Dedication

For my Ben.

Is the freezer door shut?

Copyright

HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

FIRST EDITION

Text © Shivi Ramoutar 2020

Photography © Andrew Burton 2020

Cover layout design by Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers 2020

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Shivi Ramoutar asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Food Styling: Emily Jonzen

Prop Styling: Olivia Wardle

Design and Art Direction: James Empringham

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green

Source ISBN: 9780008385118

Ebook Edition © May 2020 ISBN: 9780008385125

Version 2020-03-28

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

Why you need this book

The Ice Kitchen

How to freeze

How to defrost

How to use this book

BREAKFAST & BRUNCH

Zap-N-Go Morning Muffins

Sweetcorn Fritters

Cinna-Berry Pancakes

Ice Kitchen Oats

Cheddar French Toast

Fridge Forage Frittatas

Brown Sugar Banana Bread

Ice Kitchen Jam

Sweet Potato & Chorizo Hash

Breakfast Beans

MAIN MEALS

Quick (30 Minutes or Less)

Creole Gumbo

Feta Spinach Filo Pie

Lentil Chilli Non-Carne

Coconut Prawn Curry

Pineapple Fried Coconut Rice

Sausage & Lentil Hotpot

Curried Fish Pie

Eastern Stuffed Peppers

Jerked Mac ‘N’ Cheese

Gazpacho

Quick Savoury Puff Tart

Medium (45 Minutes or Less)

Peanut Stew

Indian Spiced Beans

Ginger & Turmeric Dal

Pineapple Chicken Enchiladas

Butternut Squash & Sage Pasta Bake

Vegetable Toad in the Hole

Onion Gravy

Freezer Pizza

Carrot & Coriander Soup

Minestrone

Spanish Seafood Stew

Longer (45 Minutes Plus)

North African Chicken Traybake

Beef & Prune Tagine

Beef Rendang

Chipotle Pulled Pork

Meatloaf

Sticky Ribs

Ratatouille

Cheat’s Jamaican Beef Patties

Katsu Curry

SALVATION SUPPERS

ONE BASE MANY WAYS

MIXED VEG

Easiest Veg Stir-fry

Cheat’s Vegetable Samosas

Vegetable Pot Pies

MINCE

Mince Base

Midweek Bolognese

Midweek Chilli

Midweek Cottage Pie

Midweek Tacos

CHICKEN

Chicken Strips Base

Chicken & Mushroom Stroganoff

Mexican Shredded Chicken Soup

FEASTS-IN-FOIL

Sriracha Chicken & Broccoli

Mexican Beef

Spanish Chorizo

Japanese Salmon

SWIFT SALVATION SAUCES

Tomato Sauce

Coconut Curry Sauce

Everything Sauce

ICE CUBE SAUCES & BUTTERS

Ice Cube Honey Mustard

Ice Cube Nuoc Cham

Ice Cube Ginger Peanut

Pesto Mathematics

Ice Cube Chimichurri

Ice Cube Jerk Marinade

Buffalo Ice Cube Butter

Tomato Basil Ice Cube Butter

Blue Cheese Ice Cube Butter

Sriracha Lime Coriander Ice Cube Butter

Cinna-berry Ice Cube Butter

SNACKS & SHARERS

Quick (30 Minutes or Less)

Falafel

Spiced Flatbreads

Lamb, Cherry & Pine Nut Meatballs

Cookies & Cream Smoothie

Medium (45 Minutes or Less)

Jalapeño Corn Humitas

Polenta Chips

Cornbread

The Simplest Sausage Rolls

Bacon Cheese Straws

Longer (45 Minutes Plus)

Thai Crab Cakes

Loaded Potato Skins

Korean Cauliflower Poppers

Winger Winger Chicken Wings Dinner

Crispy Aubergine with Honey–Tamarind Drizzle

PUDS & COOL TREATS

PUDS

Quick (30 Minutes or Less)

Salted Caramel Ripple Cookie Dough

The Simplest Cookie

Berry Compote

Peach Puff Tart

Blueberry Turnovers

Longer (45 Minutes Plus)

Vanilla Cardamom Rice Pudding

Baked Berry Slump

COOL TREATS

Proper Ice Cream Sandwiches

No Churn Ice Cream

Oreo Peanut Butter Ice Cake

Frozen Yoghurt Bark

Watermelon Sherbet

Mango Mojito Granita

Fudgesicles

Popsicles

Coco Passion Popsicle

Strawberry Balsamic Popsicle

Instant Berry Fro-yo

Iced Berries & White Chocolate Sauce

Appendix I: What Else to Freeze?

