It's always freezer season How to freeze like a chef with 100 make-ahead recipes

Ashley Christensen

Book - 2021

"A make-ahead freezer cookbook with 100 recipes from a James Beard Award-winning chef"--

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Subjects
Genres
Cookbooks
Recipes
Published
New York : Ten Speed Press [2021]
Language
English
Main Author
Ashley Christensen (author)
Other Authors
Kaitlyn Goalen (author), Lauren Allen (photographer)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
263 pages : color illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781607746898
  • Introduction: Why the freezer?
  • How to use this book
  • Recipes Organized By Course
  • Part 1. How to Use Your Freezer
  • 1. What to freeze and what not to freeze
  • 2. How long can I freeze it?
  • Frozen Food Lifespan
  • 3. How to freeze
  • 4. How to unfreeze
  • Part 2. The Freeze Pantry
  • 5. Grains
  • 6. Proteins
  • 7. Dairy
  • 8. Vegetables
  • Part 3. Freezer-Friendly Dishes
  • 9. Breakfast and brunch dishes
  • 10. Snacks and bites
  • 11. Soups and saucy things
  • 12. Casseroles and bakes
  • 13. Sweets
  • 14. Beverages
  • Resources
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the authors
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Christensen and Goalen (Poole's: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner) combine professional chefs' tricks of the trade with practical advice in this clever guide to making the most of one's freezer. The authors support their contention that the freezer "will help you cook delicious, flavorful meals in less time," with a tutorial on the particulars of expiration dates, which foods can be frozen and which shouldn't, how to reheat frozen foods, and how to defrost them properly. Recipes range from freezer-friendly meals to frozen drinks and pantry staples. Pistachio croissant French toast and tortilla pie can be frozen for up to six months when cut into single-sized portions, while chicken and dumplings calls for frozen corn. Using par-cooked risotto for rice dishes and a frozen chai concentrate for chai tea lattes promise easy assembly, and a delicious frozen pimento cheese butter comes in handy as a quick-melting topping for baked potatoes, grilled steak, and roasted oysters. The authors also include handy tips on using vacuum sealers (recommended) and the most suitable storage containers. This book will spur even experienced home cooks to see their freezers in a new light. (Apr.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

While testing recipes for their first cookbook, Poole's, the authors often froze excess prepared ingredients (like herbed béchamel) to use later in quick meals. Now they teach readers how to strategically use their home freezers. Unlike Carole Jones's The 30-Minute Cooking from Frozen Cookbook, which uses store-bought frozen items, this book encourages caching a homemade supply of versatile prepared frozen items to jump-start dinner or entertain on a whim. The first part of the book covers fundamentals of freezing, including professional tips on packaging and organization from James Beard Award-winning chef Christensen. Chef Goalen brings her expertise to later chapters that focus on recipes for building blocks and fully composed, flavorful dishes that freeze well, such as snacks and casseroles. This welcome guide is approachable enough for beginners, but experienced cooks will also learn new tricks. In addition to an index, there is a helpful key that lists the recipes by course. VERDICT This fabulous cookbook will make readers seriously rethink what they store in their freezers so they can assemble restaurant-quality meals quickly and easily. Recommended for anyone with freezer space.--Bonnie Poquette, Milwaukee

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Introduction: Why the freezer? Both of us love to cook. When we wake up in the morning and choose to cook at home, it is soothing and meditative and fun--an activity that brings us happiness. On those days, it's a luxury to spend a few hours on a single recipe--maybe the music is playing; maybe the windows are open or friends are helping; maybe it's a cold day and the warmth of the stove is making the house cozy. It's a joy. But even the most beloved activities can be sucked of their pleasure when you are compelled to participate, rather than making the choice. Cooking as a necessity is labor. Whether we do so professionally or simply to feed ourselves or our families, most of us are required to cook daily. Even the most food-loving cooks we know get burned out on the labor of making dinner now and then. On those nights, you might have options: you may go out to a restaurant; you may pick something up or have it delivered; or you can cook something, even when you don't want to. The latter option becomes much more appealing when you have a freezer of dishes that you've cooked on a day when you felt the joy and happiness, rather than the labor, of cooking. A freezer full of the recipes that you'll find in this book is like a savings account of emotional and physical sustenance: draw on it when your day-to-day stores are low. In this age of obsession with the freshest, most seasonal food and the most cutting-edge flavors and techniques of top restaurants, the freezer may seem like a rather dowdy topic for a cookbook, especially for one cowritten by a professional chef. Freezers feature prominently in the make-ahead recipes of meal-prep blogs, but they rarely get top billing in cookbooks. Hopefully, by the time you've cooked your way through even a few of the recipes in this book, you'll come to the same realization we have: The freezer, more than any other appliance in the kitchen, will help you cook delicious, flavorful meals in less time. It is at the intersection of quality and taste, approachability and convenience. The time-saving aspect needs to be contextualized: We're not shaving hours off the clock by cutting corners. There are recipes in this book that require a time commitment because making great food takes time and work. (We should know; we do it for a living.) Instead, we're focused on the idea that you should squeeze as much out of each cooking session as you can. For example, if you're going to spend a few hours making a stock, don't just make enough for one recipe of soup. For almost the same amount of effort, you could make double the stock, freeze half, and thus save yourself time on the next occasion you crave a bowl of something hot and delicious. Using your freezer more strategically and thoughtfully delivers other benefits, too: it can help you avoid food waste and save money, preserve seasonal ingredients to enjoy throughout the year, and entertain on the fly or provide a meal for a friend or family member who needs the assistance. We get asked a lot about our "secret weapon" in the kitchen. Home cooks are understandably curious to know what the tools and tricks are for cooking more delicious food. Well, when we're at home, our secret weapon is definitely the freezer. Our freezer is the MVP of our kitchen and the single most important "kitchen tool" we have, as it allows us to cook our favorite things in a way that best satisfies our home-cooking philosophy. Through smart and strategic use of our freezer, we are able to cook deliciously, avoid food waste, and save time by maximizing the time we spend in the kitchen. With this book, we've laid out our game plan for you to do the same. We love these recipes, and we hope you do, too. But even more so, we hope this approach can inspire in you new possibilities and renewed joy for cooking. Excerpted from It's Always Freezer Season: How to Freeze Like a Chef with 100 Make-Ahead Recipes [a Cookbook] by Ashley Christensen, Kaitlyn Goalen All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.