It would be too easy to say I'm featuring this book today because of the Arctic blast we've been having in the UK this week or that I've been watching American police dramas, but neither of those would be the case.
Actually, I have been discovering the convenience of making food from scratch for the freezer so I can ditch the convenience foods residing in our freezer. And I'm hooked.
Actually, I have been discovering the convenience of making food from scratch for the freezer so I can ditch the convenience foods residing in our freezer. And I'm hooked.
published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2013, £18.99
Freeze by Justine Pattison has just hit my door mat and it couldn't be more timely. In my attempt to rid my diet of processed foods, I'm beavering away at giving our freezer a makeover. (You will still find a few ice cream bars, though, for the Englishman. Some things in life are non-negotiable.)
British charity shops are full of cookbooks on freezing from the 1970's; clearly that was the decade for home freezing. But it's not so easy to find a new spin on home freezing that has such modern and tempting recipes. That's where Justine Pattison's new book hits the mark.
She gives you recipes so appealing that the finished product may not last long enough to make it to the freezer. But if it does, then Justine's freezing essentials will remove any lingering doubts you might have about freezer burn or how to wrap your hard cheese for the ice box. And each recipe comes with its specific freezing instructions.
Freezing is all about preparation and wrapping your food properly. It might feel like an exercise in logistics, but when you can pull a loaf of homemade banana bread out of the freezer on a moment's notice, the warm glow of smugness makes it all worth the effort.
Recipes that will have you rethinking the contents of your freezer include:
She gives you recipes so appealing that the finished product may not last long enough to make it to the freezer. But if it does, then Justine's freezing essentials will remove any lingering doubts you might have about freezer burn or how to wrap your hard cheese for the ice box. And each recipe comes with its specific freezing instructions.
Freezing is all about preparation and wrapping your food properly. It might feel like an exercise in logistics, but when you can pull a loaf of homemade banana bread out of the freezer on a moment's notice, the warm glow of smugness makes it all worth the effort.
Recipes that will have you rethinking the contents of your freezer include:
- Cottage Pie with Cheesy Mash
- Garlic and Chilli Prawns
- Carrot and Coriander Soup
- Make-Ahead Roast Potatoes
- Fluffy Dumplings
- Really Good Chicken Curry
- American-Style Maple and Banana Pancakes
- Squidgy Chocolate Brownies
This sort of information would be very useful for me as I love to bake, but sometime my family and friends aren't in the mood for all my baked goods! :0)
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely the way to go for baked goods since they don't lose their flavor when frozen. I have been bringing my baking surplus into work, but it's a lot easier to pop a cake into the freezer than to lug it around on busses and trains. I'm a huge fan of freezing now. In fact, I just picked up another cookbook on freezing at a charity shop on my way home tonight. I'm hooked! ;-)
DeleteWe are all sooo busy! I try to have a few dinners tucked away in the freezer for those days when everyone is going a thousand different directions. An update on freezing is a timely topic indeed!
ReplyDeleteBusy for sure, Deb! I've never been too adventurous with freezing food until now and now I'm hooked on it. The convenience outweighs the efforts of stocking up the freezer.
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