10 Reasons I Love My Freezer / Stuffed Cabbage Casserole / Phyllo Kourou

Blog Post: Cold comfort - 10 reasons I love my freezer

1. Going nuts ... 2. Flavour bombs ... 3. Scrooge satisfaction ... 4. Stocking up ... 5. Anything with a pulse ... 6. Rice on ice ... 7. The Florence factor ... 8. Pesto power ... 9. Take-away at home ... 10. Craving curb

Blog Post & Recipe: Recipe for Deconstructed Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

Being forced to plan ahead for meals meant I always made diet-friendly casseroles or soups on the weekend to make sure my freezer was well-stocked to get me through the week. That's a habit I'm going to work on cultivating again, so over the weekend I made this amazing Deconstructed Stuffed Cabbage Casserole and I have six servings of it in the freezer waiting for me at home

Blog Post & Recipe: Rolo me Phyllo Kourou and my e-book has finally been published

The classic recipe, Rolo me Patates is made with ground meat in which we add hard boiled eggs. In Cyprus we wrap the roulade in caul fat, which melts as it is being baked in the oven and gives a wonderful flavour to the ground meat. Instead of caulfat I wrapped it in kourou phyllo and added ham and halloumi. A very simple recipe but yet so delicious. Instead of Kourou phyllo you can just wrap it in parchment paper or in puff pastry.

Pickled Prawns / Pesto Frittata Bites / Freeze Chicken Stock in Ice Cube Trays

Blog Post & Recipe: Pickled Shrimp

Essentially, then, this recipe boils down to one simple step: "Throw all the ingredients in a jar and chill overnight." Easy, peasy!

Blog Post & Recipe: Pesto Frittata Bites

I was asked to bring an egg dish, which usually means a frittata. But when you go to brunch at the home of the hostess with the mostess plus, you best bring something real nice. So I went all fancy on you: I tucked my frittata recipe into mini-muffin cups.

Blog Post & Recipe: Weekend Project: Freeze Chicken Stock in Ice Cube Trays

When ready, crack the ice cubes into a large bowl, and then transfer to a zip-lock bags. Each ice cube equals about one ounce of liquid. If they seem to stick together, carefully toss the bags on the counter — they should easily break back into individual cubes.

Store Certain Herbs / Braised Radishes / Homemade Ginger Beer & Dark 'n' Stormy Cocktail

Blog Post & Tip: How to Store Cilantro (and Other Herbs)

Some herbs take to freezing well (such as basil, mint, chives, and obviously cilantro), and then they are quite easy to use later (or much later!) in soups, stews, and other cooked dishes.

Blog Post & Recipe: Braised Radishes {recipe} – When a Side Dish Not a Side Dish

Then we realized that we could braise them in the same way that we’ve braised their much larger Asian cousins, the daikon radish, but with different seasonings and flavors. Lemon. Thyme. Butter.

Blog Post & Recipe: Homemade Ginger Beer and the Dark 'n' Stormy

Besides all the cool ideas and wavelengths that must bounce around in that shop, they apparently have delicious ginger beer. And they offer an informal recipe in the spread: take ginger, cut it up, add some lemon juice and sugar, toss in hot water and yeast, and give it 24 hours.

Concept: braise radishes (remember, we were wondering about this last night?)

Moroccan Style Ossobuco / Tomato Soup with Tripe and Sausage / Freezing Food

Blog Post & Recipe: Ossobuco Tagine (Moroccan Style Ossobuco)

For the recipe, I started out with my ossobuco recipe and then I added some dried apricots and prunes along with a blend of warm spices.

Blog Post & Recipe: Tomato soup with tripe and sausage (a.k.a. leftover soup: recycled)

You can do this trick with any leftover meat and vegetable soup with a clear broth. The tripe can be substituted with just about any kind of meat. The only thing to remember is not to add any raw ingredient to the leftover soup then simmer until the raw ingredient is done because that would turn everything in the leftover soup into an indiscernible goo.

Blog Post: Freezers give waste the cold shoulder

Taste-wise, you have to choose and use frozen veg carefully. Frozen peas are the most popular frozen vegetable in the UK as they taste good and hold their shape and texture. Other frozen veg which (in my opinion) pass the taste test are broad beans, sweetcorn and leaf spinach (reheat it very gently) ... The big no-nos for freezing are salad, egg-based dished, such as mayonnaise (tends to separate on thawing) and whole eggs (they will burst as the liquid content expands).

Korean Oxtail Soup / Rabbit Stew with Mushrooms / 7 Golden Rules of Freezing & Frozen Pea Salad with Bacon

Blog Post & Recipe: Korean Oxtail Soup (Tom Gang)

This soup is usually served unseasoned, with the diner adding salt at the table. I simply added some green onions for some freshness and crunch.