Appendix II: Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes (and Swaps)

Appendix III: Clever Prep Dishes

Appendix IV: Feasting Menu Ideas

List of Searchable Terms

About the Author

Acknowledgements

About the Publisher

Why you need this book

We are all time-strapped, wallet-wary, environmentally aware and mindful of what we consume, while still wanting to enjoy exciting, flavoursome homemade meals at the drop of a hat. Basically we want it all. And you know what? We can have it all!

Freezers (and their contents) have long been deemed unfashionable and retro, bringing to mind highly processed, ice-burned or long-forgotten meals (who knows exactly what that was?) that inevitably get thrown out after being discovered in the frozen-pea-scattered, over-iced depths a few years down the line.

Let me introduce you to The Ice Kitchen Method of cooking, eating and (if it isn’t too over the top to say) of living! All the hard work and planning has been done for you: you will rarely need scales to measure out ingredients; there will be no waste; there is always a use for that random carrot/chicken breast/lemon half; you’ll be able to tailor meals to your fussy child/partner/guest; and dishes will be packed with vegetables, goodness and flavour. You’ll learn to cook once and eat twice; avoid expensive, often insipid, and likely nutritionally poor takeaways and instead indulge in simply delicious meals that are wholesome, homemade, cost-effective and quick, and where you know exactly what has gone into your food. All this is possible within that icy realm of the kitchen that we all already have … the freezer!

According to an Open Access Government article with research carried out by Gousto, £494 million worth of food is thrown out every week in the UK (about eight meals a week per household, says WRAP), with vegetables topping the list. Over a third of us forget what we have bought in our weekly shop and usually cook too much food. A fifth of us throw out food because we don’t plan our meals properly. Freezers are the perfect tool for reducing this monumental food waste and making it easier to meal plan. According to WRAP, using frozen food can reduce household food waste by as much as 47 per cent.

Freezers are also the way forward for making your shopping cost-effective, as you can buy produce in bulk (which tends to be cheaper than buying smaller-packaged quantities) and cook larger batches of meals to freeze for future use, thus making the cost per person per meal cheaper overall.

Freezers make the most of seasonal produce, which again tends to be cheaper when bought at the right time of year. When you can bulk-buy and freeze food, either by cooking into a meal, or by freezing individual ingredients when they are fresh (vegetables and berries, for example), you’ll end up in the advantageous position of being able to extend food’s seasonality, enjoying it for many more months without the air miles of imported produce!

Freezing food locks in its nutritional value. Using the freezer to store ingredients and meals literally presses ‘pause’ on fresh food; taking something out of the freezer presses ‘play’, meaning that you can enjoy that ingredient or meal at a time convenient to you, with the same level of nutritional value as the day that you froze it! In some form or another, most of us already have this perfect preservation tool already taking up space in our kitchen.

Given our busy, time-strapped lifestyles it makes so much sense to utilise this clever tool to ensure you get delicious, fulfilling and wholesome meals, without the effort: make a meal once and eat from it at least twice! What’s not to love about having a range of delicious, tailored-to-your-tastes meals for the whole family (whatever this means to you) right at your fingertips, whether during the mad midweek rush, or the relaxed feasting of the weekend?

Given that most of us have a freezer, it really surprises me that so few of us really know how to make the most of it, how to use it properly, or just feel comfortable enough with the freezing and defrosting process. Food from the freezer doesn’t have to mean fish fingers, cardboard-textured pizza and potato waffles. Yes, it’s great for storing leftover bolognese and other comforting feasts, but it can also be a clever tool to give you so much more. Nearly every meal in The Ice Kitchen can be cooked straight from frozen so no need to plan ahead.

The Ice Kitchen Method is all about putting this right! You will find chapters filled with deliciously simple breakfast and brunch ideas (from humble sweet oats to decadent savouries); exciting meals and flavoursome snacks that go from freezer to table, perfect for weekend feasting and midweek eating; complete ready-made meals for those days that you only have time to open and close your freezer and oven door; puds and iced treats that you won’t want to live without; and hacks, solve-all sauces and bases that can transform into a rainbow of quick meals, making life (and preparing a gorgeous homemade meal) that little bit easier. Let’s face it, we ALL deserve that. Think warming, freezer-to-table earthy one-pots, decadent puds, cool desserts, fresh (yes!) brunches and, my personal favourite, the Salvation section: pure ‘saucery’ via ready-to-go sauces (some bagged and some frozen into ice-cube portions) along with clever bases that you need to have stashed in your freezer. These can be transformed into a host of dishes, with ingredients of your choice for quick-fix midweek magic meals. And my Salvation Suppers: Feasts-in-Foil are exactly that: complete ‘ready meals’ that you can put together and enjoy with all the ease of shop-bought ready meals but without the unnecessary additives and excess salt, sugar or fat.

