You know what they say…give a girl a bigger closet and she’ll just fill it up with clothes! Well, I rarely shop for clothes but I’ve become a real hoarder when it comes to shopping for food–and my freezer is just busting with all kinds of things from raw meat and poultry to a variety of types of homemade stock and other cooked concoctions that were so good, I had to save them for another night (although “another night” just never seems to come because…well, because I simply love to shop for fresh food!).

So, a few days ago, when I saw that I almost had no space left in my freezer, I finally decided to stop shopping and to start thawing what I have.

Uhh, this could take a while...

So, here’s the deal (the rules of my new self-imposed challenge): Although I can purchase fresh produce, dairy and fish, all other dishes will be made from things that are from my freezer. Any grain or pasta (unless it’s homemade) will also come from my pantry shelf. I started this past Monday (I took a few things out of the freezer on Sunday, so they could thaw slowly in the fridge). So far, it’s been wild!

Week One: Dinner from the freezer.

Monday night’s din-din…

Chicken parm before baking...

Into a preheated 375F oven for about 35 minutes…

Just out of the oven...

To learn how to make this, go here and, instead of using veal, substitute skinless boneless chicken breasts that have been opened up (butterflied) and flattened. For each person, allow one half of a breast. After flattening and breading, each portion is surprisingly ample. All other instructions remain the same.

And, on the side…

We also shared some spinach linguine with red clam sauce (Yup, the sauce was in the freezer. A recipe is coming soon!)

Tuesday night…

I had a five-pound (frozen) pouch of cubed wild-boar shoulder (from D’Artagnan). So, I made an amazing stew. Of course, the leftovers had to go into the freezer…(Sheesh, I’m already going in the wrong direction!)

Wild boar stew, with grape tomatoes and peas.

I served the stew over cooked lasagna noodles that I broke into pieces...

A formal recipe is coming soon (By the way, this delicious sauce would be just as great with lamb, beef or veal shoulder.) And, although there are tomatoes in the sauce that have melted perfectly into their surroundings, the addition of grape tomatoes closer to the end of cooking, add a real meaty tomato texture without diluting the intense sauce.

Wednesday night…

Seared and sliced, duck breasts (see, I told you things have been wild!)

There were five for dinner tonight, so these three duck breasts are just the right amount, especially with the side dishes.

After scoring the fat, I rubbed it with Kosher salt, black pepper and dried thyme.

You want to score the fat deeply but without cutting into the meat. Scoring and seasoning can be done early in the day and then refrigerated until later. I like to take them out of the fridge an hour or so before searing. Then, I get a large, cast-iron fajitas pan hot (heat it slowly, over medium heat)…. Before cooking, I brush the flesh side of the breasts with a mixture of extra-virgin olive oil, minced garlic, fresh thyme and rosemary and some hot red pepper flakes (sometimes, I’ll add some minced pickled hot cherry peppers, which gives the flesh a really nice bite). Then I give the flesh a good sprinkle of Kosher salt and black pepper. I don’t salt lean meats until just before cooking since doing it sooner could cause juices to exude, making the cooked meat  more likely to be dry.

The breasts are seared slowly, fat side down, over medium heat.

As the breasts sear, the fat will render and will need to be poured out of the pan repeatedly (be careful here). Pour into a heatproof bowl (stainless) and continue until almost all of the fat is gone and only a very thin, crisp layer of top fat remains (so good…). The searing process will take between 15 to 20 minutes so make sure the heat isn’t too high or the surface layer will burn before the fat has rendered properly. As you get to the end of this process, preheat the broiler with the rack about 6 inches from the heating element. Make sure to pour off any accumulation of fat that’s surrounds the breasts and stick the pan under the broiler. Cook until the meat is done to your liking, remembering that, like a good steak, duck breasts should be served medium rare. As soon as you remove the pan from the broiler, use tongs to turn the breasts fat side is up, and lay them on a cutting board to rest for a few minutes so the juices can settle and centralize before slicing.