Blog Post & Recipe: Rabbit Stew with Mushrooms

There is an optional step to making this stew taken from classic French cooking (Antonin Careme) that transforms a good dish into a great one. Mash the rabbit or chicken’s liver, mix it with crème fraiche or sour cream, then push it through a fine sieve. The result is a pink slurry that will thicken and enrich your sauce.

Blog Post & Recipe: 7 golden rules of freezing food
[5 ingredients | 10 minutes]

1. don’t refreeze raw food ... 2. it is OK to thaw food, cook it and then refreeze ... 3. cool your food before freezing ... 4. freeze things asap ... 5. choose appropriate packaging / containers ... 6. allow for expansion ... 7. freeze smaller portions ... things that love to be frozen ... things that don’t freeze so well

frozen pea salad with bacon

Ham Stock / Lamb Braised in Milk with Fennel / What Freezes Well?

Blog Post & Recipes: How to Make Ham Stock and Recipe Ideas Using Ham Stock

Making stock starts with saving scraps. I have containers in my freezer where I save ham, chicken, turkey, or beef scraps and bones until I have enough to make stock.

Blog Post & Recipe: Lamb Braised in Milk with Fennel

Lamb braised in milk. Huh? Okay, yes, I know it sounds weird (at least it did to me at first) but hear me out. It's just a spin on a traditional Italian recipe of pork braised in milk, in which the milk reduces down to a rich and creamy white sauce.

Blog Post: What Sorts of Recipes and Meals Freeze Well?

A few foods that freeze well, and that would make great meals for a new parent, are most soups, stews, chili, curry, meaty braises, and lasagna. You can also make dumplings or ravioli and then freeze them. Also, you can make your own version of mix and match bagged meals. Also try this thread for some ideas ...

Freezing Meat. Roasting Spuds. 30 Tomato Recipes.

Blog Post: Wrap meat for freezing as airtight as you can

Food with freezer burn is still safe to eat, but the quality is often so poor you might not want to go to the trouble of cooking it. To keep this from happening, you need to limit the food's exposure to air to encourage the water molecules to stay where they belong.

Blog Post & Recipe: the perfect spud: how to roast potatoes

i. Potato variety ... ii. To peel or not to peel? ... iii. Simmer first ... iv. Choice of oil or fat ... v. Roasting pan choice ... vi. Preheating the pan and oil ... vii. Oven temperature ... viii. Choice of flavourings ... ix. To crush or not?

crisp crushed roast potatoes

Article & Recipes: 30 days of ripe tomatoes

See the sidebar for links to more recipes.

1 Pa' amb tomaquet ... 2 Pasta with fresh tomatoes ... 3 Pasta with quickly cooked tomatoes ... 4 Pasta with tomato sauce ... 5 Tomato butter ... 6 Tomato and white bean salad ... 7 True gazpacho ... 8 Crostini with goat cheese and tomatoes ... 9 Tomato salad with pickled shallots and goat cheese croutons ... 10 Tomato summer pudding ... 11 Tomato confit I ... 12 Tomato confit II ... 13 Sautéed cherry tomatoes ... 14 Spaghetti with tuna and spicy tomatoes ... 15 Individual lasagna with slow-roasted tomatoes and pesto ... 16 Stuffed tomatoes with garlicky bread crumbs ...

... and then fourteen more recipes on the next page

Spring Lamb. Freeze Onions. Asparagus Cassarole.

Blog Post: Quick Tip: Freeze Caramelized Onions

Did you know you can actually freeze caramelized onions? Indeed, you can!

Recipe: Asparagus makes comforting casserole

ASPARAGUS AND WILD RICE CASSEROLE

Article & Recipes: How to cook spring lamb

A lamb can be aged from four months to a year old. Any older and the animal is sold as hogget or mutton ...

* Saddle of lamb stuffed with wild garlic and herbs

* Slow-cooked breast of lamb with crispy breadcrumbs and tartare sauce

* Rump of lamb with boulangère potatoes

Freezing things & melting cheese

Article & recipes: Melted cheese: Alone or in a dish, it's delish

Melted, grilled or baked cheese is a terrific dish in its own right, justly celebrated in many cuisines, where crispy discs of melted Parmigiano-Reggiano or Monterey Jack or caramelized slabs of haloumi (a Cypriot sheep's milk cheese) are served, gasp, right out in the open, even given center stage.

Frico with fennel-apple slaw ... Fried haloumi with pears and spiced dates

Article: The basics of freezing

Nothing ever rots. That's the good and bad of the freezer.

Good because its preservative powers let you stock up on bargain meat, save perishable ingredients, revisit your summer garden in February. Bad because, without the motivation of stink, it can become a bleak tundra of mysterious packages, their contents iced and freezer-burned beyond redemption.

To bring your freezer back from the dark side, some tips and inspiration ...