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Eggplant and Zucchini Bake
Makes one 9 x 13 dish
This hearty yet light dish is a meal in itself or a fantastic side vegetable dish. Since it uses our Slow Simmered Tomato Basil Sauce as a base, it's packed with flavor. You can get together with your friends and make a big batch of sauce, assemble the dish together with the sauce already made - or both! We bake the eggplant and zucchini to cut out some of the fat, but feel free to pan fry the vegetables in olive oil.
8 tablespoons olive oil, plus some for drizzling
2 medium sized eggplants, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch rounds
2 zucchini washed and slice horizontally
¼ inch thick
8 cups Slow Simmered Tomato Basil Sauce (or your favorite jarred Marinara)
4 cups seasoned bread crumbs
½ cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 pound thinly sliced fresh Mozzarella cheese
8 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Set out two wide and shallow bowls on the counter top, one with the egg mixture and the other with bread crumbs. Spread 4 tablespoons of olive oil into two large baking sheets. Dip the vegetables first in egg and then in bread crumbs. Lay in a single layer on the baking sheets. Repeat until all of the vegetables have been used.
Bake the vegetables for about 30-40 minutes, flipping once, until golden and fork tender.
Remove from the oven and cool slightly.
In a large baking dish, cover the bottom with 2 cups of tomato sauce. As with lasagna, you'll want to layer the vegetables, cheese and sauce until you've used everything up. First start with a layer of eggplant rounds, mozzarella cheese, Romano or Parmesan cheese and sauce. Then, make a layer of zucchini, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and sauce. Repeat until you've used up all of the vegetables, cheese and sauce. End with a top layer of sauce, a sprinkling of Romano or Parmesan cheese, drizzle of olive oil and some chopped parsley.
If you're cooking right away, bake for about an hour.
If you are freezing the dish, wrap well, label and place in the freezer. To cook, remove from the freezer and place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. Bake until cooked through for approximately 1 ½ hours.
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White Chicken Chili
Makes 3 quarts
This chili is one of our all-time favorites for making a big batch of on a cold day, eating some for that night's dinner and freezing the other half for later. You'll love to bring it out at the last minute for a hearty lunch or quick supper. Our big challenge is making it spicy for adults and mild enough for kids. We solve this dilemma by offering a colorful and flavorful chili topping bar when it's time for serving. On our bar: fresh chopped cilantro, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, sliced green chiles, diced jalepenos, sliced roasted red peppers and sour cream. Add other chile varieties, shredded white cheddar cheese....you get the idea!
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
Juice of one lime
½ cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon coriander
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 large green peppers, thinly sliced
3 cups white beans, such as Great Northern, drained and rinsed
3 cups white corn (fresh or frozen)
In a large stock pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic until soft, for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle onions and garlic with flour, stir and cook for 3 more minutes. Squeeze lime juice over mixture and lower heat.
Coat a large pan with olive oil, place chicken cubes in pan, and cook until lightly browned. Drain pan and turn off heat.
Add chicken to the pot. Pour in wine and chicken broth, mixing well, and turning heat higher. Add cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper and salt, and stir. Add green peppers, white beans, and corn. Bring to a boil, turn heat down to simmer, and cook for 30-35 minutes.
Sprinkle with favorite toppings just before serving, or create your own chili topping bar, as described above. If freezing, let chili cool to room temperature, divide into containers, and label clearly.
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| Helpful Freezing Websites and Communities |
For additional information on freezing, you can visit the US government site, or look into Yahoo communities such as "Freezer Friendly" or "Frozen Assets." |
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Dear Friends,
It's pretty cold in many
parts of the country, which makes February an ideal month for the Deep Freeze
issue of our newsletter. You don't have to live in wintry climates to benefit
from the deep freeze we're talking about - frozen foods. Since freezing food is
a fundamental part of Cooking With Friends, we are devoting this entire
newsletter to the subject. Whether we're freezing foods made with farm fresh
ingredients to preserve the harvest, making and freezing foods in advance for
the holidays to ease some stress, or freezing in bulk amounts to help us
survive the weekday feeding ritual, we are clearly big fans of freezing. We hope
this issue teaches you some crucial lessons, while also inspiring you to cook
with your friends and fill your freezers.
Alison and Shannon
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Why Should I Freeze?
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To make your life easier. At 5 pm (or 6 pm or 7 pm...), when you're wondering what to make your family for dinner, it's a lot simpler to take something out of the freezer and than to start making dinner from scratch.
- To waste less and save money. Once you get used to the idea, you'll freeze even the smallest amounts of food. For example, some extra tomato paste that may otherwise have ended up in the garbage can be stored frozen in a plastic bag for later use.
- To save you time. Once you're already in the kitchen, you might as well double or even triple a batch of something. The additional amount of time it takes to make large amounts is minimal compared with the quantity of food you'll be able to make and freeze.