Cooked duck breasts resting before being sliced.

What to do with rendered duck fat: Don’t throw the fat down the drain. Instead, let it cool and either pour into a zip-lock bag and discard or you can strain out any bits of solid matter and allow the fat to congeal. Then store the fat in a plastic tub (in the freezer). And, when you want to occasionally use a really flavorful fat to baste potatoesbefore roasting, just chip off a chunk of frozen fat, melt it down and add some halved cloves of garlic and simmer them in the fat until almost tender but not yet colored (about 3 minutes). Then add some minced fresh herbs (thyme and rosemary are good) and roll unpeeled new potatoes (halved or quartered) in the fat  (with the garlic) and place all of it in a shallow baking dish or baking pan and season well with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Roast,  covered,  in a preheated 450F oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to roast until the potatoes and garlic are golden, crisp and tender in the center, about 20 minutes more. If you want to roast whole potatoes, keep them covered a bit longer, then roast uncovered until they achieve the right look. Covering the potatoes initially is one of the ways to help them to become tender before the outside gets overly hard. Better than good…(Of course, you can also just poach the garlic in some boiling water, drain and proceed, using extra-virgin olive oil instead of the duck fat. Just as good and much more appropriate, health-wise, on a regular basis…)

Serve the sliced duck hot with….

Here's a perfect sweet and tangy partner to rich duck meat...

I served the duck with Stewed Red Cabbage and…

Maple-Basted Acorn Squash (After placing a slice of squash on a plate, I filled the center with cooked peas.)

Scrub and dry each acorn squash and, using a sharp chef’s knife, cut them into 1-inch thick slices (slice horizontally, not from stem to tip). Take out the seeds and any stringy matter. Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil (preferably nonstick). Pour some melted butter into the bottom of a plate and pour some maple syrup onto another plate. Dip each slice of squash, on both sides, into the melted butter and then into the maple syrup. Lay each slice, in a single layer, on the prepared baking sheet (If not using nonstick foil, first brush the foil with butter. Sprinkle the tops of the squash slices with Kosher salt and roast in a preheated 400F oven (loosely covered) with greased parchment) for 20 minutes. Uncover and continue to roast for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the squash is tender and golden.  Use a turning spatula to transfer to plates.

Thursday night…

Truth be told, today I woke up with a lousy cold and I don’t feel much like cooking or doing anything at all. But…my thawed links of hot Italian sausage are waiting so I decided to make something easy, nurturing and spicy since my taste buds are a bit dulled.

So, tonight, on the menu, is: “Italian sausage, braised with tomatoes, peppers, olives and potatoes.”

I didn’t even feel like shopping for produce so I just dug around my refrigerator to use whatever I had.  I found a couple of large leeks, so I cleaned and sliced them, I chopped some garlic and then seeded and quartered a few hot cherry peppers. I had some sliced mushrooms in the fridge so I grabbed them, too.

Leeks, garlic, hot cherry peppers and sliced mushrooms, all cooking together until softened and fragrant.

Then I added some whole canned tomatoes that I tore apart with my hands (after removing the tomatoes, I reserved any tomato juice that was left in the can) and I stirred in some boxed chopped tomatoes that were already opened from two nights ago (about 1 1/2 cups). Amounts here aren’t important…I wanted a chunky texture and I used what was available.

While the sauce was coming up to a simmer, I browned some sausage in another pan.

Always brown sausage in some olive oil and use high heat.

After browning the sausage, I dumped out any oil from the pan and I put the pan back over high heat. I added the reserved tomato juices from the can, about a cup of dry white wine and some chicken stock (about 2/3 cup) that I had in the fridge.

Let the liquids bubble briskly and reduce to about half their original volume. (No measuring, just eye-ball it.)

