As a professional cook and recipe developer, Amanda Frederickson always heard the same complaint from her friends and social media followers: They never knew what to cook for dinner. And when they turned to a cookbook for guidance, they became frustrated by a laundry list of ingredients they didn’t have on hand.
To help, Frederickson, who trained at the San Francisco Cooking School and worked in the Williams-Sonoma Test Kitchen, launched an Instagram series three years ago aptly called #FridgeForaging. Every Wednesday, she peeks inside her refrigerator and creates a dish with what she has — without a single plan or trip to the grocery store. Send her a photo of your fridge and she’ll tell you what to cook, too.
Now more than ever, when we’re getting down to our last clove of garlic and trying not to leave the house, this is the type of cooking we’re embracing. And guess what? It’s better in a lot of ways.
“It empowers you to really maximize what you already have and significantly reduces food waste,” says Frederickson, who spoke to us from her home in Nashville a scant hour before the virtual launch party for her new cookbook, “Simple Beautiful Food: Recipes and Riffs for Everyday Cooking (Ten Speed Press; $22). The bright, square book, which debuted April 7, features more than 100 flavorful recipes with a short, simple ingredient list and full-color image for each.
To date, Frederickson has posted more than 2,500 dishes on Instragram. Scrolling through them, you’ll see a trend. The produce she uses is versatile and tends to last a long time: Dark, leafy greens, like chard, spinach or kale; thick-skinned citrus and cherry tomatoes; and potatoes, onions and squashes, which can sit unchanged on the counter for weeks. Cooking is typically done in one pot or pan.
“That’s one of my biggest pet peeves, ending up with a bunch of dishes at the end of the night,” she says. “I streamline for less dishwashing.”
Her Lightened Up Chicken Parmesan — made with chicken breasts, cherry tomatoes, cheese and a few pantry staples — is all done in a cast iron skillet. Her Thai-inspired Salmon in Parchment with Coconut Rice doesn’t even dirty a pan. You prep the fillets in their own parchment pockets, which are baked atop a sheet pan. You will need a pot for the rice, which is simmered in coconut milk, Frederickson’s must-have pantry item.
“It works in just about anything sweet and savory — grains, oatmeal, curries, smoothies, desserts,” she says. “It’s got so much richness that you almost feel like you’re eating out at a restaurant or somewhere a little more exotic than your kitchen.” And the best part? A little goes a long way.
Savory Porridge Bowl, a hearty dish from “Simple Beautiful Food,” requires just two ingredients — jasmine rice and stock — and your own limitless imagination. Atop the creamy, oatmeal-like rice, you can add all sorts of optional toppings, from peanuts and fried shallots to scallions, cilantro, hot sauce, cooked chicken or a jammy egg. It’s pure comfort food.
What’s in Frederickson’s freezer now? In addition to her family’s favorite poultry, meat and seafood, she’s got soups and stocks, pie and pizza doughs, and “fancy bread,” like levain or sourdough, which, she has found, can last up to three months in the freezer.
A slice of that bread is the foundation for one of her favorite dishes in “Simple Beautiful Food.” Bacon, Beans and Greens over Toast is made by sauteeing a can of cannellini beans with chopped bacon, a minced shallot and chopped Swiss chard.
But it’s a sweet something Frederickson found in her freezer recently that surprised even her: Two chocolate souffles, baked and leftover from New Year’s eve. They defrosted to perfection and delighted the cook to no end during this shelter-in-place.
“It was such a treat to find,” she says. “We’re all appreciating what we have so much more now.”
