Dear Laura
ON the question of veggies going floppy in the fridge, the makers of plastic bags tell you that you should buy their special green ones, but I have found that the blue ones from the café and the pale grey ones from the bottle store do pretty well. Certainly better than the clear ones. Don’t ask me for a scientific explanation – that’s just the way it is!
If you have bought too many vegetables, you should really try to freeze the surplus before they become tired leftovers. Clean and cut them in the normal way, then plunge them in boiling water for two minutes and then iced water to cool them as fast as possible. This is known as ‘blanching’, which means, literally, turning white, but luckily they don’t! Beans and carrots freeze beautifully after this treatment, cauliflower can be tricky, and cabbage is a total non?starter. So be warned!
But it is terribly useful to have a few things in the freezer for emergencies. I’ll never forget the Whitbread Cup, a week or so before you were born. I’d stocked up the freezer with everything the family could possibly need while you and I sorted out our differences in the clinic. And, by the end of the three?day event, it was empty!
The organisers had supplied perfectly good accommodation for the grooms, etc., but the riders, trainers, and sundry bods such as your Aunt Ruth, had been allocated quarters which were redolent of rat – both the quick and the dead! So, with no warning, because we had no telephone, the entire Rhodesian team, bar one, landed up on my doorstep, exhausted and starving, shortly before midnight. We already had guests, so there were seven of us, plus eleven of them. At times like that, you really appreciate your freezer!
I had all sorts of things oven?ready or saucepan?ready – we didn’t have a microwave in those days. Ready?mades that freeze well include all sorts of stews and casseroles, pasta dishes – either complete or just the sauce to put over the pasta – shepherd’s pie, etc. Anything, in fact, which relies for its appeal on flavour rather than texture. And pies which are thin enough to cook right through from cold before the pastry burns.
But, before you freeze anything for possible later emergencies, you’d better try them out on Mike! How about the general?purpose pasta sauce for a first effort? It’s just a normal savoury mince mixture – fry the onions, garlic and herbs first, then chop in the mince – but you will need to add a lot more tomato. I suggest a whole tin of tomatoes, broken up, and simmer it until most of the juice has boiled away. Don’t stint on the garlic and herbs. This is not exactly a classic Italian dish but it works.
As for cooking the spaghetti, totally foolproof methods are like buds on a spaghetti tree in spring! It cooks faster in Durban than it does in Johannesburg. It won’t cook at all at the top of Mount Everest. Your school friend insisted on throwing it at the fridge door to see if it was ready. A friend of mine used to stick it to the ceiling. Twelve minutes seems to be a good point at which to check it – al dente. If it chews right, it’s done! Rinse it quickly in boiling water and stir in a knob of butter or a teaspoon of oil to stop it sticking together. If you haven’t got Parmesan cheese, grate up some old cheddar for topping. Don’t, under any circumstances, serve this lot to an Italian. Continental guests should be treated to roast beef and Yorkshire pudding!
Love Mom