While the liquids were reducing…

I always have a bowl of home-roasted peppers in the fridge (both red and yellow) so I thought that I would add some sliced yellow peppers (for color contrast) and some oil cured and Kalamata olives, for their saltiness. (Remember that amounts aren’t important in this type of cooking…just do what feels right. ) Once the sausage was browned, I added the links to the simmering sauce. I then brought the sauce back up to a brisk bubble, turned the heat to low and simmered the sausage, with the cover ajar, for 20 to 30 minutes total. (You don’t want to cover the sauce tightly because this will create too much condensation, which would dilute the sauce.)

Mid-way through the sausage cooking, I added some peeled and cut up potatoes that I parboiled seperately in salted boiling water (covered) for 10 minutes (until not quite tender). I did this because the sausage doesn’t need as much (or as aggressive) cooking as the potatoes do so, by giving them a head start, I could add them to the simmering sauce when the sausage was almost done. This way the potatoes will retain a nice toothsome texture.

I used three medium Russet potatoes but, again, all that’s important is that you don’t overfill the pan (which, as you see, I almost did!) I let the mixture simmer uncovered, over low heat, just to let the potatoes cook a bit more and to imbue them with the sauce (potatoes are nice and absorptive).

So, to serve, all I did was ladle portions into bowls that were low, wide and warmed. I served a Caeser Salad with homemade Garlic Croutons.

The recipe for and blog about the traditional way to make a Caesar salad is coming...

I added some good crusty (purchased), artisan bread (with my cold, there was no way I was making bread today…) and we drank a wine that was deep and red which made things feel just perfect…

After dinner, my cold was feeling better ! (Until, of course, I got into bed. You know how colds are at night…)

Friday night’s dinner… (B0y, since I decided to cook things only from my freezer, I’ve never eaten better in my life!)

Having said that, because it’s the beginning of the weekend, I’m never really sure how many will be at my table. (Ok, I did know that my son Ben and his girlfriend would be away in Jamaica for the Labor Day weekend and ….Yes, I also know that Julie , one of my daughters, is living in San Francisco going to school…But, that still leaves Jessie (my youngest, who is living home and about to start graduate school) to possibly eat with us and, when she does, I like her to feel able to invite a friend to join us. So, since I had only one (smallish) organic chicken in the freezer to thaw, I decided to also take out a rack of baby back ribs. That way, we would have enough for who ever showed up. (See, this is my (never-ending)  issue…I need  to always have  more than enough food. Is this just a Jewish mother thing or are all mothers this way?? –No doubt, the subject of another blog… )

Anyway, back to tonight’s dinner.

So, when I went to the freezer (yesterday) in addition to the chicken and ribs, I saw a big container with a smallish amount of curried butternut squash soup. So I took that out too, thinking it would be a nice first course –and it was taking up way too much room  in the freezer for such a small amount of soup.

Thawed curried butternut squash soup.

Although I usually simmer peas in the soup, since this week we’ve already had peas twice, I decided to sauté some quartered Brussels sprouts and guild the soup with them (a great combination, don’t you think??)

By the way…there was a major detour in today’s cooking. At about noon, the doorbell rang and it was Lou, my oven repair man who was there to, I thought, fix the broiler in my upper wall oven. I had been waiting for a part for over a month and, finally, he showed up to save the day.

Lou attempting to fix my broiler...

But, while he was trying to install the new part, the insulation surrounding the old wires totally disintegrated in his hands. He then deemed my oven not safe to use at all and so now, both the upper and lower ovens had to be turned off until he could get new wires! (Suddenly my head-cold felt like it was worsening….)

Then I remembered….

See, this is when it pays to be a food professional !...

I have a second fully equipped prep kitchen downstairs in the basement for when I do TV and cooking videos. So, although not as convenient, my “thaw and cook” challenge shall continue!

