What's lurking at the bottom of your freezer?

Darkginger

This post was inspired by the bolognese thread - my freezer is usually pretty full, but there are some things that are in there that I really need to get out and use - seemed like a good idea at the time, never got cooked! These include one of those frozen Lidl lobsters (think I'll curry it, as all reports say it's nothing like a fresh one), a stuffed pheasant (not quite big enough for two, and there's always two of us), various bags of blanched leeks and celery, a rolled breast of lamb (how often do you see that in Ireland?), a mostly full bag of squid mantles (an evening of calamari, I think), and some truly revolting frozen 'roast mediterranean vegetables' - tried them once, yeee-uk! Think they might work in a soup?

There's also a couple of unlabelled bags which could be bolognese, or could be chilli - but they've been in there for ages, so I guess the dogs'll be happy Speaking of unlabelled, I have sealed, opaque bags of fish and/or scallops from the fishmongers, no idea what's in them 'cos they forgot to label them - so there's a fish pie, right there.

What have you got at the bottom of your freezer, and what're you going to do about it, huh?

Minder

Timing couldn't be better. I have a few oddities in the freezer that are getting a go tonight as I'm home alone and the less adventurous have gone to the in-laws.

Tonight I have two soft shelled crabs that will get the indian treatment. I saw the finale of the Great British Menu this week and Aktar Islam cooked soft shelled crabs with sea bass. I don't have the fish but do have some other shellfish - scallops and prawns - to complete a dish. I haven't eaten soft shelled crabs before so it will be interesting. I bought them from a large asian supermarket near my last place of work, they've been in the freezer for a while along with a box of frogs legs. Another impulse buy, they have remained unused for too long, so they will also get an outing soon.

Along with the crabs and frogs legs there are a few racks of lamb from my 4am visits to Smithfields meat market. A duck, a leg of lamb, a collection of fish fillets, pheasant breast fillets, two cooked confit duck legs in vacuum bag, a bag of large squid that will go towards a squid bolognese inspired by this recipe from Pierre Koffman.

The other side of the freezer has tupperware and bags filled with the more traditional bolognese portions for the kids, there is a misshapen bag of stock that is unlabelled. A few haddock and pollock fish cakes, a bag of kaffir lime leaves (they freeze very well) and some sticks of lemongrass. A bag of edamame beans and a tupperware box of basil and raspberry sorbet.

Tree

Two big bags of squishy circuits dough. Need to give an electronics workshop to get rid of it....... (the dough freezes pretty good)

There's also some cookie dough, shortbread dough freezes relatively well, so you just need to saw off a few chunks to have biscuits....

Darkginger

Darkginger wrote: »

What have you got at the bottom of your freezer, and what're you going to do about it, huh?

This guy. And I'm never letting him out.

Kimia

I have 2 x bags of frozen uncooked prawns, which I think I'll put in a curry as they're not big enough to pan fry. I have some minced pork (any suggestions??) and one mini-pork belly which is almost too much hassle to do on it's own as it requires such long cooking time.

Also have frozen fruit for my spinach smoothies, sweet potato fries, perogies and edamame.

kingofthenerds

a corpse

Umekichi

Kimia wrote: »

I have some minced pork (any suggestions??)

Why not try Meat Sung? It's basically Pork mince, noodles and veg served in iceberg lettuce leaves(you might have had it in a Chinese before). It's very tasty
Meat Sung

I have Squid Tubes, flower rolls and Rabbit buns.
Haven't the foggiest when it comes to the Squid(last time I cooked it, I overcooked it and you could bounce it off the ground, it was so rubbery :rolleyes:).

Flower rolls, I'll steam them and serve with tea. Ditto with the rabbit buns

lucylu

plums

Darkginger

For the squid tubes - cut into rounds, 1/4" or less wide, then throw into a bowl of well seasoned flour - I use paprika, salt (plenty of it) and pepper. Cover the squid well with flour (you could do an egg dip first to make them stickier, but I find it works well without), and then shallow fry in vegetable oil for NO MORE than 30 secs each side, turning once. Drain on kitchen paper, then eat - perhaps with lemon wedges for squeezing I like to put a few rings on top of a paella.

If you cook them any longer, they'll go rubbery, so be warned! Should be eaten immediately after cooking, they don't keep their crispness well.

leahyl

Well since I'm still living at home, its my mums freezer (!) so she has about 3 frozen turkeys at the bottom of the freezer which she will use over the coming year!

