How to freeze eggplant for the winter

“Why do people ask - how to freeze eggplant for the winter? There are so many of them in the store, they are sold all year round. Now I’ll go, how I’ll buy it, how I will cook it! ” So the mistress who did not ask the price of vegetables in the winter thinks.

Only now it turns out the vegetable is not blue, but golden. It is very expensive. And to pamper your home ...

What is the problem? No one canceled the conservation. Pall ... Fresh would ... Pfff, even easier. Long parking by the stove and tedious sterilization of cans are canceled. Solved - freeze eggplant!

Training

Where without her? Preliminary preparation is always necessary. You can’t just take a vegetable and stuff it into the freezer. No, in principle it is possible. Only then will it be unfit for food. Have you ever tried bitter rubber? Freeze whole eggplant - try it.

First, the vegetable must be washed. Or a berry? We will not go into botanical details, we just thoroughly wash the blue ones in clean water. Be careful, the stalk has very sharp thorns!

Then wipe dry. Remove the peel with a peeler. Everything, eggplant is ready for further adventures.

Tip. If the fruit is young, then the peel can be left.

Three preprocessing options

What do you want? Washed, cleaned and all? Nooo. As you drown, you rush. Who will remove the bitterness? Rubber should again be removed. There are three options for the following actions:

• roasting
• blanching
• roasting

And for the laziest, a little secret is written below.

For all methods, you will need to cut the eggplant in a convenient way. For stew - in cubes, for pizza - in rings, for hot salad - in straws. The next step is to remove the bitterness. Either pour salt in a bowl for 20 minutes or pour cold salt water in a saucepan for the same time. Bitter liquid is poured; it is unsuitable for further use.

While the vegetables give their bjak, choose a suitable tray or chopping board. Even thick cardboard or plastic will come in handy. Cover it with a dense film. You can take a special, which summer residents cover greenhouses. She is fat and sturdy. Then they look at will - which is more convenient.

1. Roasting. Suitable for packing rings. Prepared vegetables are quickly fried in a pan with a small amount of vegetable oil. Spread on a sieve. As soon as the oil cools down and the excess oil drains, the last stage begins, common to all three options.
2. Blanching. Good for julienne. Boil water in a wide saucepan. Eggplant is poured into a colander or sieve, dipped in boiling water for 4 minutes. They pull out, cool.
3. Roasting. Ideal for dicing. Eggplant is poured onto a baking sheet, slightly sprinkled with your favorite vegetable oil. Put in the oven for half an hour at a temperature of 170 ° C. It is advisable to mix the slices at least once so that the baking proceeds evenly. Cool down.

Tip. Cooled vegetables can be sprinkled with spices, crushed garlic or herbs. Then for subsequent cooking will need even less time.

The final stage

Processed fruits are placed on cooked baking sheets or boards in one layer. Cleaned in the freezer preliminary for two hours. This time is enough for the formation of the upper hard crust, so that later the eggplants do not stick together into one monolithic block. You’ll be surprised at home, seeing you with a hammer or hatchet going to the kitchen - do eggplant caviar.

Once the top layer has set, you can pack the freeze in convenient portions. These eggplants should be stored in special plastic containers or bags with clips. The main thing is to close the workpieces very tightly.Eggplants themselves do not smell, but they absorb wonderful odors.

For complete reliability, place an old unnecessary towel under the film in advance. It will allow you to quickly pour the vegetables without fear of tearing the bag.

Tip. In winter, it is better not to defrost eggplants so as not to lose the remains of vitamins and nutrients. They immediately begin to cook, as soon as they took out of the container.

The exception is plates for the preparation of rolls. They will have to be thawed to put or spread the filling and wrap. But there is a little trick here: they put the filling in advance, roll the rolls and freeze them whole.

In winter, without any worries at all - they prepared the sauce, took out the workpiece, laid out the eggplants in one layer, and left about their business. After 40-45 minutes, they returned to the kitchen, put on the plates the resulting delicacy and all.

The promised secret for the lazy
You will need kitchen foil, fresh tomatoes, cheese, a sharp knife, salt water. Washed eggplant is peeled. Vertical cuts are not made to the end. Such plates on a thin substrate come out. Put the workpiece in salt water for 20-25 minutes. During this time, hard ripe tomatoes and cheese are cut into thin slices.

Eggplant is pulled out, slightly dried. Now - the most interesting! Prepared slices of cheese and tomatoes are inserted into the sections, alternating. It should be a bright caterpillar. Wrap it in two layers of foil and put it in the freezer.

In winter, when the notorious laziness makes it difficult to mess with dinner, they just pull out the caterpillar. The foil is not removed, put in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Willingness to determine simply: "You recognize it by smell ..."

Simply put, they felt a stunning aroma - it means they pull out, gently tear the foil from above. Put a slice of butter or sprinkle with olive. Done!

Tip. The thickness of the plates when slicing should be 3-5 mm, not more.

Tricks

1. Included with each microwave is a stand for the simultaneous heating of two dishes. We put this stand on one board with freezing, put the second on top. Voila! Speed ​​up the process twice!
2. There is no such thing? Great trouble! Four inverted identical glasses in the corners - why not an impromptu stand?
3. For baking, it is better to use not parchment paper, but siliconized. Or a silicone mat. Then the vegetables will not stick and can easily be removed from the pan.
4. There are recommendations to bake the whole blue, then remove the peel and freeze. This is a tip for lovers of bitter dishes. With this method of harvesting, it will all remain in the vegetable.
5. The fruits contain little moisture, so you can leave the fear of getting watery rags after defrosting. They perfectly retain their shape in the finished dishes.
6. In order not to confuse packets with freezing, always sign them with an indelible marker. Or put inside a piece of paper with a description and bookmark date.
7. No desire to look for an old towel or a suitable film for freezing? Then, with your laziness, there are probably flexible or folding cutting boards in the kitchen. Pre-freezing is done on them, then poured easily and quickly into permanent packaging. As a rule, such boards are made of food-grade soft plastic; it is difficult to freeze them.
8. You can store frozen blue from 5 to 7 months. Vegetables are not subject to repeated freezing. Categorically. Instead of vegetables, there is a risk of getting a smear that is unpleasant in taste and in appearance.
9. Special packages for freezing are very convenient. They have a tight "zip fastener" or a special clip. In addition, in such bags there are no micropores, which will allow storing vegetables for a long time without fear of mixing smells with other frosts.
10. After all the manipulations, the vegetables are slightly reduced in size and darken. This is a normal occurrence. No botulism here and does not smell. And then we saw such "literate". It is claimed that this is a beginning spoilage of the product.True, they forget that botulism is a sin of canned food, not freezing. By the way, freshly cooked eggplants in autumn also do not shine with whiteness. They acquire a noble brown tint.
11. Spouse is not told about autumn frosts. We spent the day at our pleasure, quickly took it out of the freezer in the evening, cooked it. As soon as the missus comes from work, we immediately declare that she’s so tired, so tired, spent the whole day with these eggplants, soaked, boiled, baked ... Well, down the list, there’s enough imagination.
12. Frozen blue ones do not salt during cooking! They absorbed enough “white poison” at the stage of getting rid of bitterness.

How to freeze eggplant for the winter? It turns out easy! Now, walking with a friend in the winter, shopping and hearing from her - the blue ones are expensive ... And you feel like it, you can safely say - come to me, freshly treat you.

Video: winter eggplant