So, back to the menu for tonight…

Apple-Scented, Curried Butternut Squash Soup with sautéed Brussels sprouts

The caramelized Brussels sprouts were a magnificent addition…

Perfect Roast Chicken

Heaven on a plate. Poached and Oven-Roasted Baby Back Ribs Do I really need to tell you how good these are???

And, a simple rice pilaf (recipe and blog are coming). To see a preview of me making this in an on-line video, click here.

A vegetable-laced rice pilaf is really easy and very soothing...Here, I had just taken the lid off, after the rice finished cooking. At this point, just "fluff" (maybe add a knob of butter), season and eat!

Well, dinner tonight was really delicious. Oh, and by the way…Jessie didn’t eat home tonight. She went out with her friends. So, it was just Jon and I and, as usual, we had a wonderuful time.  We also have great leftovers to enjoy for lunch over the Labor Day weekend. If you’d like to see me prepare the roast chicken and also learn why this recipe is so very special to me, as a wife and mother, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to see a video.

Well, you’re now up to speed on my first five days (nights) of the “thaw and cook” adventure. By the size of my freezer, this could go on for quite some time so I hope you’ll stay with me and cheer me on.

And, if you were wondering, no we’re not overweight.  When the best ingredients are used to prepare food the right way, to be shared in the right spirit and eaten for the right reasons, anyone can (barring a pre-existing and diagnosed physical condition) create meals that build and maintain a healthy, wholesome and delicious life. To me, home food can be trusted to be the very best food and always will be.

So, I’ll be back with an update on next week’s meals that stem from my freezer and pantry. (And also on the saga of my now defunct wall ovens…)

And, I want to encourage you to leave me comments…Don’t be shy! I love to  know that  someone (somewhere) is reading and hopefully enjoying my blogs.  And, I’m always very interested in hearing your thoughts on my new adventures (and learning about yours) in the kitchen and in life in general.

Tags: how to cook acorn squash, how to cook duck breasts, how to make chicken parmesan, how to make room in your freezer, how to make stewed red cabbage, how to thaw food, how to use Brussels sprouts, what to cook when you have a cold, when it pays to be a food professional

Comments (8)

8 Comments »

1. Lauren, my mouth is watering! I love reading your blog posts. Jess had told me about the duck on Thursday…and then I got to read about it today! Fun!
   Sending you love – and hope to see you soon.
   Julia

   Comment by Julia B. — September 5, 2009 @ 12:49 pm

2. Dear Julia,
   You should come over and eat! You now know I’m usually ready and waiting!
   Love,
   Lauren

   Comment by Lauren — September 5, 2009 @ 6:06 pm

3. looks like you’ve been very busy over there even though you were sick! mmm the food pics look delicious!! xox

   Comment by julie groveman — September 6, 2009 @ 7:50 pm

4. Yes, darling daughter…As your mom you know that, as a cook, I’m like the mail. I must go through!!

   Comment by Lauren — September 6, 2009 @ 8:51 pm

5. Lauren, you are always making me hungry with your delic. meals….Hope all is well..so, is your oven working now that your freezer is empty..

   Comment by lori goldfarb certilman — September 7, 2009 @ 10:52 pm

6. Hi Lori! First of all my freezer is FAR from being empty…Trust me, this is a real undertaking. And, my oven is still defunct. Seems I need to get all new wiring (I really work the heck out of my ovens so, I guess, it’s coming…). I, thankfully, have more ways to cook so I’ll just forge on ahead! Thanks SO MUCH for making a comment. I love to feel I’m communicating. Otherwise, there’s not much point… I hope all is well with you and yours.

   Comment by Lauren — September 7, 2009 @ 11:53 pm

7. Wow..I never knew leftovers could be so yummy! I’m going to try the roasted acorn squash and the cabbage dish with a roast loin of pork! It’s whats for dinner tonight!

   Comment by Annie — September 10, 2009 @ 3:53 pm

8. You go, girl!!

   Comment by Lauren — September 10, 2009 @ 4:10 pm

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