The Beginner's Guide to Preserving Food at Home - Janet Chadwick [62]
Instant Meals
AS WINTER SLIPS INTO EARLY SPRING, prepare extra meals to tuck away in the freezer for harvest-time dinners without hassle. You can freeze ahead dishes from recipes in this chapter, as well as individually frozen hamburg patties, beef and chicken stocks, and stew bases, crêpes, piecrusts for quick meat pies or vegetables quiches, and favorite casseroles.
To save time in meal preparation, incorporate the vegetables you are working with into your meal plan for that day or the following day. For example, if you are canning or freezing spaghetti sauce, plan a spaghetti dinner. Remove from the freezer the number of servings of Freezer Meatballs (page 196) or frozen, cooked ground beef that you need, or brown some fresh beef. While the meat is heating in a pan of spaghetti sauce, prepare the pasta, and you have an almost instant dinner.
Diced Meats: The Basis of Eleven Quick Meals
A SUPPLY OF DICED, cooked poultry, beef, pork, and ham frozen with their cooking broths can be the basis of a variety of different meals. Tender cuts can be roasted, cooled, diced, and packed with broth made from pan juices; less tender cuts should be simmered.
Roasts of beef, pork, ham, veal, chicken, and turkey up to 12 pounds can all be prepared by slow cooking in the oven — while you are busy elsewhere. To do so, prepare your roast as usual; do not stuff roasting chickens or turkeys. Early in the morning, roast the meat at the normal roasting temperature for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 185°F (150°F for medium-rare roast beef and 200°F for a 10- to 12- pound turkey) and roast, uncovered, for 8 to 10 hours. The meat will be perfect for supper, and if you are a little late, it won’t overcook.
Pot roast can be prepared the same way, adding vegetables if desired. Roast the meat covered for ½ hour at 375°F, reduce the temperature to 185°F, and roast 8 to 10 hours. Add seasonal vegetables, and you have a complete meal and enough leftovers to freeze for some instant meals.
Packages containing 2 cups of meat covered with broth will give you the greatest versatility. Here are just a few ideas for using these meats. I’m sure you will come up with more of your own.
Combine with soup stock and seasonal vegetables for a hearty stew.
Stir-fry with vegetables; add walnuts for variety.
Make into hash.
Cream chicken with new peas and carrots; serve over hot biscuits.
Make sandwiches, salads, quiches, and casseroles.
Mix with homemade Indian Relish (page 148), and serve on hamburger rolls.
Mix with homemade Chutney (page 148), and serve over rice or noodles.
Add to cooked vegetables and stock, thicken with flour, and top with a crust or biscuits for a quick meat pie.
Make chow mein.
Mix with vegetables and eggs for a quick stove-top frittata.
Mix with rice and vegetables for stir-fried rice.
Freeze-Ahead Recipes
THE FOLLOWING RECIPES are for foods that can be prepared in advance to save meal preparation time during the busy harvest season. Serve part the day you make it, and freeze the rest. Most are basic recipes that later can be used to create a variety of nourishing and delicious dishes using the sauces and vegetables you are preserving.
To save preparation time and energy, defrost frozen foods in the refrigerator overnight unless otherwise specified.
Preparation times given for all recipes in this chapter are based on using a food processor, blender, and electric mixer when preparing foods. If you do not use these appliances, be sure to add additional time. Also, when I added up the total work time, I did not include cooking, baking, and chilling times when I was free to perform other tasks.
3-in-1 Chicken Recipe
Makes 24 servings
This recipe takes about 2 hours (plus cooling and freezing time) to prepare, but you will have many delicious meals in your freezer.
12 pounds chicken fryer parts
1 tablespoon salt
1 large onion, cut in chunks
3 cups unbleached flour
3 cups crushed cornflakes
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
5 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1½ teaspoons