Authors help cooks make a plan
If you’re a cook who enjoys knowing tonight’s dinner is at the ready in the refrigerator or freezer, The Plan Buy Cook Book (Hardie Grant/ Raincoast, $35.99) should appeal to you.
Written by two Australian working mothers, it offers a system they call “plan once, eat well all week.”
Chef and caterer Jen Petrovic and her friend
Gaby Chapman use the term “foodbanking.”
Their plan begins with cooking four meals from scratch each week — two of them in double portions, so you can freeze two dinners for another night.
Next up in the plan are two nights when you cook “fast and fresh” meals in less than an hour. On two nights, you raid the freezer for previously cooked meals, and the seventh night you wind down with leftovers, takeout or a substantial sandwich supper.
The system requires only one weekly shopping trip and two hours of cooking a week.
Their good-looking book — with appetizing photographs by Bec Hudson — provides more than 80 easy dinner recipes that represent cuisines of the world.
Today’s sausage and bean dish is one of 40 recipes that are easy to double and freeze. If you heed the authors’ tip to maintain a well-stocked pantry, it takes only 10 minutes to prepare.
ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND WHITE BEAN BRAISE
Serves: 4
■ 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
■ 1 onion, chopped
■ 1 garlic clove, crushed or grated
■ 1 carrot, finely chopped
■ 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
■ 4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
■ 3/4 lb (340 g) Italian sausages (pork and fennel sausages are recommended)
■ 1/2 cup (125 ml) red wine
■ 1 can (14 1/2 oz/398 ml) diced tomatoes
■ 2 cans (19 oz/540 ml) cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
■ Salt
■ Freshly ground pepper
■ Crusty bread
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat and cook onion, garlic, carrot, celery and parsley for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If mixture sticks, add a little water.
2. Squeeze sausage meat out of casings to form small balls and add to vegetable mixture. Cook until meat is lightly browned.
3. Add wine, tomatoes, beans and 1 cup (250 ml) water. Bring mixture to a boil, then lower heat, cover with lid and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot with crusty bread.
Note: If doubling the recipe, divide it in two and cool half to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold before freezing.