Monday, October 3, 2011

Back into the grove of Posting...Sort of...

All right, so I'm terrible about blogging.  My other blogs agree, they don't see updates nearly often enough either.  But! I am still making an effort.

Today's topic - Freezing!

So, you've made a giant batch of lasanga, spaghetti, stew, pie, or other.  You and your sweetie won't go through all of it before it goes bad, but you don't know how to make it taste right unless you make a huge batch.  What to do with all the leftovers?  Well, before you call five friends over for dinner (which is an acceptable way to use up leftovers, but that's a different blog post), consider your freezer.  If, like me, you love to cook, and always (well, almost always) find yourself with a meal for six when you're cooking for two.  Solution?  Foodsaver, glass jars, and a little bit of canning knowledge - there are lots of tutorials out there for how to can properly, I'll let you look those up.  But canning your own spaghetti sauce means that in the middle of winter when you can't get decent tomatoes you can still have excellent lasanga.  Just saying.

Freezing is the art of knowing what things you cook will freeze and thaw well.  Pastas do well, but gnocchi doesn't (unless you have a deep freeze, which I do).  Most pastries do well if you freeze them before you cook them, some pies do fine baked and then frozen after they've cooled completely.  Cake freezes well, but whipped cream frostings don't.  Creamcheese or butter frostings freeze fine.  Cooked meats don't do as well as raw meats, but can be frozen if packed in enough liquid.  Soups do well if they aren't cream based - cream based soups will separate unless you use a deep freezer. 

A lot of this, you might guess, I've learned from trial and error.  Some of it is found online, and some cookbooks have little notes that say if thier recipies "freeze beautifully".  Remember the important things about freezing:

1.  Labels - with the name, date, and type of food.  (Martin's Special Sauce  10.21.2010  Red Pasta Sauce)
2.  When freezing liquids, make sure to freeze them in serving portions.  I use extra large muffin cups to freeze single servings of soups, then bag them into gallon ziplocks in my chest freezer. 
3.  Organize!  Keep newer things in the back, use up the older stuff quickly, don't let anything stay in your freezer for more than three years - I usually try to use up everything in two, if I can manage.  If I can't, I need to stop shopping. 

One thing that has been handy for me - and my husband - is an inventory on top of the freezer.   Wet erase markers work well, and every now and again a quick re-inventory on paper and a little bleach to clean up stained sections works great. 

Most of my friends ask, so I thought I would post here what's in my chest freezer all the time.  There are a few pantry staples that you can always find in my chest freezer, almost any time you open it. 

1.  Two whole chickens. I never know when I'm going to want to roast a bird.  Especially since I've learned how to properly broil a chicken in 30 minutes.
2.  A sack of individual yeast packets.  (I buy yeast in bricks from Costco, then use my Foodsaver to make small packages that I freeze.  A brick costs about the same as a little jar from the grocery store, and makes about 100 times more uses of yeast.)
3.  4 lbs of butter.  I never want to run out of butter.  Ever.
4.  A spare bag of coffee beans.  My husband never wants me to run out of coffee.  Ever-ever.
5.  The breakfast sandwiches hubby likes.
6.  2 Beef Roasts
7.  2 Pork Shoulders
8.  2 London Broils
9.  Vodka
10. Goldshlager
11. Phyllo Dough
12. Puff Pastry
13. Frozen Corn
14. Frozen Spinach
15. One Chicken Carcass - at least - for soup making.
16. One bag of frozen pre-cooked grilled chicken strips

Those are the usuals.  Sometimes there are a few pork ribs in there, or lamb chops I found on sale, or a turkey breast, or something else interesting.  The bottom drawer usually has stacks of frozen leftovers - I think I'm down to a bag of frozen lentil soup blocks.  I need to re-inventory.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Great Magazine for Resources

Okay, so I've been digging through my cookbook shelf to share a few ideas that I love, and realized that I have a small pile of magazines that I reference almost weekly.  Since I reference them so often in my kitchen, I should share them here!

Cooks!

I reference this magazine at least once a week for interesting recipies, cool product reviews, and great hints and tricks.  Everytime I see a new one at the store I pick it up - probably should get a subscription, just haven't done it yet. 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Okay, so much for updating regularly

Life got crazy - so here I am again, finding time to update, and finding that life doesn't really get less hectic.  Starting again.


So cooking for two is still a challenge.  Usually I end up cooking for eight, freezing some, and enjoying leftovers for a week of whatever thing I made. 

This week - Sloppy Joes

I won't freeze any of this, we'll go through it too fast. 

The trick I've learned to making a prime sloppy joe is three fold -

1.  Don't cook it on high heat - slowly bring flavors together.  If you can make it in less than an hour, you're not getting the full benefit of all the flavor.

2.  Frank's Red Hot.  Just a little at the 3/4 done point, kicks it up a notch while bringing out the sweetness in the onions.

3.  No sugar necessary.  My Dad doesn't think you can make sloppy joes without adding brown sugar, or commercially prepared bbq sauce.  The tomato is sweet enough, if you give it time to really develop.

Note: Ingredients are only mildly important to the recipie - I've done this with ground beef or turkey, onions or not, extra garlic or not, with or without the tomato paste - it all depends on a few key ingredients and thier proportions to the tomato. 

1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. chili or chipolte powder
1 lbs. ground beef (or turkey)
2 Tbsp. worcestshire sauce
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tsps. Frank's Red Hot Sauce
Pepper / Salt


For this version, start with 1 medium onion.  Which then requires a quick word on onions.  In the days of my grandparents, a large onion was about the size of a baseball, a medium onion about a third smaller and a small onion about the size of a golf ball.  Now at the store a large onion is softball sized, a medium onion is baseball sized and a small onion about 1/3 again the size of a golf ball.  I'm using the old measurement, so look for an onion about 3" in diameter or so.  My grocery store sells onions this size in net bags by the dozen.  Finely dice the onion - no piece should be bigger than 1/4" on a side, smaller is fine.  I usually just drop my onion cut in quarters with 4 cloves of garlic into my mini food processor, and then I'm careful to not pulse it too much - if you get liquid, drain it off.

Get a large skillet with high sides out, at least 10" (Mine is 14" with 3" sides).  Heat one tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in the pan over medium heat until it starts to smell nutty.  The olive oil will fortify the butter and prevent burning.  Once it starts to smell nutty, add the onions and garlic and a small sprinkle of kosher salt.  If it makes sizzling noises, the heat is too high, turn it down a notch or two.  Stir your onions and garlic in the butter/oil until well coated.  Cover, and set a timer for two minutes.  Stir, cover, set timer for two minutes.  Continue until onions are translucent and soft.  If they start to carmelize, turn heat to low and stir every minute or so.  Add chili powder, wait 30 seconds until fragrant.

Once onions are done, turn heat back to medium and add ground beef.  Cook until just pink - do not brown!  It will cook more while you build the sauce.  The secret to this recipie is beef that is not overdone.

Then add sauce, ketchup, and worcestshire.  Cook over medium low for fifteen minutes uncovered, stiring every four-six minutes.  When the sauce reaches the consistency of ketchup (sometimes takes up to 30 minutes on my stove) add the Franks Red Hot.  Let cook for two minutes, then taste - add salt and pepper as necessary. 

This recipie done in this proportion lasts David and I two days on average - we'll eat it for lunch and dinner.  I usually make a triple batch, and we invite a friend or two over when we do this.  Perfect on onion buns with a little Miracle Whip and a few pickles.