Cleaning Out the Freezer

I have a tendency to stockpile foodstuffs. This likely comes as no surprise to all of you out there, who must believe by now that I have an endless supply of diverse items to pull out of the freezer or pantry at a moment's notice, and whip up something divine out of nothingness. Harry Potter and his buds have nothing on me when it comes to magic in the kitchen. Well, perhaps Mrs. Weasley and I could be neck-and-neck in a kitchen conjuring competition...but I digress.

I tend to gather and freeze food, and then there it languishes forlorn and frozen, longing to be made useful. This is particularly true when it comes to the berry family. I love buying up pints and pints of fresh fruit in the summer. A lot of it gets transformed straight away into jams or jellies, but the rest...well, it gets frozen in a layer on a baking sheet and then shoveled into a ziploc bag. The bag then gets added to the layers of similar fruit-filled wonders on a shelf in the freezer, and there it stays for months.

Where the heck am I going with this sad confessional? Okay, it came to this: I was longing for pie. I mean, seriously jonesing. If pie was crack, I would completely have a three-pie-a-day habit. And did I have pie in the house? No, no I did not. It was terrible. I didn't even have pie filling to shovel into my ravenous maw by the spoonful. Oh, the agony!

Anyway, after contemplating chucking it in and going to the store for a slice of nasty store-bought pie, I realized I needed to do something. So, I rummaged through the freezer and found two (TWO!) giant gallon bags bursting with blueberries. I dimly remember putting them in there in July...and I think it was July of this past summer. I am not sure, though. (See? This is where storing large amounts of food in the freezer gets dangerous.) Anyway, everything looked fine and when defrosted, nothing started moving around in there or smelling whiffy, so I proceeded with my plan to make large amounts of homemade blueberry pie filling.

I know, I hear you all thinking: Ewww. Canned pie filling is nass-tee! And it is, when it is mass produced, souless crap that I wouldn't feed to the pig. The pig would file a lawsuit citing cruel and unusual punishment, if a can of that ka-ka wound up in the trough. But, homemade pie filling is another thing entirely. Number one, it is far less sweet and has no corn syrup in it (which gives the store variety that lovely sludge consistency). Number two, the berries were happy to begin with, so making them into pie filling makes them happier. No longer are they incarcerated in a chilly prison. Number three, I always add lemon zest to my filling, so it tastes fresh and tart and ummm-hmmmm good.

I love it when I finally get around to cleaning out the freezer. There is nothing better than being able to can up summer's goodness in the depths of winter...and make a little room for more to arrive, next season. I recommend trying it sometime. Or, if you don't want to clean out your freezer and make your own pie filling from scratch, but perhaps want to go out and get some good quality store-stuff (as in, organic happy and has a reasonable expiration date in this century kind of stuff), here's what you can try with some of that pre-pie goodness:

Lemon Curd-Blueberry Tartlets

You'll need: one pie crust (yes, I cheat and buy the Pillsbury kind...shhh, don't tell!); blueberry pie filling; lemon curd (yes, I made this, too); a biscuit cutter or large circle cutter of some sort; a 12-hole muffin tin; powdered sugar.
Roll out your pie crust, and cut out circles. I find with a 3-inch biscuit cutter, I get 12 circles. Tuck each circle into a muffin tin opening. Fill with 2 Tablespoons blueberry pie filling. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Pop tartlets out of the muffin tin--I use a spoon, catch the edge, and whoops outs-a-daisy they come. Top with a teaspoon or so of lemon curd (which is lovely and tangy and luscious). Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Try not to eat all 12 by yourself. Good luck with that last step.