Cooking at the weekend for the week ahead...recipies (non-beef)

CaptainPendulum

Hi,
This has probably been asked a million times so apolgies but I couldn't find it. My wife is due to return to work soon and we plan on cooking our Mon-Thur meals at the weekend and freezing them. Apart from beef based meals such as lasagne / spag boll / homemade burgers can anyone recommend interesting alternatives? Friday is fresh fish day.
Thanks,
CP

Minder

Pies - cook the fillings, make or buy the pastry, shortcrust for the linings, puff pastry for the lids. Fill the pies and either cook to finish or freeze in the raw pastry. My preference is to cook the pies then freeze when cold. Use individual pie tins. To cook from frozen, slip the pie back into the tin and bake until the filling is piping hot.

mw3guc

We regularly do a large batch of beer-battered chicken goujons, flash freeze them and then bag in double portions. It takes about an hour from start to finish to make enough for 10-12 dinners for 2 (about 3kgs). We have these reheated from frozen as is or with home-made curry or sweet & sour sauce (also frozen and reheated) as the mood takes us until they get used up. They are not 100% as perfect as when made fresh (is anything?) but are still really delicious, cheap, quick and easy.
I have always batch-cooked - if I make a curry or a stew or spag bol etc it's geared for at least 4 dinners, usually more. Some things freeze well, some don't - I spend time cooking the things that have to be cooked fresh and save it on those that don't

They are great in a burger bun or in a baguette with salad too!

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chicken curries, lamb curries, turkey mince bolognase. chicken/lamb/turkey stews

CaptainPendulum

That's great, thanks for all those tips!

olaola

If you pop into an Avoca, all their meals in the buffet part of the their café are heated in a microwave before serving. So they'll give you a good indication of what re-heats well. Italian chicken, curries, fish pie, lamb tagine, meatballs (along with lasange and beef stroganoff) and other things that I can't think of atm! Their cookbooks have all the recipes of the dishes you find in store. HTH

CaptainPendulum

Minder wrote: »

Pies - cook the fillings, make or buy the pastry, shortcrust for the linings, puff pastry for the lids. Fill the pies and either cook to finish or freeze in the raw pastry. My preference is to cook the pies then freeze when cold. Use individual pie tins. To cook from frozen, slip the pie back into the tin and bake until the filling is piping hot.

Hi Minder,
Is it OK to freeze fish pies?
CP

CaptainPendulum

olaola wrote: »

If you pop into an Avoca, all their meals in the buffet part of the their café are heated in a microwave before serving. So they'll give you a good indication of what re-heats well. Italian chicken, curries, fish pie, lamb tagine, meatballs (along with lasange and beef stroganoff) and other things that I can't think of atm! Their cookbooks have all the recipes of the dishes you find in store. HTH

Hi,

We don't have an Avoca in Cork, but it's a good idea all the same.

Thanks,
CP

CaptainPendulum

mw3guc wrote: »

We regularly do a large batch of beer-battered chicken goujons, flash freeze them and then bag in double portions. It takes about an hour from start to finish to make enough for 10-12 dinners for 2 (about 3kgs). We have these reheated from frozen as is or with home-made curry or sweet & sour sauce (also frozen and reheated) as the mood takes us until they get used up. They are not 100% as perfect as when made fresh (is anything?) but are still really delicious, cheap, quick and easy.

Hi mw3guc,
Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by flash freezing the chicken?
Thanks,
CP

mw3guc

CaptainPendulum wrote: »

Hi mw3guc,
Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by flash freezing the chicken?
Thanks,
CP

I just spread it out on trays unbagged in the freezer - each piece individually (it's also called open freezing). I have a large chest freezer with excellent quick freeze options but normal freezers work fine too. If it's an upright one, you may have to monkey around with the space you need
Once it's frozen, I then bag it up in portions so that I just need to remove one bag per dinner. It's also possible to put the portions into a big bag - since they're not stuck together it's easier to take out what you need.

CaptainPendulum

mw3guc wrote: »

I just spread it out on trays unbagged in the freezer - each piece individually (it's also called open freezing). I have a large chest freezer with excellent quick freeze options but normal freezers work fine too. If it's an upright one, you may have to monkey around with the space you need
Once it's frozen, I then bag it up in portions so that I just need to remove one bag per dinner. It's also possible to put the portions into a big bag - since they're not stuck together it's easier to take out what you need.

Thanks for that!

CaptainPendulum

Minder wrote: »

...My preference is to cook the pies then freeze when cold. Use individual pie tins. To cook from frozen, slip the pie back into the tin and bake until the filling is piping hot.

