Why have I never thought of doing this before?
It first came to me last Monday. I thought that instead of preparing something for lunch (in Spain lunch tends to be the main meal of the day) that I would prepare four lunches instead. And within an hour or so I had made…
- a fab spicy bolognese sauce (minced beef, bacon, courgette & mushrooms)
- a delicious chicken & spinach biryani
- penne with cherry tomatoes, arrugula, shallots and goat cheese
- a very garlicky hummous
Easily enough food for the whole week, including snacks. And in the end it turned out that much less time was spent on both preparation and cleaning up than usual. Especially as a lot of the same ingredients were required (onions, garlic, peppers, etc) and so peeling and chopping up these ‘in bulk’ turned out to be much more efficient in terms of time spent.
And once everything was cooked and put into various plastic containers in the fridge it was like having a mini-buffet at our fingertips all week. I’m more of a ‘snacker’ than Nog is – he tends to prefer a ‘proper meal’. So for example, one evening this week he cooked some basmati rice and then just heated up some pre-prepared curry for it while I just had tortilla chips with hummous. Whatever.
It’s kind of liberated us from having to eat in the same way and at the same times and we both quite like this concept. It not only eliminates any feelings of guilt I might have if I don’t feel like cooking a proper meal one day, but it also means if either of us feels like a very tasty quick snack there is something really delicious just waiting in the fridge.
And as anyone who loves cooking knows … food never tastes quite as good just after you’ve spent two hours making it. So I’ve also been enjoying (for example) having a snack of bolognese sauce with freshly-grated parmesan on top two days later as it’s almost as if someone else made it.
Anyhow, Nog and I are both quite enjoying this new plan. Because, once we’ve got all the preparing/cooking/cleaning-up work over with it there’s all this lovely food that’s just there! For us to enjoy whenever we feel like it for the rest of the week. Mmmm…
casa azahar 
Sounds like a great idea. Maybe one day I will have the self-discipline to try it myself! 😉
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This is roughly what I did on Christmas Day; I made Lots of Things in large quantities, and it kept three of us fed for the rest of the week.
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Just make sure you eat the meals by their recommended “use by” date, or freeze them after maybe three days? Just sayin’
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I’m reckoning that the meals should be safe to eat up to 4-5 days after they’re made and stuff like the curry and bolognese sauces actually gets tastier as the week goes on.
Yesterday I made the bolognese sauce once again, along with a pork curry and chicken & pesto with fusilli. Dishes with the rice or pasta already added obviously need to be eaten first, so it seems best to mostly make up stews and sauces that can be ‘added to’ later on. So if anyone has any good stew recipes, please pass them along.
I’m trying to avoid having to freeze stuff as the idea is to have everything pretty much ready-to-eat. Also, once things end up in the freezer they tend to get forgotten.
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Quite a few nice reheatable stew type recipes on my webpage:
http://thesamovar.net/recipes
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Mmm… the jambalaya and lamb stew look particularly good – thanks Dan! I was also thinking a nice brown lentil stew with chorizo would work well, especially when it’s damp and cold outside like now. ‘Stick to yer ribs’ kinda food – the kind that’s especially best for Nog.
He really does need to eat more often than I do … and very annoyingly never puts on an ounce! That’s why being able to heat up some delicious homemade curry or stew is way better for him than just making toast or a sandwich, you know?
So it looks like the casa az 24-hour diner is now open for business. 🙂
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THis is a great idea and you can find cookbooks written with this kind of thing in mind if you look around. There was even a “Cook once, eat all week” diet for folks who wanted to lose weight. Much more efficient, and you only have to wash all those pots and pans once. I’ve got a whole book on repurposing leftovers, too. You know how that goes: day 1 roast chicken, Day 2 openfaced chicken sandwiches, Day 3 chicken salad on lettuce, etc.
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I’ll just get my coat and I’ll be round with my bowl and spoon…!
Sounds delicious and sensible 🙂
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Definitely agree that some meals get better with keeping. Since buying my old fashioned iron caserole pot, I’ve cooked delicious meals that just got better and better. In fact I don’t eat the stews now on the day of cooking because the flavour improves so much in the fridge for 1 or 2 days
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Forgot to add this link for coq au vin recipe I cooked at New Year. I paid extra for an older free range bird, which makes all the difference to the flavour of the meat when cooked slowly for a long time.
I probably added a bit too much fat during the preparation but after putting it in the fridge I was able to pick the fat off the top the next day where it had risen and set. Totally delish meal!
