Cookie Freezer Stash

Color plate from The American
Woman's Cookbook, 1944

I feel naked without dessert in the house.  Just gastronomically naked.  So I like having frozen cookie dough to make dessert fast when we find ourselves in a dessert emergency situation.  But when I want fast cookies, I don't want to have to roll, cut out, shape, drop, dust or engage in any verb other than "bake".  OK, maybe "slice", but that's my limit!  As it turns out, just about all drop, shape-into-balls, roll-in-sugar, slice and bar cookies freeze beautifully in their unbaked dropped, shaped-into-balls, rolled-in-sugar, sliced and barred states.  Yay!

The lime cookies are my signature cookie, although the recipe isn't mine.  It's from Herbst's The Joy of Cookies, but the author does NOT share the secret that these little gems can be prepared in vast batches, shaped, rolled in sugar, flattened and frozen for future cookie needs.  This recipe doubles very nicely.

The Molasses Softies are oldies but goodies too, from Natalie Haughton's Cookies.  I amend the recipe slightly to include my dad's trick of rolling "brown" cookies (like peanut butter drops or these molasses guys) in brown sugar instead of white sugar...it's a much richer flavor and more complementary to the "dark" sweetness of the cookies themselves. 

The coconut kisses are new to me though not new on the cookie block, again from my husband's grandma's 1944 home ec cookbook, The American Woman's Cookbook.  Only four ingredients and no mixer required...perfect!

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Grilled Tofu Mexican Wraps

This is a partial freezer meal...you can freeze the marinated tofu, the tortillas, and the dressing for the slaw but not the slaw itself.  You'll need a fresh veg to complete this meal, either a package of cabbage slaw, shredded carrots, shredded lettuce or some other shredded crunchy veggie, or a combination of the above.  If you want insurance against forgetting to pick something up for Dinner Day if you're freezing ahead, get a package of frozen Mexican vegetables.  In a pinch, you can nuke them, dress them and fold them into your wrap.

Lime is the dominant flavor in the tofu marinade and in the slaw dressing, the former with the juice of a 1 lime and the latter with its zest.  You'll need a bit more juice to round out the dressing and marinade...orange juice would be great, but I rarely have OJ in the house any more and I used apple juice today.  The slaw dressing was a bit sweeter than usual as a result, but it went over very well with the under-3's. 


This is very seriously my favorite tofu recipe ever.  Ever, ever, ever.  That's why there are two totally gratutitous food porn pics above...couldn't decide which looked scrummier :D

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Salmon Pastrami

This is desert island food for me.  As in, if I were stuck on a desert island and could only have one thing to eat, this would seriously be it.  The recipe is adapted from the cookbook from the world-famous, but currently-defunct, NYC restaurant Tavern on the Green.

This is technically a kind of ceviche, as the salmon is cured by the acid from the vegetable-lime juice mixture.  The "pastrami" part of it is the peppery crust you build on top with layers of molasses and coarsely crushed spices.  It's a process that takes days to finish, but is so worth it.  You can freeze it at just about any point once the curing is done: you can freeze the cured, uncrusted fish and apply the spice crust later, you can apply the spices and freeze it whole, or you can freeze it sliced.

Which piece to use

You'll need a fairly large piece of salmon (fussing with pre-cut "fillets" makes slicing it later a pain in the patoot).  You can do a whole side of salmon, but that does make a LOT of pastrami.  If you want to use a smaller piece, I suggest cutting (or have the guy at the fish counter do this) the piece outlined on the picture at right.  The "tail" piece behind it is too thin to slice nicely, and the rest of the fillet ahead of it tends to be wider than a standard knife, which makes carving the finished pastrami difficult. 

It's also best to use fish that's not been previously frozen.  Fish, like fruit, is very delicate at the cellular level and a freeze-thaw cycle makes the flesh mushy.  When you carve the finished pastrami, the firmer it is the better. 

