The Freezer Is Your Friend
This past week a colleague and I spent a car ride discussing our cooking habits, in particular how she goes about getting dinner on the table each night as a working mother. That she uses the internet as a search tool when looking for recipes was no surprise. I was impressed, however, that she tends toward making up her own version of say, meat loaf, after consulting with several posted online versions rather than printing up one and measuring out each ingredient with exacting devotion to the original. She has openness to experimenting and acceptance of potential failure that I believe many home cooks lack.
On the topic of one such recent experimental success, chicken pot pie, I was struck with a technique that I think many home cooks, including me, could do more often in order to save time when making dinner on week nights: prepping once, she freezes many of the chopped vegetables to repeat the dish on subsequent weeks without all the repeat work.
For Kelly, the freezer is a tool for getting dinner on the table faster, and it has nothing to do microwavable pizza or sodium filled frozen dinners, but as a way to keep fresh ingredients fresh longer and cut down the total work. Each time she is ready to make chicken pot pie, the veggies are already chopped up, ready to add to the chicken and bechamel, topped with a crust and into the oven in record time.
Anyone who has every made too much Bolognese and stored half of it in the freezer for a later date knows that cold storage can be a great way to recreate homemade meals weeks later with less cook time. Long simmered meats like stews and short ribs can actually benefit from some time in the freezer. A day in Arctic temperatures not only lets the flavors deepen, but lets the fat settle on top and where it can easily be removed in large frozen chunks and discarded. The now not-quite-fat-free beef Bourginon or short ribs can easily be reheated straight from the freezer to the fire, the silky smooth results eaten as soon as the meat heats through.
Even for dishes that are being made from scratch the same day, like with Kelly’s chicken pot pie, the freezer can be a valuable tool for aiding in the prep process. If you only need a half of an onion for a recipe and aren’t sure when onion will be needed for cooking next, consider chopping the whole onion and freezing half for a later date. As long as the frozen onions are destined to hit a frying pan and not eaten raw, they can go right from the freezer to the heat.
If I am doing a stir fry that requires a meat to be sliced very thinly before cooking, I’ll put the sirloin steak or pork tenderloin in the freezer for 15 minutes before working with it. The freezer begins to solidify the liquid in the cells, firming it up after which the sharp knife blade easily shaves off paper thin slices in a manner that could not be done were the meat at room temperature. The thinly sliced meat made possible by the freezer and a sharp, thin blade needs no more than a quick turn in the wok for a tender stir fry in a flash.
For anyone who has ever lamented the lack of options when cooking for one or two people, or the inevitable waste, the freezer might well be that solo cook’s best friend. A large pot of soup might be what a rainy week called for, but unless the solo diner wishes to eat the same thing six nights in a row, there is s good chance that half the pot of minestrone will end up down the drain.
Consider taking half of the pot of soup and dividing it among a few single serving plastic containers. Those containers can then be defrosted as desired in the microwave and toted off for lunch as work or a quick weeknight meal. And don’t stop at soup: curry, pasta sauce, stew, virtually any saucy main course will take well to freezing in portions and reheating on demand, party of one, or two.
The freezer has a reputation over half a century long as the repository for overly processed TV dinners and as a hiding place for pints of diet busting ice cream. In an age of trying to go back to the table with the family making fresh dinner from scratch with wholesome, nutritious foods, the freezer might be the least likely champion of quick cooking in a healthful manner. But the same thing that makes frozen meals possible, the ability of the freezer to keep food fresh for a long period of time, can be done with food made at home.
Whether chopping onions, carrots and celery to save for a chicken pot pie a few weeks later or stashing soup to take in a boxed lunch to work, perhaps it is time to thaw out the evil image of frozen foods and look at the freezer in a fresh light: as the ever-ready friend of a time starved cook.
Made with vegetable oil, salt and pepper, cremini mushrooms, rice wine vinegar, garlic, chopped, sugar, divided, soy sauce, divided, packets dashi powder, soba noodles, boneless sirloin steak
Serves/Makes: 6
- 1 1/2 pound boneless sirloin steak
- 12 ounces soba noodles
- 2 packets dashi powder
- 1 cup soy sauce, divided
- 3 teaspoons sugar, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 4 ounces cremini mushrooms
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 bunch medium asparagus
- 2 green onions
Place steak in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add soba and cook according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. Prepare dashi broth according to package directions (mine uses 4 cups of water for each packet of dashi). Stir in half the soy sauce and 1 tsp sugar. Place a lid on the broth and keep at a simmer until ready to use.
In a small bowl mix remaining soy, 2 tsp. sugar, garlic, vinegar, and a few cracks of pepper. Remove steak from the freezer after allotted time. Using a sharp thin blade, cut steak into paper thin slices across the grain. Place meat in a medium bowl. Pour soy sauce mixture from the small bowl over the meat and toss to combine. Let marinate a few minutes until ready to cook.
Meanwhile clean mushrooms and thinly slice. Heat a large saute pan over a medium high heat. Add mushrooms with some salt and pepper. Saute until they begin to brown on one side. Trim the woody ends from the asparagus. Slice on a diagonal into 1 inch pieces. Add asparagus to the pan with the mushrooms. Saute for 2-3 minutes then add sliced sirloin with 1/4 cup of the marinade. Cook the veggies and meat tossing frequently for about 3-4 minutes until meat is cooked and asparagus is tender. Adjust seasoning if necessary with salt and pepper. Thinly slice green onions.
To assemble bowls, divide soba between large soup bowls. Top with a portion of the meat and vegetables. Ladle dashi broth over the meat and veggies. Garnish with the sliced green onions.
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