Yes, the 20-minute dinner is a reality. Indeed, cooks around the globe have to feed their family under the time constraints of weeknight cooking, and they do it well. To succeed you need to know a few techniques and some practical cooking principles, and you must keep a handful of timesaving and flavor-boosting ingredients. In this new series, we will focus on one ingredient and technique per class and make three 20-minute recipes. We’ll also teach you how to customize ingredients and recipes to your own taste. The tight focus will illuminate broader cooking skills you need to become an quick cooking master.

In our first class in the series, we will focus on harissa and one-pan skillet suppers. You’ll learn what harissa is, taste multiple kinds, exlore what flavors it pairs well with, and practice how to use it to make Seared Salmon with Spiked Tomato Sauce, Shakshuka, and Chickpea Saute with Arugula, Mint and Pistachios. For the technqiue portion of class, you’ll learn how to sear fish and braise eggs properly, why to use herbs as leafy greens (a Milk Street must), and the basics of cooking with spices.

To add context to harissa, we will also experiment with some other building blocks of the Middle Eastern pantry like za’atar, tahini and pomegranate molasses.

This class will teach you how to cook quickly and well.