Up the plot nice and early today to grab a few veggies and to strim the paths.

I cut a load of Kale and Swiss Chard to blanch and freeze. Yes, I know I said I did not like these two veg BUT  I am very gradually coming around. I reckon the Kale will be good in a stir-fry.
I won’t bore you with science of blanching & freezing – oh okay, I will.

Dunking the veg into boiling water for a few minutes and then rapidly cooling in iced water, to stop the cooking process, will slow or stop the enzyme action which can cause loss of flavour, colour and texture. If you are eating the food straight away you will have vibrantly coloured food. If you are freezing it then it will last longer.

Basic Blanching Process

Dunk into boiling water
Leafy Veg; 1-2 minutes
Stalks, root veg & beans; 2-3 minutes
Drain the veg and quickly dunk into an ice bath for the same time as the boiling water
Pat the veg dry and freeze. Label the bag or tub with date of freezing.

And then I made a few litres of Leek & Potato Soup. Like any soup, there is no set recipe or set quantities – just play it by ear.

Here’s what I did:

Finely chop a medium onion, 3 leeks and 2 medium sized potatoes.
Melt 50g of butter in a big pan, add the veg and stir to coat with butter.
Season with salt & pepper.
Pop a lid on the pot, turn down to a low heat and let the veg sweat for 15 minutes.
Add 1000ml of veg stock, 300ml of milk and 50ml of single cream. Bring back to the boil then turn down to a low heat for 20 minutes to soften the veg.
Pulverise it all in a food processor a bit at a time so it all the veg bits disappear, put it all back in a big container and stir (to make the whole lot taste the same).
Pour into containers, dress with a few herbs, label, allow to cool, then freeze.