Hi Minder, Following this option, is it necessary to thaw out/defrost before heating up (microwave etc) or do you simply put the frozen, cooked pie in the oven at something like 180?
Thanks,
CP

CaptainPendulum

mw3guc wrote: »

We regularly do a large batch of beer-battered chicken goujons

Hi mw3guc,
Which type of beer do you use or does it matter. Not exactly the best cook in the world so every little helps!

Minder

CaptainPendulum wrote: »

Hi Minder,
Is it OK to freeze fish pies?
CP

A fish pie - fish in a sauce with a mashed potato topping? I'd work on the basis that any shop bought item that can be cooked from frozen can be made at home and similarly cooked. There are freezer to oven fish pies, aren't there? I'm not sure.

CaptainPendulum wrote: »

Hi Minder, Following this option, is it necessary to thaw out/defrost before heating up (microwave etc) or do you simply put the frozen, cooked pie in the oven at something like 180?
Thanks,
CP

No defrost necessary in my experience. Freezer to pie tin and into a hot oven at 150 for about an hour. I put a knife into the pie after an hour to see if its hot enough to eat. Remove knife, wait a minute and touch to your lip.

You need the pie tin as the pie will collapse without it.

mw3guc

CaptainPendulum wrote: »

Hi mw3guc,
Which type of beer do you use or does it matter. Not exactly the best cook in the world so every little helps!

Any and every beer that I can get - all are fine, even the commonest and cheapest I can post my recipe for beer batter if you like, though I'm sure any recipe you have will do the trick. I used to be very unlucky (?) making batter and despaired of ever getting it right - now a part of me wishes I didn't!
BTW, I always fry in beef dripping - I'm not a believer in the saturated fat hypothesis. It's the white flour that's the health bugbear IMO, but I still love it ...

mw3guc

Minder wrote: »

I put a knife into the pie after an hour to see if its hot enough to eat. Remove knife, wait a minute and touch to your lip.

I thought I was the only one who did this :P I suppose we could use a thermometer, but why create more washing up?

CaptainPendulum

Hi all.

I did a big cookathon last night. All excited, my missus brought me down to earth with the stern reminder to leave the kitchen as I found it !!

First up was the fish pie. Bought herring (reduced), salmon and king prawns. Went with a mix of instructions from olaola & neuro-praxis, so a big thanks. Only made enough for one night as want to get right before making a ton. One problem I had was spreading the mash on top - I took it from the pot with a spoon and it ended up being too thick on top of the fish pie. How are you meant to get an even, thinnish spread? Having it tonight so will post tomo, but it did look quite good in any case.

Next up the beer-battered chicked goujons. Had great fun making these...got a nice mix going and fried the chicken well. Only mistake was that I didn't have the temp high enough for the first batch so whilst they were cooked through they didn't have the crispy outside. The second batch was much better. I sampled one and it was devine!

Last up was the lasagne/spag bol mix. HUGE pot on the go! I used to make this in the past so nothing really new here except for the volume! I left the whole lot together in a covered pot overnight as I find the longer the better. Tonight I'll make lasagne with half and keep the other half as is (in 2 meal portions) for spag bol.

Thanks again for all the replies. Had a great night and looking forward to cooking something more delicate soon.

CP.

Minder

A couple of methods to get the mashed potato onto a fish pie. Use a spatula to put a small amount onto the pie from the edge of the dish. The next dollop goes beside the first and you gradually work around the dish. If the dish is wide, you will end up with spud all around the edge and a gap in the middle. You start again for the inner ring and so on. If you use a spatula, dip it in water oce all the potato is on and smooth it over. For a final flourish, dip the rounded of the spatula in the potato in lines across the pie to make it look like fish scales.

THe other method to try is a piping bag. If you haven't got a piping bag, load the potato into a food bag and cut the bottom corner off the bag. Twist the top to expel the air and pipe the mash out twisting the bag as you go to keep the pressure even.

It's always easier to put the mash on if the sauce is cold as it will thicken up and offer more resistance.

CaptainPendulum

Thanks Minder!

mw3guc

Minder wrote: »

THe other method to try is a piping bag. If you haven't got a piping bag, load the potato into a food bag and cut the bottom corner off the bag. Twist the top to expel the air and pipe the mash out twisting the bag as you go to keep the pressure even.

^^^ This is what I do - no mess and throw away the bag afterwards.
Another option is to spread the mash (in the shape of the pie dish top) onto parchment paper or a thin silicone mat and upturn it onto the pie. You can also brown the mash lids in the oven and cool before topping your pies. You could have a real assembly line going on :pac:

CaptainPendulum

Well, we ate the fish pie last night and it was fab! Not just saying that as I'm pretty critical of my own work. Delighted as it was my first try too. Also, thanks for updated tips on spreading the mash and browning beforehand too...nice tips. Visitors this weekend so might do these altogether.