Eggplants are a great vegetable with which you can prepare countless tasty recipes. Also know that they can be frozen easily by following some small tricks. Before being frozen, they must be cleaned, sliced and blanched lightly. Alternatively, you can freeze them after cooking them in the oven or still raw and prepared to be used in a parmigiana. Let's see how it goes.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: Prepare the Eggplant
Step 1. Choose some fresh eggplant
The fresher the vegetables, the better they will keep in the freezer.
- You should choose eggplants at the right point of ripeness, firm and whose skin color is dark and uniform.
- Do not use aubergines that have soft spots or an uneven skin color.
- The black eggplant variety, the most common, tend to be more resistant once frozen than the purple Chinese eggplant or the Thai variety, but technically all types of eggplant can be frozen. Just remember that eggplant pulp tends to become soft after being frozen, but this shouldn't be a problem if you plan to cook it once thawed.
- If you can't freeze them right away, you can safely store them in the refrigerator until freezing. Obviously if you have collected them from your garden the sooner you can freeze them, the better.
Step 2. Wash the eggplant
Rinse them with cold running water, rub them gently with your hands to remove any dirt and grime.
If you picked them from your garden and they seem particularly dirty, you can clean them using a vegetable brush
Step 3. Cut the eggplant into slices
Remove the peel and cut into slices about half a centimeter or so thick.
- Use a sharp knife and start cutting them by removing the stalk and the end part.
- To remove the peel, use a vegetable peeler. Start peeling from one of the two ends you just cut and make a smooth motion from top to bottom.
- Now, using a sharp knife, you can cut the eggplant into slices about 5-8 mm thick.
- Go quickly and cut only as many eggplants as you can blanch at one time. Once the aubergine has been peeled and cut into slices, it tends to blacken after about 30 minutes due to the oxidation of the pulp in contact with the air.
Part 2 of 4: Blanch the Eggplant
Step 1. Boil some water in a large pot
Fill the pot about 2/3 of its capacity and put it on a high heat.
- Wait long enough for the water to come to a boil.
- Make sure the pot you are using is large enough to accommodate all the eggplant you've cut. If you do not have a large enough pot you can blanch them in several stages, the important thing is to cut the aubergines only when they have to go into the pot.
Step 2. Add lemon juice to the cooking water
Pour about 125 ml of fresh lemon juice per 4 liters of water into the saucepan.
Lemon juice is a natural antioxidant and protects eggplants without excessively changing their flavor
Step 3. Prepare a large bowl of water and ice
The bowl should have the same capacity as the pot you are using so that it can hold all the eggplants you are cooking.
- Use a lot of ice to make sure the water temperature is very low.
- Before starting to cook the aubergines, make sure you have the tureen with water and ice ready and close at hand.
Step 4. Blanch the eggplant
Dip all the eggplant slices you cut into boiling water and let them boil for about 4 minutes.
- This quick cooking eliminates the enzymes responsible for the long-term deterioration of the eggplant. Conversely, by not blanching the vegetables before freezing, they will begin to lose their color, flavor and nutritional value within a month, even when frozen.
- You can use the same water to blanch the eggplant several times up to a maximum of 5. Remember, however, that you may need to add water and lemon juice to replace the evaporated liquids.
Step 5. Quickly drain the eggplant slices and dip them in ice water
Help yourself with a slotted spoon and, as soon as they are ready, drain the aubergines and immerse them in the bowl with water and ice.
- This will quickly stop the cooking process.
- Let the eggplant slices cool in ice water for about 4-5 minutes or until completely cold.
- Add more ice as needed to keep the water temperature very low.
Step 6. Drain the aubergines and dry them
Remove the eggplant slices using a slotted spoon or spoon and place them in a colander or on several layers of absorbent paper.
Part 3 of 4: Freezing the Eggplant
Step 1. Carefully place the aubergines in a container suitable for freezing
You can use food bags or a plastic container.
- If you use plastic bags for this step try to close them by removing as much air as possible to prevent freeze damage to the vegetables. The best solution would be to use vacuum-sealed bags, but quick-closing plastic bags will also do just fine as long as they can be used to freeze food.
- If you freeze the aubergines in a plastic container, leave some empty space between the vegetable and the lid (about 1-1.5 cm). In this way, during freezing, the aubergines can freely increase in volume without spoiling.
- Glass containers are not ideal for freezing food.
- Don't forget to write down the date you prepared the eggplant to always know how long you have been storing them in the freezer.
Step 2. If you want, you can separate the various layers of eggplant with plastic wrap
This tip is very useful to be able to defrost only the slices of eggplant you need for your preparation, leaving the others frozen.
This step is optional, but recommended, because freezing the aubergines without film will form a single compact block and impossible to separate without waiting for them to completely thaw
Step 3. Keep them frozen until ready for use
Eggplants frozen in this way can be safely stored for up to 9 months.
Using vacuum bags, your aubergines will keep in excellent condition for more than a year
Part 4 of 4: Alternatives
Step 1. Bake the eggplants in the oven before freezing them
Another possibility for freezing and storing eggplants is to pre-cook them.
- Preheat the oven to around 200 ° C. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Prick the aubergines with a fork. This will prevent too much pressure from building up inside them. The more holes you make the better.
- Bake for 30-60 minutes. The aubergines will be cooked when the skin is wrinkled. Small eggplants will cook in 30 minutes, for larger ones it will take up to an hour.
- Remove the pulp. When the aubergines are cool enough to handle, cut them in half with a knife lengthwise. Using a metal spoon, separate the pulp from the peel.
- Place the pulp in airtight containers, leave an empty space of about 1-1.5 cm between the vegetable and the cap before closing the container.
- You can keep the frozen pulp for 12 months.
Step 2. Prepare the aubergines for a parmigiana
If you plan to use aubergines to cook a parmigiana you can bread the slices in breadcrumbs and freeze them without cooking them.
- Wash and slice the aubergines as if you were blanching them.
- Dip each slice in milk, beaten eggs, or deep-fried batter.
- Breadcrumbs in breadcrumbs. You can use regular breadcrumbs or, if you wish, you can flavor it with the condiments you prefer, for example by adding aromatic herbs, parmesan or salt and pepper.
- Wrap the breaded slices in parchment paper. Instead of separating the layers of slices with cling film, as in the previous method, make sure each slice is wrapped in parchment paper.
- You can keep them frozen for up to 6 months.
- Before use, let them defrost naturally in the refrigerator and then bake them in the oven or fry them in a pan according to your tastes.
