

Bake in the preheated oven about 20 minutes, or until attractively browned.

Serve alone or with mustard, brown sauce/HP sauce, A1, ketchup, gravy, applesauce, beans, whatever.

Can mix it up by adding veg or strong cheese (like blue cheese) to sausage or painting pastry with mustard, hoisin, etc. Put torn sage over the top of the meat cylinder; we're told it fries and crisps up?

Do not re-heat in a microwave. Use the oven, toaster oven, or air fryer, or eat them cold or at room temperature like the Brits do on picnics, I'm told.