Keep the freezer stocked with your own summer ‘helpers’

These days, as life spins at such a fast pace, I’ve tried to keep my freezer stocked so a fair proportion of evening meals can be pulled together with little fuss and practically no mess.

It’s not fine French cuisine, but it’s practical and good in its own right.

Here are my thoughts and tips on the subject:

My premise is simply, cook a lot when there’s time so you cook a little when there’s none.

My summer cache varies slightly from other seasons. We eat lighter, thanks to the greater availability of local produce, and the kinds of entree-based preparations I design can be used in such warm-weather dishes as fajitas, chilled soups, pesto-laced pastas and simple stir-fries.

To keep variety high, the frozen offerings must be able to be taken in a number of directions. For instance, a quart-sized bag of frozen browned and seasoned ground chicken, turkey or beef can be used in such dishes as tortilla roll-ups, stuffed peppers, toastadas and taco salads.

Grilled and frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be served whole as is or on a bun, or chopped for salads, pita bread fillings, tortilla roll-ups, toastadas and pasta toppings..

Homemade pesto is frozen in ice cube trays and the 1/4-cup dollops packed in zip-close freezer bag for quick pasta meals.

On particularly festive nights, I grab a bag of Asian stir-fry base and while it’s thawing in a pot of warm water, I prep some seasonal vegetables and fresh or freshly thawed shrimp and cook Yakisoba noodles. When it’s time to eat, everything gets one last pass in the hot wok and combined into an incredibly tasty noodle dish.

Jan’s China Blue special noodles stir-fry base

3/4cup Kikkoman Tempura Sauce (see note)

1/2cup chili-garlic sauce

1/4cup Chinese style black bean garlic sauce

4pounds of boneless/skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/2- to 1-inch chunks

3-4tablespoons Canola oil

2medium yellow onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks to measure 2 cups

1pound Chinese style barbecue pork (see note), thinly sliced

Prepare the sauce by combining the tempura sauce, chili-garlic sauce, and the black bean garlic sauce. You will have 11/2 cups. Measure 1/2 cup of the sauce.

Pour the remaining 1 cup of sauce into a jar or container, cover, and store in the refrigerator. It will keep for months and months and will be used in the final preparation of your noodle dish.

In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet or wok, heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of canola oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken in batches, stir-frying each batch until the chicken pieces are thoroughly cooked and nicely browned. Remove each batch with a slotted spoon to a bowl and set aside.

Return the pan to the burner, add a bit more oil, and when it has heated, add the onion and continue stir-frying until it has softened and begun to turn golden. Add the barbecue pork slices to the pan and keep stir-frying until the pork is browned.

Add the cooked chicken back to the pan, along with the 1/2 cup of prepared sauce. Keep stir-frying until the ingredients have been well-coated with the sauce and the sauce has begun to caramelize around the ingredients, creating a deeper, richer flavor. Remove the pan from the burner and scrape the contents into a wide, shallow baking dish so it can cool.

This amount of stir-fry base translates into about 16 servings. Figure out how much you want in each freezer container: For a family of four average eaters, figure on 4-quart bags.

Note on kikkoman tempura sauce: If unavailable, use Kikkoman Ponzu seasoning (a lemon-soy sauce) or Kikkoman Memmi. If all else fails, use 1/2 cup regular soy sauce, 1/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon Worstershire sauce.

Jan’s special noodles

1-2tablespoons oil

1/4pound of small to medium peeled and deveined shrimp

11/2cups sugar snap peas (or snow peas or green beans)

1diced bell pepper

2green onions cut into 1-inch long pieces

4tablespoons reserved tempura chili-sauce mixture, divided

1container stir-fry base, thawed

Yakisoba noodles, cooked and drained

Heat a wok or heavy-bottomed skillet over a medium-high burner. Add oil to the wok. Add shrimp and stir-fry just until they begin to turn pink. Add sugar snap peas or peas or green beans, bell pepper and green onions.

Stir-fry for about 30 seconds, then add about 2 tablespoons reserved tempura chili-sauce mixture.

Stir-fry another 30 seconds, then add the thawed stir-fry base and continue cooking until the mixture is heated through.

Add some cooked and drained yakisoba noodles, and up to 2 tablespoons additional tempura chili-sauce mixture.

Makes 4 generous servings.

Jan’s frozen strawberry daiquiri mix

2cups granulated sugar

1/3cup fresh lime juice (juice from 2 medium limes)

1/4cup water

1quart fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

Combine the sugar, lime juice and water. Stir to mix, and then let stand until sugar is almost completely dissolved, about 15 minutes. Mixture will be thick.

In blender jar or food processor, combine the sugar mixture with the berries. Blend until smooth. Pour into half-pint, pint, or 1-quart freezer containers, or pour into ice cube trays and freeze until firm, unmold and pack into zip-close freezer bags.

The mixture will become solid but will have the consistency of a very firm sherbet, so you’ll be able to scoop portions from the main batch, then re-seal the mixture and return it to the freezer. Likewise, if you’ve frozen the mixture in ice cube trays, the cubes will not be rock-solid, but they will hold their shape when popped from the trays into storage bags.

Makes about 1 quart frozen strawberry puree.

Strawberry daiquiri

3-4tablespoons rum

1/4cup frozen strawberry daiquiri mix

7-8average-sized ice cubes

Place ingredients in blender jar and blend until smooth. Most blender jars can handle up to 4 servings.

Alternatives: It makes a delicious nonalcoholic cooler when blended with a bit of sparkling water or soda and ice. Or for a creamier smoothie, blend in milk, a banana, and yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

Jan Roberts-Dominguez is a Corvallis, Ore., food writer, cookbook author and artist. Readers can contact her by e-mail at janrd@proaxis.com.