The Ice Kitchen

Harking from a Caribbean background of writing tropical carnival-coloured recipes choc-a-block with flavour, it should come as no surprise that this book contains recipes that are packed with some subtle (and not so subtle) inspiration from across the globe.

At the same time, it also celebrates those lovely homely recipes that also have an important place in my life – like a quick pot pie, eaten on the sofa under a blanket when the dreaded sniffles rear their head, or, for those that know me and my obsession with ice cream, my ultimate ice cream sandwich (for any occasion!).

Having recently welcomed a second (very hungry!) son into my family, now more than ever I find I need swift, but nonetheless happy-making food that is packed with goodness, flavour, convenience and comfort – in every sense of that word. The Ice Kitchen wholly represents the way I cook and eat, from midweek meals to weekend feasts for my family, friends or sometimes just for me (in those rare moments that I catch myself alone at mealtimes!). I do also try to do my bit for the environment, making the best efforts to avoid wasting food, eating seasonally, (where possible) and using up whatever we have in the kitchen first, before resorting to buying more ingredients (often referred to as a fridge forage – what a superb term!). It’s also a fantastically cost-effective way to eat!

In the light of the above, I like to make food that can easily be switched up to take into account what ingredients I do have immediately available; food that can be tailored for children and fussy eaters (young and old alike, I may add); and more importantly, food that is full of flavour. The recipes are to inspire your own versions of freezer meals, so feel free to twist recipes, change ingredients and experiment with flavours. And when I say freezer meals, dispel that image of grey pre-packaged meals; I am talking about a rainbow-coloured, flavour-riddled array of breakfasts and brunches, meals that go beyond lasagnes and bolognese, sharing snacks, clever midweek freezer hacks, puds and cold desserts for you to paw over. Delicious food that just happens to be perfect for the freezer, and thus perfect for simple but satisfying dining.

There are handy guidelines in many of the recipes to help you make the dishes entirely your own, so you can use up those last few sad-looking vegetables lurking in your fridge, swap the pork mince for that beef that needs using up, or simply change the vibe of a dish from a traditional British flavour to a sun-drenched tropical one with the addition of a few spices.

I hope this book lets you realise the amazing capabilities of your freezer. and how it can transform your weekday meals, weekend feasts and everything in between. By simply learning a few tricks and tips and understanding how truly easy it is to use this resource (one that pretty much all of us already have in our homes), you will make your life easier and mealtimes more efficient, without any compromise on flavour. Hand on heart (and this may sound over dramatic!), I don’t actually think I could live without mine now.

A note on kids and fussy-eaters

All recipes can be tailored to accommodate any fussy eater. Essentially in my home we all eat the same meal – not only does it make mealtimes simpler, but it encourages fewer fussy eaters too. However, I portion off the kids’ servings before I add seasoning or strong flavours such as chilli, then keep a separate section in my freezer for the kids.

Whilst I think it best for kids to learn to love veg for veg’s sake, there are times when you need to squeeze in as much goodness as possible with minimal pain. A last resort is to ‘sneak’ extra vegetables into meals. Add a handful of rough-chopped courgette, carrot, spinach and aubergine to Swift Salvation Tomato Sauce, simmer until softened then blitz until smooth. Having this frozen in portions to use as a pasta or pizza sauce is a great way to inject extra veg. Main dishes with rich flavours such as Peanut Stew, or Beef & Prune Tagine are perfect vehicles to hide veg (I love choc-ablocking the former with leafy greens).

The best way to freeze their versions of our meals is in ice-cube trays, or even specially purposed silicone trays (so easy to find online or in supermarkets). The smaller portions mean I can defrost exactly the amount of cubes I think my kids will eat for a particular mealtime, which, if you have children you will know can vary wildly across the day. This cuts down on waste (much to the dog’s disappointment, I may add!) but tiny portions will defrost a lot more quickly too. Once the meals are frozen solid in the trays, I pop them out and store in resealable freezer bags, clearly labelled with the name and date frozen, and ‘file’ them in the kids’ section in my freezer.

I tend to defrost meals for the kids in the fridge, either popping the cubes out the night before or first thing in the morning. Any final defrosting can be dealt with by the defrost setting on the microwave; simply cover the plate of food and microwave in 30-second bursts until the food is fully defrosted, breaking up and mixing after every burst to ensure more even defrosting. If I’m warming a sauce, stew or casserole I would keep it covered and heat in the microwave on high, again in 30-second bursts with some stirring in between, until piping hot. This is slightly different to how I deal with large portions of meals, which I tend to not defrost in the microwave but given the more urgent time pressure when dealing with kids (read: meltdown/tantrum avoidance) I am happy to prioritise speed over perfect texture!

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