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/life/story/0,,605460,00.html
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Mmmm, that jambalaya is durn good I can tell you. I used to eat it all the time because one of my housemates last year made it. A couple of weeks ago I began to have cravings for it so I got the recipe off him.
Coq au vin! I love it, love it, love it. My girlfriend gets quite annoyed with me because although I don’t drink, I buy more expensive wine to make coq au vin with than she does for drinking. And the whole bottle goes in, so she doesn’t get any. 😉
Anyway, tonight’s roast chicken is going to be tomorrow’s chicken sandwich (with mango chutney!) for lunch and chicken soup (with lots of sherry) for dinner.
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Okay, will definitely make the jambalaya and coq au vin for next week. Perhaps I’ll do the cooking on Sunday this time as I’ll be getting an ‘old bird’ and prawns from the market on Saturday. I’ll also have to get a decent casserole dish as I’ve only got a large pot.
A few years ago when I was living in a flat without an oven I made a stuffed chicken in a pot for Christmas, cooked in a whole bottle of white wine with veg – it had a meat stuffing (ground beef & pork with black truffle). Very nice. But I’ve actually never made coq au vin before – do you think a nice rioja would do? And would Irish Whiskey work instead of cognac?
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“There was even a “Cook once, eat all week” diet for folks who wanted to lose weight.”
Well, that’s also part of the plan for me, raincoaster. While Nog can fuel up on tasty grub whenever he likes, having way too much food to eat actually helps with eating more sensibly in general. For example, one evening last week I was quite happy with a bit of bolognese sauce topped with parmesan for dinner (no pasta) while Nog had curry and rice.
It really does feel a bit like going to a restaurant and being able to have whatever we feel like. Quite liberating.
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az I think rioja and whisky would work really well. What I love about my thick cast iron casserole dish is that it’s designed to allow the heat to work evenly around the ingredients when I use it on a gas ring. I’ve experimented with all kinds of stews with it, and usually get it going on top of the cooker before putting in oven on a low setting for a couple of hours. Also it’s brilliant at holding the heat, once cooked, handy for nice warm second helpings!
Not sure that I’ll use it so much in the summer, but stewy meals are great in winter. And I find so long as I’ve flavoured stews with lots of garlic and herbs, they are not at all fattening but fill you up. I’ve actually got to really like turnips and parsnips now. And I really love making my own veggy stock to use in cooking rather than cubes. I make loads and then freeze in containers to use whenever.
Many thanks for the samovar link Dan. I’ve downloaded it into my food collection folder.
As I get older I find I love cooking more and more. Getting further and further away from the unpleasant memories of my mother standing over me as I tried and failed to measure everything out 100% accuraetly on the kitchen scales!!!
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This link is quite useful for general principles. I’m not usually a great fan of Delia’s but hey..There’s stupid pop ups covering the text online, but once downloaded they disappear.
http://www.deliaonline.com/articles/food/the-principles-of-casserole-cookery,1409,AR.html
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az, I’ve yet to try a wine it didn’t work with (except cheap ones). Not sure about the whisky though, but that’s way outside my area of expertise…
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Well, the coq au vin recipe Fanny linked to called for 2 tbsp of cognac. And I thought that instead of buying a bottle of cognac I could just use some of the lovely Bushmill’s Irish whisky that Lucky & Dai gave us awhile ago. Or maybe just leave it out?
And speaking of food links, have you guys checked out the food pornographer?
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Don’t you dare leave that whisky out az! Go for it. Cooking stuff in casseroles completely transforms the original taste and lets it mingle with all the other flavours.
Hey that food pornographer link is brilliant, drool, 🙂
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Hey sorry if I sounded patronising, I’m sure you know about flavours mingling. It’s just that particular recipe I linked to is rather special. And I’d certainly love to hear how you get on with it.
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Patronising? Nah. But I sure won’t leave out the whisky (wouldn’t dare to now! 😉 ).
By ‘old bird’, just how old does that mean – do you know?
Yeah, I love the Food Pornographer’s blog. Can’t visit it properly while I’m still on dial-up though (grrr).
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I don’t know what the situation is in Spain with regards chicken ages. I know here the vast majority you get in supermarkets, even free range are only a few months old. I reckon if you know a good specialist butcher or market stall, you could ask them and get one as old as poss. I was amazed how much gamier the flavour was. Presumably that’s why it’s called ‘coq’ au vin. I think traditionally it was a great way to cook a tough old rooster, when he’d got past his best with seeing to the the hens.
