Orbe - Cooking for the Freezer

In 2003, I started my own successful catering business. Due to the demand from my growing client base, and to assist clients with special needs, I started experimenting with recipes that would suit their particular needs, for example vegetarian, diabetic and low-fat options. I also developed a range of frozen meals that proved very popular and formed part of my core business. In 2008, I changed direction and bought a retail store in a different industry and now, having more time on my hands, feel it is a waste not to share all these much-loved recipes with you. The purpose of this book is to be a staple diet in your kitchen. The recipes are easy to follow and quick to make, and all the ingredients are freely available.

I have taken inspiration from various sources, including cookbooks, Intecs Professional Cookery Course, the Internet and the encouragement of family, friends and neighbours, who have all had to taste many an experimental meal. There is a history of cooks in my family: my late grandfather owned a famous caf called Micks in the Cape and my uncle has written and published two recipe books. I am married to a Spaniard who shares my love of cooking and together we have four wonderful children. We currently reside in St. Winifreds on the Natal South Coast.

My heartfelt thanks go to these special people: my immediate and extended family for encouraging me along the way; my niece Jessica, who formatted the original manuscript; my very special friend Maritjie, who has to be the best cooking buddy in the world, and all my other friends for their encouragement; my uncle de Waal for inspiring me to achieve this goal; my grandfather Roy for passing down the cooking gene; and last but not least, my husband Luis and children Shawn, Vicky, Paige and Sebastian for loving and supporting me throughout this process, but especially for all the years they have had to endure having a working kitchen at home.

Published in print in 2010 by Struik Lifestyle
(an imprint of Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd)
Company Reg. No. 1966/003153/07
Wembley Square, First Floor, Solan Road, Cape Town 8001
PO Box 1144, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

Copyright in published edition: Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd 2010
Copyright in text: Julia Orbe 2010
Copyright in photographs: Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and the copyright holders.

www.randomstruik.co.za

Publisher: Linda de Villiers
Managing editor: Cecilia Barfield
Editor: Bronwen Leak
Concept designer: Helen Henn
Typesetter: Ilze van der Westhuizen
Photographer: Sean Calitz
Food stylist: Brita du Plessis
Stylists assistants: Jennifer du Plessis and Yvette Pascoe
Proofreader: Laetitia Sullivan
Indexer: Gill Gordon

ISBN 978-1-77007-854-3 (Print)
ISBN 978-1-43230-048-7 (Epub)
ISBN 978-1-43230-049-4 (PDF)

This book is designed to make your life easier. Feel free to double up on any of the recipes and freeze the extra. It will save you huge amounts of time, as well as electricity and water. You can even prepare individual portions and let each family member choose his or her own dinner. Choose 14 meals for the month, cook double, and you will be able to feed your family for four days of every week. In todays fast-paced society, we all need some extra help. With this in mind, you will find these good old comfort foods quick and easy to prepare. Enjoy!

Meals can be frozen in any suitable casserole/ovenproof dishes or foil containers. Depending on how many times you have increased a recipe, you may need several freezer-friendly containers.

Where mentioned, these refer to 23 cm-round foil dishes or any other suitable dish. They serve five to six adults when accompanied with salads or vegetables.

These come in many different shapes and sizes, and can be substituted with any other suitable ovenproof dishes.

These are very useful. They hold about 500 ml, serving one adult or two small children, and can be microwaved. Be clever and spend a day making a variety of foods and freeze in individual portions. Everyone then gets to choose his or her own meal each night. This is also great for weekends when things are rushed. Its like having your own healthy takeaway.

Doypacks are sealed plastic bags, handy for freezing liquids such as soup, as they stand upright. Freezer bags or any freezer-friendly containers are just as good though and will hold bigger portions.

As a guideline, 1 kg of meat generally serves six people and 500 g serves three people.

The best potatoes for freezing are the Up-To-Date variety, sometimes called gravy soakers. However, there are others that are similar just ask your local greengrocer for any soft cooking potatoes. Potatoes freeze successfully if covered in gravy. Mashed-potato topping freezes well too, no matter the variety of potato you use. If you have doubts about the type of potato you are using, leave it out. When you are ready to defrost your meal, cook the potatoes and add them to the dish while it is reheating. Rest assured, all recipes in this book have been tried and tested.

If your diet requires you to use less salt, omit the extra salt when using stock cubes. As a general rule, if using 500 g meat, add 12 tsp salt. The same applies to 12 batch fresh pasta and 500 ml white or cheese sauce. Similarly, to 1 kg meat, add 1 tsp salt, to 1 batch pasta, add 1 tsp salt and to 1 litre white or cheese sauce, add 1 tsp salt.

Try freezing your own recipes, using this book as a guide.

When freezing pasta dishes that need to be baked, rather bake after freezing as the dish will be more moist and freshly baked. All recipes explain how best to freeze.

Label each dish with its name and use-by date (see the GUIDELINES FOR FREEZING chart starting on for assistance).

Ideally thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then store in the fridge until ready to heat or bake. However, if you forget to do this, use the microwave for defrosting or heat in the oven at 150 C until piping hot. If you are using foil containers with cardboard lids, remove the lids before defrosting in the microwave or oven.

If you have a power outage, your freezer items should remain frozen for up to one day. Ensure you dont open the freezer in this time as this will allow hot air in and speed up the defrosting process.