Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: Sweet and savoury treats with frozen produce

With the cost of produce continuing to skyrocket, here's a reminder that frozen fruits and veggies are just as nutritious as fresh and sometimes better, as produce is harvested at its peak and flash-frozen, so it doesn't degrade in transit and storage like fresh produce can.

The price of frozen fruits and vegetables seem to be staying more constant, and there's less waste fresh produce accounts for the bulk of food wasted in Canada, between growing, distributing, selling and forgetting it in the back of the crisper drawer.

There's typically no waste when using a bag of frozen veggies, and you won't find that one mouldy berry that spoils the whole pint.

You also aren't paying for the peel and pit of a mango or avocado, and if you're cooking for one or two, you can use a small quantity of frozen cubes of butternut squashrather than commit to the entire beast.

Fresh produce does change, texture-wise, once frozen; water expands as it freezes, breaking cell walls, giving everything a softer texture once thawed.

Most any fresh fruit or vegetable can be frozen to prolong its life having a batch of chopped onions in the freezer gives you a head start on so many dishes and though you can just toss anything from peppers to tomatoes to fresh greens to corn (scraped off the cob) into your freezer, blanching it for a minute first will stop enzymic action and help maintain colour and flavour.

LISTEN| Julie Van Rosendaal talks about cooking with frozen produce:

Calgary Eyeopener7:42Julie van Rosendaal on frozen fruits and vegetables

Julie van Rosendaal heads for the frozen fruits and veggies aisle.

If you have a bag of greens that's starting to go limp, toss the whole thing in the freezer. When you need it, the frozen leaves will shatter by squeezing the bag.

Frozen veggies are better suited for soup, stews and saucy curries than for roasting (the moisture releasing could keep them from browning). And if you're adding frozen berries to pancake or muffin batter, keep them frozen and add them last, so they hold their juices rather than releasing them into your batter.

Here are a few things to make with the bags of produce in your freezer.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Stuffed sweet potatoes can make use of all kinds of ingredients, from frozen corn to the cilantro that's threatening to go slimy in your crisper drawer. You may have small quantities of leftovers you could add to the mix, too.

Quantities here are approximate. If you make more filling than you need, you can freeze it for another time.

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes (or as many as you want to cook), halved lengthwise
• vegetable oil, for cooking
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeo, seeded and chopped
• A handful of cilantro, chopped (optional)
• cup frozen corn
• 1 tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. cumin
• cup cooked or canned beans (black, pinto, kidney)
• cup frozen diced squash or any other veggie you like
• salt, to taste
• 1 cup grated extra old cheddar or other cheese (optional)

Preheat your oven to 400 F. Put your sweet potatoes on a baking sheet (cut side up or down, it doesn't matter), drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and bake (or cook in the air fryer) for 20-30 minutes, depending on the shape and size of the potatoes, until soft.

As they cook, heat a drizzle of oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat and cook the onion for four to five minutes, until soft.

Add the garlic, pepper, jalapeo, cilantro and corn and cook until the veggies are soft and starting to brown on the edges.

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Add the chili powder and cumin, then the beans and squash. Season with salt and cook for a minute or two just to heat them through. Remove from the heat.

When they're cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh out of the roasted sweet potatoes into the pan and combine with the remaining ingredients.

Stir in about half the cheese. Put the potato skins back on the baking sheet and scoop the filling into them, piling them high.

Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the potatoes are heated through.

Serves: 4.

Fruit Crumble

The whole point of a crumble is to utilize whatever fruit happens to be in season, or needs using. And so to be the most useful, a recipe should be more general guidance than strict starting point and process.

A fruit crumble can be made with any type of fruit apples, pears, peaches, plums, rhubarb, berries and is arguably better with any combination of the above, in whatever ratio you happen to have.

The quantity of sugar will depend on the sweetness of the fruit and your own taste, and whether you use a spoonful or two of flour will depend on how juicy your fruit is berries more so than apples, for example, but I prefer a juicy crumble to a thick one, so don't stress too much about it.

This is the beauty of making a crumble instead of a pie: you'll serve it with a spoon regardless.

If you use frozen fruit, keep it frozen until it goes into the oven.

The crumble topping is a little more precise. I use roughly equal parts brown sugar, flour, oats (technically if it contains oats it's a "crisp,"but I'm not picky with names) and slightly less butter, with a pinch of salt and a shake of cinnamon if I'm feeling it, and sometimes a handful of sliced almonds.

As long as the mixture holds together when you squeeze it, you're good to go.

You can make more crumble mixture or less if you want more or less of it, and if you make a big batch while you're at it, you can freeze the mixture to add directly to fruit in emergency dessert situations.

Ingredients

Filling:

• 6-8 cups frozen berries, stone fruit (peaches, cherries), apples, pears, rhubarb or a combination
• - cup sugar (to your taste)
• 1-3 tbsp. flour
• a shake of cinnamon, if you like

Crumble:

• - 1 cup packed brown sugar
• - 1 cup all-purpose flour
• - 1 cup oats
• cup butter

Preheat the oven to 350 F. To make the filling, toss the fruit, sugar and flour in a large bowl or directly in a pie plate or baking dish. Spread it out evenly in the dish.

Use less flour if you're making an apple or pear crisp, more if you're using juicier fruit like berries.

To make the crumble, blend all the ingredients in a bowl with a fork or your fingers, or pulse it in the food processor until well combined and crumbly.

Sprinkle it over the fruit, squeezing to create larger clumps as you go.

Bake for about an hour, until the topping is golden, the fruit is soft and the juices are bubbling around the edges.

Serves: About 6.

Cormorian Ginger, Green Pea & Coconut Soup

I came across this gingery soup in In Bibi's Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries that Touch the Indian Ocean, by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen.

I love that it calls for green peas, which you likely have in the freezerbut may overlook as a source of protein.

Feel free to add other greens that might be wilty and no longer suitable for salad. I added cilantro, and used the half can of coconut milk I had left over in the fridge.

Ingredients

• canola oil, for cooking
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp. grated or chopped fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• tsp. cayenne
• salt
• - 1 14 oz (398 mL) can of coconut milk
• 2-3 cups frozen peas
• A handful of cilantro, roughly chopped

In a medium saucepan, heat a drizzle of oil and saut the onion, ginger, garlic, cayenne and salt to taste for six to eight minutes, until the onion is soft.

Add two cups of water and coconut milk and bring to a simmer; add the peas and cilantro and cook for about fiveminutes, until the peas are bright green and tender.

Pure the soup with a hand-held immersion blender right in the pot.

Serves: 4-6.