Friday, January 28, 2011

Cooking from the Freezer

It's gotten remarkably easy to come by local winter foods all through the cold months here in the Pioneer Valley, and there's really quite a variety available - but even so, I still sometimes get tired of root vegetables and greens. This is where the freezer comes to the rescue (not to mention that a full freezer means less grocery shopping and there's always something to cook!). If you followed this blog through the summer and fall, you know that I froze a lot of different vegetables, some from our garden (like the bumper crop of green beans) and some from local farms (corn, tomatoes, extra peppers). The key for me is to have some variety and make sure that most of what I freeze can be used for lots of different types of dishes.

In the past week I've made a couple vegetable-heavy dishes straight from my freezer stocks: chili with beef from our share, black beans I had cooked and frozen previously, tomatoes, corn, and red peppers; and last night fried rice with edamame, red peppers, corn, and green beans from the freezer. So easy, so delicious!

If you're interested in learning more about freezing food, come check out my workshop at Greenfield Winter Fare on Saturday, Feb. 5 (time TBD - I'll post it when I know).

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