- It makes perfect sense for a Cooking With Friends lifestyle. Once you've been cooking with other people for a while, you'll get in the habit of making and then freezing foods in large amounts.
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 The Art of Freezing
We believe freezing is much like an art and when it's done properly, many foods can and will taste as good (and sometimes even better) than fresh. When foods aren't frozen properly, you'll experience the unpleasant taste of freezer burn and you might as well just throw the food out. You should follow certain simple steps after cooking your food to ensure a fresh taste and suitable consistency during the process of freezing. Here are our suggestions:
- Drain. After cooking your food, drain excess fats on a paper towel lined plate.
- Cool. Once excess oils have been removed, the foods must cool down for a quick minute or two.
- Fresh Freeze. Place the cooked food uncovered on a baking sheet and place in the freezer until the food begins to harden. This will take anywhere from an hour to a few hours.
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Seal out air. You can press the air out with your hands or use a vacuum sealer. Whatever way you choose, it's important to store foods without any excess air in the packaging.
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Transfer. You will need to transfer the food to freezer safe containers and/or storage bags. Work quickly so that food does not begin to thaw or does not get exposed to excess air, remove containers and cover tightly with lids, making sure air does not get into packaging.
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Extra Protection. Sometimes it's a good idea to wrap the container with plastic wrap or throw it into another freezer bag for extra protection.
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The Golden Rule of Reheating
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 Cooking With Friends
Top Ten Freezer Friendly Foods |
To get into the top ten, our frozen foods have to be versatile - foods that can be built into any number of meals or used for various purposes, pulled out and reheated to serve any number of people, and are quick while delicious. Many of these recipes are found on our web site.
1. Chicken Tenders
2. Meatballs
3. Falafel Balls
4. Pizzas
5. Basil Pesto
6. Slow Simmered Tomato Basil
Sauce
7. Dumplings
8. Potato Latkes
9. Pot Pie
10. Empanadas |
| Nifty Freezing Tricks |
Over the years, we've learned some pretty cool freezing tricks - some we've developed ourselves and others we've picked up from members, friends and the cooking world.
We'd like to share our favorites with you:
· Use ice cube trays for freezing pre-measured amounts of herbs, pesto, stock or citrus.
· Zest lemons and limes ahead of time and store to add zing to dishes.
· Freeze iced cookies by layering paper towels between the cookies.
· Instead of tossing, freeze what you don't use of an ingredient - tomato paste, chipotle peppers - in snack size freezer bags.
· Freeze pre-marinated foods in zip loc bags for quick dinners.
· Make balls of cookie dough, freeze on a cookie sheet until hard and then transfer to freezer bags to have homemade cookies in a pinch. |
| What we like to Store Foods in - Our Favorite Products and Brands |
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Screw top Zip Loc containers
- Snap-n-seal storage containers
- Zip Loc heavy duty two-ply freezer bags
- Pyrex storage containers with fitting lids
- Heavy duty containers found at restaurant supply companies
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| Our Favorite Frozen Ingredients |
When farm fresh or local foods aren't an option, we depend upon certain frozen ingredients. Petit peas, sweet corn, soy beans and red pepper strips are basics for certain dishes like pot pies and stir fries. |
| What to Freeze and What NOT to Freeze |
Stroll down the frozen food aisles and you'll see that most foods will freeze - from fast food to gourmet. From our experience, we've found that baked goods such as muffins and breads freeze extremely well, as do breakfast foods such as pancakes and waffles; pies also can be frozen -- before or after baking; soups and chili without milk or cream freeze best since the butterfat will separate when frozen. If you are making a soup that contains milk, we recommend adding it when reheating it. Heavy cream and butter in soup will freeze perfectly well. As for meat, the less fat on the meat the better it will freeze. We've also had success separating meat from gravy when freezing it. And, it's best to leave the thickeners such as cornstarch or flour out and add them after defrosting. Chocolate can also be frozen to keep it from getting stale.
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 Tool-of-the-month:
Freezer Stickers
Once you're in the habit of freezing food, you'll want to make sure that you label your food so you can keep track of what and when food is frozen. We found these yellow Freezer Stickers by Jokari to work really well. They are made to handle the refrigerator and freezer temperatures and won't fall off! With 600 labels in two different sizes in a box, they are a bargain for $4.95. We found them at: www.organize.com |
SPECIAL OFFER:
Submit your favorite freezing recipe and the most original recipe will receive a $30 Gift Certificate to TAYGA. Simply email your best recipe to info@cookingwithfriendsclub.com.
In honor of Valentines Day (one of our favorite holidays) TAYGA is offering CWFC members a $30 Gift Certificate towards a stylish and fun apron. TAYGA makes a full line of jazzy aprons that almost look like they can be worn as a dress! And, they have a red apron that is perfect for Valentine's Day too. Check out their website: www.taygalook.com.
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Alison Bermack and Shannon Henry
Visit our web site at www.cookingwithfriendsclub.com.
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