#109 - Freezer Batch Cooking 2.0

Hello Feeder gang!

Last summer, I spent a large portion of my time cooking things to fill my freezer with, so that when my baby came in September, we’d be eating like royalty without having to lift a finger. This was a sensational gift to myself. Cam cooked lots too, but on the evenings when we just wanted to sit on the sofa and snuggle all together, we’d pull a curry, a chilli or a ragu out and eat that instead.

It took us a few months to work through the stocks, but even now that my babe is 7 months old, I am still constantly keeping the freezer topped up. The need for convenient, hearty food never ends. Evenings now are spent doing an elaborate bedtime routine, clearing away toys, sorting through the hundreds of pairs of tiny leggings in the laundry basket, and crawling around the table seeking out errant pieces of broccoli that have found a home on the floor. It is a joy at the end of that to simply heat up some dinner, otherwise I wouldn’t be eating until 10pm every night. This isn’t Barcelona! We can’t be doing that.

So, I’m back again with some more batch cookable freezer recipes. My pledge is to make them comforting meals that contain some vegetables (you want vegetables after giving birth, trust me) and that you can easily eat with one hand (otherwise eating a meal takes an eternity). I should also stress that these recipes are not just useful for when you’ve had a baby. We all deserve treats in the freezer, for days when we feel a bit low, or we’ve had a mad day at work, or it is Sunday night and the shops are closed and sourcing dinner feels stressful.

In this week’s newsletter, we’ve got pepper, ‘nduja and mascarpone pasta, curried spinach and paneer rolls and beef meatball broth with charred tomato and beans.

You can find my other batch cooking special over here, too!

As well as those three recipes, I’ll give you the rundown of my favourite spots to eat in London Bridge, my new top location for meeting my pals for dinner in London.

Enjoy!

Sophie x

Something I learnt in my early days of postpartum life is that eating with two hands is a near impossible task. If you want any hope of eating a meal whilst it is hot, or finishing a meal within an hour of being presented with it, you need to be able to eat it without holding cutlery in both hands. Pastas and salads you can spear with a fork are great, but I also liked having picky lunches with crudities and dips and something hot and crispy from the oven.

These rolls are similar to sausage rolls in their functionality, but pack in the goodness of spinach and flavours of a curry that make them feel like a more complete meal. A couple of these as part of a picky spread would be heaven.

Makes 12 rolls

1 onion

1 tsp cumin seeds

6 cloves of garlic

3cm knob of ginger

½ mild chilli powder

½ tsp turmeric

2 medium sized tomatoes

300g frozen whole leaf spinach

1 tsp garam masala

225g paneer

6 sheets of filo pastry

2 tbsp nigella seeds

salt and neutral oil

1. Finely chop the onion. Heat your oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add your cumin seeds, and fry for 2 minutes until fragrant and starting to pop.

2. Add your onion and cook for 10 minutes until softened and going golden at the edges. Add your garlic, ginger, chilli powder and turmeric, and cook for 2 minutes more.

3. Roughly chop the tomatoes and tip them in. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the oil starts to separate out.

4. Add your spinach straight from frozen, put the lid on, and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for 5 minutes more to drive off any excess water - you want the mixture to be fairly dry.

5. Stir through your garam masala, then crumble in your paneer. Season to taste with salt, and leave to cool completely.

6. Cut each sheet of filo in half horizontally so you have 12 rectangles. Stack your rectangles and cover with a damp tea towel whilst you assemble.

7. Brush one sheet with neutral oil, spoon some filling along the short end and roll it up into a cigar. Place on a lined baking tray, brush the top with more oil and sprinkle with nigella seeds. Repeat with the remaining sheets and filling.

8. Freeze flat in freezer bags at this point, if you’d like

9. Heat your oven to 190°C. Bake for 15–20 minutes, until deeply golden and crisp (you may need up to 5 minutes longer if cooking from frozen).

10. Eat hot or cold.

If tomato and mascarpone also holds a particularly fond, nostalgic place in your heart, then you might like this one. It has a more grown up edge thanks to the spicy ‘nduja. There is a dish at Padella that has ‘nduja, mascarpone and lemon in it which was the other inspiration for this, but I like the extra sweetness and colour that peppers bring to the party.

I cook versions of this sauce all the time at home, and this particular iteration is one I feel quite smug about having in the freezer.

Serves 6