Gin Fizz

A bag of crushed ice. Always handy for cocktails

Umekichi

Darkginger wrote: »

For the squid tubes - cut into rounds, 1/4" or less wide, then throw into a bowl of well seasoned flour - I use paprika, salt (plenty of it) and pepper. Cover the squid well with flour (you could do an egg dip first to make them stickier, but I find it works well without), and then shallow fry in vegetable oil for NO MORE than 30 secs each side, turning once. Drain on kitchen paper, then eat - perhaps with lemon wedges for squeezing I like to put a few rings on top of a paella.

If you cook them any longer, they'll go rubbery, so be warned! Should be eaten immediately after cooking, they don't keep their crispness well.

Thanks, will try this.

amandausa

Kimia wrote: »

I have some minced pork (any suggestions??) .

How about Chinese dumplings or potstickers? Yum!

The Sweeper

Hmmm. Various bags of frozen vegetables.

A large piece of pork belly. A whole free range chicken. Two poussins. A bag of tiger prawns, raw, tail on. A box of kippers. Flour (have to keep it in the freezer here or it gets infested). Some kaffir lime leaves. Lamb mince. Beef mince. Pork mince. A couple of tupperware containers of bolognaise and meatballs in tomato sauce. Possibly a wedge of lasagne. A tray of pork chops.

That actually sounds quite reasonable. The other freezer is gruesome: 5kgs of lamb hearts. 10 kgs of chicken necks. 5kgs of turkey necks. Two bags of brisket bones. 5kg of kangaroo hindquarter chunks. <--that's the petfood freezer.

Faith

Aunt Marge? :pac:

I've very little in mine. It's a 3-shelf freezer that I share with my two flatmates, so everything in there is constantly rotated.

the beer revolu

Snails!!:eek:
I kid you not.
Snails that Mrs Beer purged for weeks in her snail jail, then poached and shelled and put in the freezer - that was 2 years ago.
Finally used up some galangal that was there for a few years a couple of weeks ago.
There is some black currants and red currants that need using, lychees frozen in syrup.
Apart from that, it's not too bad - 1/4 of a free range pig, a boned and stuffed turkey leg and various bits and pieces. And there's always bread and milk in there.

stacey25

haha, nice one!

Kovu

Far too much considering I live alone.:eek:
6 burgers in one packet, two burgers frozen individually apart from this, when I had a bit of forethought. 1 goose breast 2 seperate containers of home-made chowder, a good number of items picked up cheap out of the tesco clearance shelf (soup, lasagne, moussaka, more soup, cottage pie) cooked bacon that I defrost for sandwiches, corn on the cob, liver, chips, mixed veg, ice cream.......I could probably live off the items for a few weeks:o

Kimia

amandausa wrote: »

How about Chinese dumplings or potstickers? Yum!

I LOVE dim sum - any good recipes for a nice pork dumpling?

olaola

The usual stuff that I use all the time. But there are loads of chicken spines that I take out when I'm spatchcocking the birds. But I never use - I always think I'll use them for stock. But I never bother.

TeletextPear

Kimia wrote: »

I LOVE dim sum - any good recipes for a nice pork dumpling?

http://icanhascook.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/naughty-or-nice-homemade-gyoza/

I came across this one yesterday, thinking of making it tonight

faigs

Two whole mackerel I caught last year to keep for baiting for pike fishing, Haven't got out yet! Also blueberries that need using up, and meats that I will use, I need to defrost the freezer soon it's all iced up!

The Lovely Muffin

I still live at home so I share the freezer with my mother and granny.

They have chickens, turkeys, legs of lamb, chops, burgers, vegetables, sausages, breads, breadcrumbs, lasagne.

I have chops, burgers, ice cream, frozen foods (veg, waffles, wedges etc), bag of frozen prawns, packet of salmon, rashers, pizza dough, rolls/baps.

There's probably more that I can't remember.

The Hill Billy

Ice cubes (but never enough though), loads of ice pops, pigs' feet, a couple of mackerel, sundry chicken breasts & steaks, 'emergency' rashers & sausages, leftovers of spag bols, soups & chillis, more bleedin' ice pops.

Alun

Loads of plastic freezer containers with unidentifiable brown stuff (chilli, spag bol, stew, curry etc.) in them because the labels have fallen off Time for a mystery dinner methinks!