In praise of a hardworking freezer

Freezer jolly good fellow

In my bachelor world, my freezer is generally well stocked, literally. Stocks of various kinds, my beautiful all-purpose tomato salsa, a meal or two ready to go. And bags of frozen vegetables.

Yes! I admit it.

This is a bachelor food blog after all - not a stuck-up fine dining blog (although I do think my dining is fine…)

I do not plate: I dish out! I do not partake: I chow down!

Having freezy things handy, enabled me to whip up a very well received veg casserole for my boys last night between school finishing and evening trumpet lessons. And it kind of went like this…

Potato-layered vegetable casserole

(I dedicate this to my niece, Lauren, who has been a vegetarian for years and for whom, as a very thoughtful fishing expedition snack, I produced several pieces of lovingly purchased roast chicken)

Ingredients

• 3 medium Desiree potatoes
• 500g frozen winter vegetables
• 1 cup all purpose tomato salsa
• .25 cup vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (aka the Empire in a bottle!)
• .25 cup grated parmesan or other sharp cheese
• Pinch smokey paprika
• Olive oil, salt and pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 160º

Wash and thinly slice potatoes, leaving the peel on. Place these in salted, boiling water for about 5 minutes. You want them to soften, but retain their shape. The time will depend on how thinly they are sliced. I use my hand V-slicer, which I love! Drain the potatoes when done - don’t cover, it’s important to let them steam off.

Toss the frozen veggies (don’t let them thaw) together with the salsa, sauce and stock.

Oil a deep baking dish.

Starting with a layer of potato, a drizzle of olive oil, a little pepper. Then the veggie mix. And so on.

Top it off with a couple of layers of potato. Sprinkle with cheese and finish with paprika.

Place in oven for 30 mins. Raise heat to 200º and cook for another 10 minutes, or until the potato topping gets brown and crispy.

Serves 4 as an accompaniment, 3 as a main.

Sweet and hot!

At the beginning of poverty week, it’s time to make with the condiments and stock to tart up a string of cheap eats.

Pay day, is followed by rent, is followed by child support - and that just about does it for the week. I don't begrudge it - it’s just what I have to work with.

So, rather like some bachelors I know, it’s time for something sweet and hot!

Today I am making chicken stock for yummy rice and soups. Yesterday I made chilli sauces for dips and stir fries.

I generally do this in two lots, as I can use one half of the red capsicum for each different sauce. Roast red capsicum brings a rich flavour - earthy and sweet - to each of these very handy sauces.

Sweet and sticky

This is your garden variety sweet chilli sauce

Ingredients

• .5 red capsicum
• 1 birds eye chilli
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• .5 cup rice vinegar
• 1.5 tablespoons cornflour

Method

Preheat oven to 200º C. Roast capsicum until I starts to blacken and blister. Remove from oven, and put it in a sealed plastic bag to let is sweat. Once it has cooled enough to touch, peel off the skin and chop. Retain as much of the juice as you can.

Place half the chopped capsicum and juices into a sauce pan. Chop the chilli and garlic, and add along with all the other ingredients, except the corn flour.

Bring to boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Let it cool until it won’t burn you, then whizz up with a food processor or bamix (choose only substitutes!) - this bit really is optional - sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

Return to saucepan and bring back to a boil, then a simmer.

Mix the cornflour with about 1 tablespoon of water - just enough to make a fairly runny paste.

At this to the saucepan and stir. Simmer until it starts to thicken.

Pour into sterilised jars, seal, and put straight in the fridge.

Yields: 2 cups (.5 litre) sweet chilli sauce

Hot and salty

This one is almost a chilli jam: hot, sour, salty, sweet. Very versatile as a condiment, a stir-fry base, or even a glaze for a roast chicken. I use palm sugar rather than regular sugar for this because of the rich colour and flavour and, when combined with Thai fish sauce, it rounds out so well for a stir fry.

Ingredients

• .5 red capsicum
• .25 cups (4 table spoons) palm sugar
• 5 birds eye chilli
• 3 cloves garlic
• .5 cup water
• .5 cup rice vinegar
• .25 cup fish sauce
• 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon corn flour

Method

As above!

Yields: 1.5 cups (about a third of a litre)

Seafood double

Well, it’s been a long time between blog entries!

Over the summer, smashing England 5–0, and trying to learn and teach my kids to fish and boat, took my full bachelor attention!

This photo shows why I deserve your forgiveness!

Now I have two fab recipes - one for a successful catch, and one for when you haven’t been successful, but still feel like seafood - but are too ashamed just to buy that fish you failed to catch.

So: Baked bream, and steamed mussels.

Baked bream, lemon and potato

I once saw Jamie Oliver on TV recommend barbecuing a whole fish, with its cavity absolutely stuffed with basil and other fragrant herbs. Nooo!

Most fish, especially white-fleshed fish, have delicate flavours that you absolutely do not want to overpower. This recipe balances the light and wholesome flavour of fresh-caught bream, with lemon, tomato and herbs (including basil), with thinly sliced potatoes to soak up the juices and get all crispy on the outside too!

This is a simple recipe that requires just one pan. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Two whole bream fresh from Cowan Creek, caught by your children!
• Two potatoes thinly sliced
• Two tomatoes thinly sliced
• Two lemons thinly sliced
• Juice of another lemon
• Two tablespoons chopped herb (basil and parsley in this case)
• Half cup dry white wine
• Olive oil
• Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 200º

Scale and clean fish, and make two diagonal slits on each side (see photo) Rub the chopped herbs into the slits you’ve made in the fish, along with some of the lemon juice.

Place everything in an oven-proof dish, with the fish last. Cover with a lid or foil, and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

Uncover and return to oven for another 20 minutes for the liquid to intensify and potatoes to crisp up at the edges.

Serve on a bed of rice.

Steamed mussels

This one I made last Friday for my boys for dinner, and provided a very tasty soup lunch the following day. Best eaten with crusty slices of baguette. I prefer local black mussels to the green ones imported from NZ - but that is your call.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kilo black mussels
• 1 cup all purpose tomato salsa
• .5 cup dry white wine
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 red onion finely chopped
• 1 tomato roughy chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsely
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed

Method

Some dishes can handle/demand more garlic than others, which is why I put no garlic in my all purpose tomato salsa. And in any case, garlic is so much punchier fresh.

Rinse in cold water, and de-beard the the mussels.

Place all other ingredients (except the chopped onion and parsley) in a deep sauce pan.

Bring to boil, stirring occasionally.

Add mussels, onion and parsley.

Bring to boil again drop the heart, cover, and simmer for 5–10 minutes.

Done!

Serve in deep bowls with bread on the side.

For this recipe, I sometimes toss in sliced beans and julienne carrots, or steam up some rice to fill it out. Tossing in even 4 whole prawns also gives the flavour an extra dimension.