Freezer Tips

Have you heard about umami?  Tastyness - borrowed from a japanese word - it's the "other" flavor.  Not salty, sweet or sour, it's the savory flavor of soy sauce, sauted mushrooms, the browned bits on the bottom of the roasting pan and...tomato paste.  Which brings me to a question.  Why do they still sell tomato paste in those cans?  Rarely do you actually need a whole can, right?  We were making a chicken pot-pie recipe and it called for a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. 

Yes, you can buy tomato paste in a tube and squeeze it out as you go (a fantastic idea!) but I was out.  A while back I'd had the same problem and after using a tad of paste put the leftover tomato paste in a ziploc in the freezer.  I didn't have a great plan, I just hated to throw out a bunch of tomato paste.

Well, it turns out this was a good idea.  The paste freezes well and I was able to break off a couple of pieces and just drop them into the pan.  They defrosted in seconds and it was easy to stir them up.

But the most important part?  Putting the label on the ziploc!  Otherwise, I'd never have identified that little frozen slab in the freezer.

Here's to instant umami!