Me and the Ginger genie

So today I had a little more time at home to work on dinner than usual. With a ham thawed I decided that it is springy enough to create one of my culinary favorites. Baked ham with Raisin Chutney!!

As far as the ham goes, I simply placed the ham into an oven bag and let-er-rip. Those oven bags are phenomenal, and with the fabu-l-ous Chutney that has all of my family asking for more I knew that glazing was over-rated!!

Now once upon a time, when I had TV, I was watching one of the cooking goddesses on the Food Network. This goddess explained that when you buy ginger, if you have left overs peel it and freeze it. It supposedly grates easier, and will stay fresh until you need it.

Well my problem is that I always forget what I have in my freezer, thus I end up with three or four "nodes" of garlic in my freezer. Peeled and ready to grate, mind you I have never actually attempted grating frozen ginger, but today is the day.

So I gather up the ingredients for my Chutney, happily chopping onions, and getting out my trusted IKEA grater, the fine one. Now while you could grate into the plastic bowl that is too huge for this particular job, I opt for a standard serving bowl. Please let me share why I love the grater from IKEA the most...

1. It came as a two pack, and I shared one with my Mommy!!
2. It has fine and coarse grater.
   
3. You actually grate into a container, that comes with a lid. All the extra cheese or whatever is easily stored for later.
4. It's dishwasher safe
5. It is a simple design... I hate it when food gets stuck in cracks and crevices of fancy graters.
6. It was under $10!!
   

As you may learn I hardly ever like to spend a fortune on my kitchen gadgets, and I like to make sure they are multi-use!

Back to the Ginger... so I have the grater out, and the bowl ready. I retrieve one of my gingers, from the collection in my freezer. I choose to rinse it off, this particular one had ice in the baggie. Then I start to grate, which starts out going wonderfully. About 10-15 grates into the process I realize something... the ginger is flippin' cold!!! Too cold for my wondrous hands, so I do what any sensible kitchen diva would, I grab a paper towel and wrap the ginger. Being careful not to shred the paper I continue to grate, and guess what... the Food Network Goddess was right!! It worked!! The ginger grated like a dream, when wrapped in a paper towel. So go for it... grate your frozen ginger, just remember to wrap it for insulation!!