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Grrr…my provisional dial-up internet from Orange went tits up this morning before we went shopping and before I had a chance to check the ingredients for the coq au vin – seems we are missing the bacon/pancetta and button mushrooms. We can get some version of pancetta tomorrow morning from our brekky bar near here, but unless we schlep back to the supermarket today (very doubtful at this point) I think we’ll have to leave out the mushrooms. 😦
We asked about an ‘older bird’ and the butcher suggested a ‘gallina’ but as it cost twice as much we decided to try a normal chicken first. If we find it bland we’ll opt for the old hen next time.
And since I also didn’t have the jambalaya ingredients we decided to go for a lentil stew with chorizo this week, so with the prawns (langostins actually) I’m going to make a langostine & broccoli hoisin. And then with another penne with arugula, goat cheese 6 cherry tomato dish, we will be more than set for the week to come.
Anyhow, we had great fun filling up our ‘little old lady’ shopping trolley at the neighbourhood market this afternoon (must take some photos of the market one day as it’s in a really lovely building) and then got wine (including a cab/sav for the bird) and some other stuff at the supermarket.
As we didn’t get going until about 1 o’clock we stopped for a tapita along the way and now I’m just waiting for Nog to finish peeling the langostines so I can make the hoisin. Then he says he wants to read Tom Sawyer to me in Spanish – eep!
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Yes older birds do cost loads. Go for a ‘gallina’ on a special occassion then, (honest it’s worth it) But I wouldn’t always splash out myself on an old bird unless it was a special occassion. Shame about the mushrooms, but the pancetta/bacon is pretty essential.
Oh the fun and adventures of cooking.
And you’re eating langostines today Never heard of hoisin.
Tom Sawyer in Spanish – how delightfully surreal!
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For SC – Lentil & Chorizo Stew:
I use mini-chorizos which I pan-grill before cutting up and adding, along with a couple tablespoons of the drippings – for me it’s just a bit too greasy otherwise.
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Fanny, we decided to go out for a walk yesterday evening and so picked up the pancetta and also some small brownish mushrooms called ‘Portobellos’ – hope those will be okay.
Couldn’t find any fresh sprigs of thyme though, but that will be the only thing missing. I probably wouldn’t have bothered buying celery but at the market they always throw in a couple thin stalks of celery and a handful of fresh parsley gratis when you buy veg, which is quite a nice custom.
The lentil stew should be finished in about an hour (which will then be put aside for tomorrow, etc) and then I’ll start on the coq au vin.
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Never heard of hoisin sauce? I buy it in a jar at the Chinese supermarket. It’s a sweetish sauce, mostly soya sauce with ginger and bean curd added I think. I mix it 4-to-1 with oyster sauce and then add a splash of dry sherry to cut the sweetness a bit.
It goes very well with either prawns or pork. If you’re using pork then first fry the meat, then add some spring onion, garlic and roasted red peppers and sautée for awhile, then add the sauces, stir it around for a couple of minutes and it’s done.
If you’re using prawns then sautée them with the onion, etc straight off (when I use pre-cooked prawns I add them just before the sauces).
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Blimey, loads of good stuff here. There’s a brilliant Vietnamese supermarket here, which I’m sure will sell the hoisin sauce. It’s great to be able to go in there and actually buy something specific. I always feel overwhelmed in there as I don’t know what 90% of the stuff is. Shall definitely try the lentil and chorizo stew as well.
Getting back to the dreaded coq au vin. I used dried thyme, just as good. And I’ve started using celeriac now in stew things, rather than celery. Being able to cut up a big root vegetable into hunks seems to work better than celery which usually disintegrates very quickly, and has less flavour here.
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az, that stew sounds good, I might well give that a go in the near future.
I think portabello mushrooms are nicer than the traditional button mushrooms. They’re actually just a slight variation on field mushrooms that were branded as ‘portabello’ as part of a marketing effort, but actually I think they’re a good variation so I often buy them. And langoustines are much nicer than prawns! Sounds like a tasty few days of eating ahead of you…
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Since this thread has been going so well (and will soon fall off the front page) I thought it might be a good idea to continue this on a separate blog that is all about food.
And so the casa az 24-hour diner is now open for business. 🙂
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I’ve copied this thread over on the diner, but if you’d rather leave comments here that’s okay too. 🙂
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Started doing a summer version today…
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