This has been the week of the frozen archives. My new fridge arrived on Friday and I am stupidly excited about it. It’s a FRIDGEMASTER. Have you ever heard Ken Bruce’s music quiz POPMASTER on Radio 2? If you have, you will know that I will be referring to my fridge as the FRIDGEMASTER in a kind of Dalek voice for ever more.
Regular readers will know my problem with hoarding. So, as the new fridge is just a fridge – no ice-box – I’ve been concentrating on eating lots of frozen stuff over the last few weeks rather than making new stuff. Here was the food mountain I had to deal with…
…and I managed it too.
Highlights were some leftover chunks of lamb from a Vincent Price Lamb Tajine (which I had with some hummus spiked with harissa and grated carrot salad), and Kim’s Chilis Rellenos mixture which I had over two nights in some bog standard bell peppers. Pleased to say, that despite my worries about whether grapes would freeze OK when I first made this dish, the mixture seemed to suffer no ill effects in the ice-box.
Here’s Kim’s recipe again should you wish to try it, but be warned. It makes tonnes of stuffing mixture, I still have two peppers stuffed with this in my other freezer after 4 x 2 pepper meals. So I would suggest getting 10 or even 11 peppers for this dish if they are smallish ones…
Kim Novak’s Chili Rellenos
6 green peppers [I used a red one and a yellow one for my frozen leftovers]
Mix together:
1 grated carrot
1 small grated Irish potato
1/4 lb Mozzarella cheese [NB – you’ll need another 1/4 lb to sprinkle on top]
2 dozen peeled green grapes
12 sliced pimento olives
12 sliced black olives
the seeds of 1 small green hot pepper
2 teaspoons chili sauce
dash of tabasco
1 chopped Bermuda onion
1 slightly beaten egg
1.5 lb hamburger / minced beef, cooked
Cut the tops off the peppers, remove inside of peppers, and boil until tender Stuff with the mixture above. Put stuffed peppers in baking dish. Pour over peppers the following mixture:
1 can stewed tomatoes
dash of dried dill leaves
dash of mint leaves
a few rolled cheese crackers (for thickening) [I just whizzed up some crackers in my mini food processor, including some to sprinkle on top]
Top with:
More rolled cheese crackers, sprinkled over top 1/4 lb Mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30 minutes in the oven – Gas mark 4 / 350 degrees F / 160 degrees C.
Serves 6
I am feeling very proud of myself, and I’m sure Heather will be proud of me too, as I am now keeping a proper record of what is in my freezer. I should have done this years ago, but friends, I have done it now. This is in a notebook I carry with me at all times, so I can gaze lovingly at it on the bus and work out what I should get out for my din dins. I spy some Dick Emery Potato Crusted Meatloaf coming on…
that’s not chiles rellenos! the chiles are dipped in eggs beaten to a froth, and the only thing stuffed into them should be the cheese. Back in old days before you could buy Monterey Jack cheese in any grocers I guess mozzarella would have been used – and the thing’s fried. I wish I knew where the heck Kim got the idea for the grapes as well! Proper chiles rellenos: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marcela-valladolid/chilles-rellenos-recipe-1973140
Krazy Kim!