Join Debbie as she raves about whole foods, rants about chemicals and generally celebrates cooking and eating with fresh, local, nutritious foods. And sometimes she might get a little feisty….
I’ve complained mentioned again and again that we aren’t reaping a ton of produce from our CSA farm this year. There are a few things we’ve been getting, though, so it’s time again to think about using some of the excess veggies so that we can enjoy them throughout the winter.
Now, I don’t know how to can tomatoes (not that we actually have any yet) or any of that fancy stuff, but I do have a few tips of what you can do with what you are getting.
Make pesto with your multitudes of basil.
Every time you have more basil than you can use in a week, make a batch of pesto and freeze it. We’ve done this ever since we joined our CSA farm, and every year we have our homemade pesto through March or April.
Freeze corn to use in recipes throughout the winter.
You’ll find all this great advice on the internet about the right way to cook and freeze corn. Bah, I say. I either cook a bunch for dinner and freezer the leftovers in 1-2 cup servings, or I just freeze it raw. You can use it in salsas, black bean and corn salad and other recipes whenever you need it.
Shred and freeze zucchini in 1 cup serving sizes for baking throughout the winter.
Even the oversized zucchinis that you wouldn’t want to eat are great for baking, so if your local farmer is giving them away for free, grab them and run. I simply grate mine in the food processor and freeze. You may have to drain a little of the liquid off when it thaws,depending on your recipe, but other than that, you’re good to make zucchini chocolate chip cookies anytime you want.
Make and freeze batches of fresh tomato sauce.
OK, I’m going to do it… are you ready? I’m sharing my secret recipe for tomato sauce made from fresh tomatoes with you all. I admit it: it’s not mine, but it’s amazing! The thing I like best about this recipe is it’s heavy on the garlic, onion and basil, and it’s got red wine and red wine vinegar, and you brown the tomato paste. Yeah, I know that’s three things, but I really like this recipe.
Oh, and you can cheat. I’m much to lazy to peel and seed the tomatoes (I did that the first time I made it) but it comes out just as well when you take the shortcut.
What other tricks do you all have for preserving the bounty of your summer harvest?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Aug 13, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