How to slice finished pastrami

It's hard to write instructions for proper slicing of the finished pastrami (at least for me it is).  You want to slice thin slices on the diagonal, kind of like cutting a beef brisket, without cutting through the salmon skin.  Use a knife that's at least 2" wider than the fish.  Hold the knife parallel to the front edge of the fish and angle it diagonally in the vertical plane (like a forward slash if you're looking at it from the side, and you're right-handed).  Saw the knife gently toward the skin following the diagonal line, and then lift at the last millimeter to cut the flesh away from the skin. This -->     picture illustrates the angle of the cut pretty well.

And then there's serving the finished pastrami.  You can put a single slice on a cracker with a pinch of sour cream for an appetizer, or serve it rolled in a flatbread with capers, blanched onions and sour cream (my favorite) or put it on rye toast for a faux Reuben.  You can put a little or a lot of work into preparing the extras for a salmon pastrami sandwich, so I'll have a separate post regarding my preferred condiments.

And now...the recipe:

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Lime-Herb Tilapia

 

Chives and Sage

This is a spin-off of a South Beach Recipe that calls for a quick marinade of the fish in lime juice.  To make it freezer-friendly, I use zest instead of juice as lime juice goes from marinade to ceviche in about 3 or 4 hours.  Tasty, but not what we're after here.

I love that this recipe uses fresh tarragon and chives, two of my garden's early risers.  Well before you can get parsley or thyme starts in the ground, these two are up and at 'em, ready to snip and cook.  If you garden and cook at all, a little bit of space for perennial or self-seeding annual herbs is well worth it.  Sage, tarragon, and chives will come back year after year with no effort on your part, and annuals like savory and basil require very little encouragement to drop seeds and pop up the following year. 
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Roasted brussel sprouts and fennel

Could also be titled "Oh crap, I forgot those were in here!"  It proved delicious and was the only thing the 2.5yo ate for dinner (seriously, he gobbled brussel sprouts tonight). 

I served this with an Asian marinated pork tenderloin (use lime juice instead of pineapple, molasses instead of honey and 5 spice powder instead of Emeril's proprietary Essence--you'll thank me!) that joyously roasts at the same temperature for the same amount of time as the veg.  I LOVE dinners like this.  The veg can be prepped the night before; the pork could be put in its tasty-tasty bath and frozen, or could be bathed for as little as 30 minutes. 
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Watermelon Gazpacho

Ohmygosh, I am ready for summer!  When watermelon is plentiful, try this make-ahead and freezeable soup. 

The original Food & Wine recipe calls for a crab salad of sorts to go with the soup, but 1) ick and 2) the crab salad isn't prep-ahead friendly. 

The original recipe also calls for fresh lemongrass, but 1) puh-lease, I live in the Midwest and it's not something we find at the local Kroger and 2) it's a pain to work with anyway.  You can get tubes of lemongrass puree in the produce section of my grocery stores, so that's what I use.  Freeze the leftover puree in ice cube trays or a zip-top bag for other recipes.

Watermelon Gazpacho (makes 4 servings)

5 cups coarsely chopped seeded watermelon
2-3 tbsp lemongrass puree
3 tbsp finely chopped shallot
1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 1/2 tbsp mild olive oil
1 small hot green chile, such as Thai or serrano, finely chopped (seeded or not, depending on your preference)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice, or to taste
3/4 tsp salt, or to taste

Puree the watermelon in a blender or food processor and transfer to a bowl (don't wash out the blender).

Cook lemongrass, shallots, ginger, and garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat until golden, about 5 minutes.  Add about 1/3 of the watermelon puree and simmer over medium heat, stirring, for 5 minutes. 

Allow to cook slightly, then carefully transfer to the blender or food processor.  Add chile, lime juice and salt and blend until smooth.  Add remaining watermelon puree and blend.  Strain soup through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing on and discarding any solids.  Chill soup at least 2 hours before serving. Pin It