One of my favorite kitchen short-cuts, particularly for this time of year when I make soups around once a week, is to make my own Mirepoix. Yep, you read that right, this blog is now bilingual- mirepoix {pronounced meer-pwah} is a french term that essentially means a celery, carrot and onion combo. It’s the peeling and slicing that makes a lot of recipes time consuming, so by accomplishing this step beforehand, you’ll be surprised at just how quickly a recipe can come together!
Around the holidays, these three produce items are generally super cheap. You can even save more money by planting your own carrots if you’d like! Plant them in spring, then water them all summer and harvest them in November. That’s what I do! OK, if you don’t care to go all June Cleaver on me, then you can buy a huge bag of carrots for about $3.
I don’t have a super elaborate technique- I simply wash, peel and slice/dice the veggies, then lay them out on a cookie sheet to freeze. After about a day in the freezer, you can transfer them to a ziplock bag and there you have it- mirepoix for whenever you need it.
You can mix them all up if you’d like. However I sometimes use just onion and celery for a recipe, or just carrots- you get the idea. So I like to leave them separate.
I first used a handy mandoline to slice my carrots. Then I proceeded to nearly cut my finger off and decided mandolines were best left to someone more coordinated than I. A knife works great and I’m proud to report all my digits are still in tact.
I only have 1 lone picture of my process with dicing onions. Apparently I purchased the world’s strongest onions and proceeded to clear the house of all 5 remaining individuals within about 10 minutes. Seriously. It got so bad I had to leave the job and take a break. So do yourself a favor- enlist help and get the dicing onions portion done fast.
Lorraine says
I notice you didn't blanche your veggies. Is that not a prerequisite for freezing?
Jessica Williams says
It's not Lorraine! I do it this way every year- they always turn out great!
Gina @ MoneywiseMoms says
I do this, too. They go into almost all the soups I make, so I appreciate having all the chopping done ahead of time.
paul says
hello there so is better to freeze the veggies raw or should I saute them first
Linda says
When I have a large quantity of onions to peel, I go out side and set up on the picnic table (or have been known to work on the engine bonnet of the car). Any where that there is a nice breeze blowing. Easy Peasy!
Nellie says
Great idea!
Linda says
What a great idea. I never thought to do this, though I have purchased frozen mirepoix before!
Jessica says
Thanks Linda! Yes, it ends up saving a lot of time!