CWell, for once, weeknight recipes are a godsend, as long as they’re versatile. “I would definitely roast a bunch of tomatoes to make tomato sauce,” says Jess Elliot Dennison, the book’s author. Midweek recipes. “There’s something very special about that fresh flavor, plus it seems like forever until the heritage tomatoes come back next summer.” Store in portions and you’ll have the starting point for multiple dinners, from pasta sauce to risotto and chickpea curry, because who wants to eat the same thing three days in a row?
Alastair Giggi, author He travelsuses similar tactics. He grinds chili peppers, vinegar, salt and coriander into a sauce, then adds that to Caribbean brown chicken, Nigerian pepper soup (“to help clear the sinuses”) or curried chicken. “You can also freeze whole Scottish caps in a sealed bag, ready to use when you need them.”
Soup is the obvious “make now, freeze for later” choice, with squash/pumpkin being a no-brainer choice in the fall. Elliot Dennison sautés onions, squash, and potatoes in oil and salt, then leaves the oven to do most of the heavy lifting. “If you can’t be bothered to cut up the squash, just roast it whole and scoop out the seeds before eating it.” Place the vegetables in a large frying pan with the toasted hazelnuts, boiling water and wine, simmer for a few minutes, then mix well. Since you’ve already turned on the oven, it’s worth making a big batch, too, but Dennison avoids things getting too samey by serving her soup topped with sautéed mushrooms and crunchy sage or tossed through tagliatelle: “It’s a lovely fall base.”
Chetna Makan, author Easy indian vegetarianAt the same time, she’s “not really a fan of freezing,” but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like to batch cook. She often roasts large trays of cauliflower with salt, pepper, chili powder, and oil to see her through the week. “I tend to add harissa as well. Then there are endless uses for it.” And she’s not kidding: Add roasted cauliflower to curries, pasta, or salads, add it to wraps with yogurt or cilantro chutney, or drizzle it over store-bought hummus. “For dinner, though, I usually top it with onions, peas and yoghurt – which is delicious.”
Group cooking doesn’t just mean dinner either. Storing emergency cookies in the refrigerator makes perfect sense, as does a Tupperware filled with fruit. Kate Humble, author Home Made: Recipes from the Countrysidefreeze blackberries and apples individually, or cook them into compote to top granola, based on crumbs — or Hampel’s “absolute childhood favorite” — piled meringue on top of compote in a pie dish. “Bake it in a low oven until the meringue is so crunchy it will run up your nose if you laugh at the wrong time. This is the true queen of pudding.”
Finally, nothing makes you feel like you’re on top of your game more than a custom-made cake. For Denison, that means brown butter apple cake: Melt the butter with rosemary sprigs until the butter turns golden, strain, then mix the flavored butter in a bowl of flour, baking powder, sugar, eggs and maybe a drop of rum. Pour half the amount of dough into a greased mold, sprinkle apple slices on top, then cover it with the rest of the cake mixture and bake it. “You can freeze them whole or in slices too, so don’t do that He owns To eat everything at once, like we do!
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