Emptying out the freezer

Whilst I know that this is something that you should do regularly so that you use food before it goes past its best, we all know that in practice this might not happen as often as it should. Anyway, my husband announced a few weeks ago that we could have either a half or a whole lamb from the farm for the freezer. Short of going and buying a chest freezer for the garage, I knew we wouldn't be able to fit a whole lamb into our freezers so we've settled on a half lamb. This still poses its own problems as our freezer is well used with chopped fruit from the garden and homemade freezer meals. So I've been busy digging in the freezer for the past few weeks trying to run down the amount of stuff in there! The benefit is discovering yummy food that I'd forgotten about, and resulted in me having two croissants for breakfast this morning. Day two of having different breakfasts went well, even if by default. The week ahead will see a few late nights, so I will gladly be diving into the freezer meals on more than one occasion to make sure we get fed.

One of the reasons our freezer is quite full is that I like to have chopped fruit in there so that I can make simple puddings when I'm busy. This is another exercise that requires completion when you have a bit of time on your hands, but it's well worth the effort. When you've had a really busy week and all you fancy is a bit of homemade apple pie or crumble, you can grab a handful of frozen fruit ready prepared and you're most of the way there. The recipe that is written below has another fab cheat in it which my mum taught me. I know how great a homemade crumble topping is, but I don't always have the time (or energy) to make one, so this recipe is a great way of enjoying tasty homemade crumble with minimum of fuss.

Basic Apple Crumble

Serves 4 (or less if you have a husband like mine who is addicted to crumble!)

2 large Bramley apples

3 tbsp Shortcrust pastry mix

1.5 tbsp Caster sugar

1 tbsp Rolled oats

1. Peel and core apples. Chop into chunks about 1 to 2cm in size. Sprinkle with ½ tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Put into a medium sized oven dish.
   
2. In a bowl, use a tablespoon to measure 3 heaped tablespoons of shortcrust pastry mix (I buy ready made from the supermarket) with 1 heaped tablespoon caster sugar and 1 tablespoon of oats. Mix well (my son loves to do this job for me) and spoon over the apples. I start at the outside and leave the middle to the end.
   
3. Bake in a hot oven (about 190°C) for 20 minutes or until the top starts to go golden brown. If the top starts to go too brown and you think the fruit hasn't fully cooked, then lower the temperature of the oven to about 160°C until the fruit has cooked. Serve with your choice of vanilla ice cream, cream or Cornish clotted cream.