Frozen is Fresh
March 11, 2010
Well almost. Obviously, there isn’t anything as fresh as freshly picked, fished or baked food. Freezing fresh food is the best way to keep it in your home. Many of the foods we eat are always previously frozen such as shrimp and sushi grade fish which is always frozen when caught. Any shrimp you buy which is not frozen has been defrosted. The best way to buy shrimp is frozen in pre-packed bags. They are individually flash frozen which allows you to use as much as you need.
I made this delicious, easy soup with all fresh ingredients that had been frozen. They are: chicken stock which was made at my favorite supermarket, Fairway, fresh linguini pasta, shrimp, frozen peas and fresh scallions. I sauteed some thinly sliced onion in butter (olive oil is also good). Then I added the defrosted chicken stock to that pan. Threw in the shrimp to cook right into the stock which gave the stock a slightly fishy flavor. I added frozen peas and scallions. The pasta was broken into short spoon-size and cooked separately. All the ingredients were blended together to yield a hearty, fulfilling meal.
This can also be a good option if you have leftovers or just a little bit of fresh ingredients. Read the ingredients on packed soup stocks. Some of them contain a lot of chemical additives. Most of them, unless they are marked “concentrate” are under salted so you’ll have to add salt to taste.
Three to four weeks is the maximum time frozen foods should remain in your freezer. Frost free refridgerators (which is what most of them are nowadays) blow both hot and cold air on food which causes the icing and “freezer burn.” So don’t neglect your food. Once it’s been a couple of weeks, please cook. Or make a lovely soup such as this. By the way, baked goods keep very nicely frozen. Cake will defrost easily outside the fridge and will be ready to serve in a couple of hours.
Feel free to write to me about suggestions for soups and for frozen ingredients. I’m here for you!
