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Make your freezer work for you As well as extending the shelf-life of food and saving on waste, your freezer offers various shortcuts for preparing meals words GOOD FOOD TEAM
MIXED VEG Frozen vegetables are often healthier than fresh, because they’re processed and frozen just after being picked, so there’s no time for them to degrade in transit from farm to shop. You can also choose packs that combine different types of veg for specific purposes, whether it’s packs of stir-fry veg for noodles, fillings for enchiladas, broccoli and cauliflower for gratins and curries, or carrots, beans and sweetcorn for soups, stews and rice dishes. SWEETCORN Frozen sweetcorn is good value, tastes better than canned and is a family-friendly choice. Because the kernels are frozen separately, you can easily measure out what’s needed, as and when you need it. Use it in chowders and pancakes or stir into cornbread. A bag will keep for months to no ill effect. Corn on the cob cut into sections can also be found frozen, a wise buy during barbecue season or as a snack for 66 BBC Good Food Middle East August 2022
kids. Try our curried sweetcorn soup at bbcgoodfoodme.com/ recipes/curried-sweetcorn-soup. BERRIES Frozen blueberries, raspberries, and cherries allow you to enjoy a taste of summer all year round, and are often considerably cheaper than fresh. You won’t waste any either, racing to eat them before they turn mushy. Their texture is changed by freezing, so they’re best used in recipes where they’ll be cooked or puréed, or you don’t mind them collapsing (stirred into yogurt or porridge, for example). Our frozen fruit crumble (see recipe, right) can be made with any bag of frozen berries or a few bags of fruit that might be going past their best. CHOPPED ONIONS While some find chopping an onion therapeutic, there are those who find it a chore, especially when trying to get dinner on the table in a hurry. This is where
Frozen fruit crumble SERVES 6 PREP 10 mins COOK 25 mins EASY V
100g plain flour 50g rolled oats 100g butter, cut into cubes 50g light brown soft sugar 60g flaked almonds (optional) 3 tbsp ground almonds 500g frozen berries, defrosted
1 Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6. Put the flour, oats, butter and sugar in a bowl and rub together with your fingers to a crumble texture. Bake for 10 mins, stirring to break it up after 5 mins. Mix in the flaked almonds, if using. Will keep for two days in an airtight container. 2 Sprinkle the ground almonds into an ovenproof dish, then spoon in the berries. Sprinkle over the crumble and bake for 15 mins. Serve with custard, cream or ice cream. PER SERVING 330 kcals • fat 19g • saturates 9g • carbs 31g • sugars 13g • fibre 6g • protein 5g • salt 0.3g
