English Cheddar Scones

It’s quarantine o’clock, so PhD Kitchen is back! Yesterday I made these English cheddar scones—a crowd favorite in our house, which I share with a bona fide English husband—and I thought they’d make the perfect comeback recipe. My mother-in-law’s cheese scones are pretty similar, but this is the way James and I make them at home in the US.

You can use any hard cheese you like, but I prefer a strong and sweet red cheddar. I added fresh rosemary from a plant I’m trying to keep alive, but you can skip the herbs or substitute another type (fresh or dried) if you like. My recipe is based on this one by Irmgard on Food.com, but I’ve edited it to make a double batch and substitute for the complete dearth of baking powder currently plaguing my city. I also had to make do with fat-free buttermilk… yikes. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Here we go!

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Next-Level Delicata Squash Casserole

And I really mean next level. I had actually never cooked a delicata squash before, but I received one in my farm-share this week, and I figured that I should take the opportunity to create a new dish rather than follow someone else’s recipe. So I combined it with several of my favorite foods–obviously we’re talking garlic, cheese, and almonds–and put the temperamental oven in my new apartment to good use. This is the first PhD Kitchen recipe I’m posting from our new home. It’s fantastic. It will make you want to make casseroles out of all of the squashes ever.

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Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia

I used to love breadcrumb-crusted fish way back before I went gluten-free. A few weeks ago I decided to try substituting cornmeal for breadcrumbs, and this is the result. It is, I think, the best fish I have ever cooked. It takes about five minutes to prepare and fifteen minutes to bake. Your bread-eating friends will have no idea what’s hit them.

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Labneh

What can’t one do with labneh, the soft, creamy, yogurty cheese of the Middle East? Some things you can definitely do: Dip your veggies in it. Spread it on bread. Use it as a “dressing” on a salad of spinach, red onion, and tapenade. Dunk your over-easy eggs in it. Here’s how to make labneh the easy way.

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