Kitchen Garden Journal

This is the time of year when a turn in the weather will trigger fits of hording. The fruits of summer are living out their final days, and the mind begins to fearfully anticipate a season when the supermarket will again become a source of fresh produce. 

Over the years we have honed in on some easy ways to preserve the bounty of the abundant seasons, mostly involving freezing. (We put a chest freezer on our wedding registry. It gets more use than the champagne flutes.) These preserving projects are quite simple to do and apart from ample freezer space, require only a minimal time commitment. Here are a few ideas:

Sweet peppers can be cut up into small pieces and frozen immediately in large ziplock bags. If you have never tried this, you will be amazed at how they defrost right in the oil as you sauté them, and how you would never know the difference once they’re cooked. They don’t retain the crunch they have when fresh, so you wouldn’t want to put them in a salad. But they’re great in stir fries, omelets or saucy concoctions like peperonata. 

Hot peppers are one of my favorite things to freeze. So overly abundant in August and September, I don’t really start craving (or having the time to cook) spicy Thai food until the middle of winter, when the only hot peppers in the stores are ancient, depressing things. I just put them whole into a quart sized bag and pull from it all year (and often into the next).  

Other seasonings I have had good luck freezing are ginger—I buy a few pounds from Old Friends Farm and it lasts all year—and garlic. I find that our garlic really only lasts in top shape in our kitchen until the end of January. As it dries out, the flavor becomes too strong to eat raw. So last year I peeled a whole bunch of garlic the week it was picked, when it’s just so fresh and juicy, and froze it in a bag. It turned out to be a great convenience food; I would just grab a clove and grate it, still frozen, on the microplane, into a salad dressing or a marinade. If I didn’t use the whole clove, I just tossed it right back in the bag and stuck it back in the freezer. To sauté the frozen garlic just wait a few minutes for it to partially thaw, then mince it and sauté it like normal. It acts and tastes just like fresh! It really got me through March and April.

You can even freeze some of the more rugged herbs like parsley, thyme and rosemary. I freeze them in plastic containers. No one has ever used a whole bunch of rosemary before it goes bad. Just stick it in the freezer. 

Sweet corn is only available for another couple of weeks. Why buy frozen corn in the store when you can make your own for dirt cheap and it tastes so much better? Just cut the corn of the cobs, stick it in a bag and you’re done. Corn and seafood chowder all winter.

Broccoli and greens are also easy to freeze, but you have to blanch them first. Just dunk them in boiling water for a minute and then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking.

When freezing  green things you want to avoid ending up with gallon sized bricks that you need a chainsaw to portion out. With greens, form serving-sized balls and freeze them on a cookie sheet before putting them in bags. 

Blanched broccoli can be put on the sheet in a single layer and frozen so that when you transfer it to a bag, the florets are individually frozen and you can pull out just what you need. 

Though I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it, we survive on tofu and tempeh stir-fried with frozen peppers and broccoli all winter long. A home grown meal that only takes 20 minutes to prepare. No chopping, even. And the kids will usually eat it. 

Don’t even get me started on fruit. If you’re diligent, your freezer is already half full with strawberries and blueberries. But other fruits are easy to freeze, too. I’ve got a whole case of peaches at home that I’m going to blanch, peel and halve, freeze on a tray and transfer to bags. They make amazing smoothies and are great for baking. A bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with stewed frozen peaches spiked with local honey and ginger in January, anyone?  

Being a family of food-loving farmers, we have learned to delay our gratification. There simply isn’t enough time for us to savor the fruits of our labors and of the seasons in the way they should be: unrushed. We’re often too exhausted to cook this time of year, so when we have the energy, we devote it to preservation projects. Gratification may be delayed, but when it comes, it sure is sweet.

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3 Asian Eggplants (the long, skinny kind)

¼ cup canola or other frying oil

3 large cloves of garlic, chopped fine  

Two to five Thai chilies, cut in fairly large pieces

2 Tbsp natural sugar (Palm sugar or turbinado)

¼ cup soy sauce, or a 4:1 mixture of fish sauce and dark soy sauce

1 bunch thai basil, leaves stripped and left whole

Cut the eggplants diagonally into 1 inch segments. In a wide skillet or wok, heat the oil and fry the eggplant slices, turning occasionally, over medium-high heat until golden brown on the outside and creamy-molten on the inside. Add more oil if the eggplant soaks it all up. 

When done, remove pan from heat and transfer the eggplant to a paper-towel lined plate. Discard all but 2 Tbsp of the oil. Return pan to heat and fry garlic until sticky and not quite brown. Add sugar, soy sauce and chilies and stir quickly to dissolve sugar. (You may want to add a few drops of water to prevent sugar from burning.) Add eggplants pieces back to the pan along with the basil leaves. Stir to coat and wilt the basil, about 30 seconds. Serve hot with jasmine rice.

Note: this technique works well with chichen, pork, tofu, etc. either alone or in combination with the eggplant. A variation I find particularly tasty is to brown ½ lb of ground pork in the pan first, then use the rendered fat to fry the eggplant. Continue the recipe as above, adding back the pork and eggplant together in the final step. 

I will always remember this recipe because I cooked it the day we brought our daughter, Lily home from the hospital. It was the first of many meals I ate one handed, that little 5 pound lump clutched in my left forearm. 

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Photo by Candace Hope

In the first apartment I ever had, when I was 18 years old, a vegetarian, and new to cooking, I made this at least twice a week. The recipe has evolved somewhat since then, but the basic concept is the same: noodles, peanut sauce, fried tofu, and vegetables. It’s also my favorite thing to order at two of my favorite local restaurants: The People’s Pint and The Lady Killigrew. Always fills you up. Never lets you down. 

1 lb pasta: whole wheat spaghetti, buckwheat soba, or udon noodles

Peanut sauce: 2/3 cup natural peanut butter
¼ cup tahini sesame paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 hot chilies, minced, or 1 tsp cayenne
3 Tbsp soy sauce or 2 Tbsp soy and a heaping spoonful of miso paste
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp sesame oil 1/2 -1 cup water, to thin the sauce

Garnishes:
Fried tofu slices Blanched broccoli florets
Shredded cabbage
Shredded carrots
Sliced radishes
Sliced cucumber
Chopped scallions
Chopped cilantro 

Method:
Boil the pasta until al dente, drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Toss with a little  sesame oil and set aside.

Prepare the sauce by mixing together all the ingredients and diluting it with lukewarm water to the desired consistency. It should be moderately thick: thin enough to coat the pasta without clumping but not at all runny.

For the fried tofu, cut a block of firm or extra firm tofu into thin (3/16”) slices. Dip the slices in soy sauce and fry them in hot canola oil until crispy, turning once, like you would fry bacon. Drain on paper towels and chop coarsely into bite sized pieces. Put in a serving dish on the table.

Toss the sauce with the noodles and serve each person clump in a large bowl. Prepare the rest of the vegetables and herbs and arrange artfully on the table for the diners to serve themselves. 

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“Toasting” the ingredients either on a grill, hot dry skillet (comal) or under the broiler until the skin chars gives this salsa its special character. Raw, it’s great for dipping tortilla chips; cooked, it becomes the red sauce found in the red or green squeeze bottles at a California burrito bar, great for squirting on just about anything.

Ingredients:
2 lb tomatoes
1 lb smallish onions (extra surface area)
1 large head garlic
3-4 chilies
1 bunch cilantro
lime juice (1-2 limes)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt

Method:
Toast the ingredients on a hot surface until the skins are blackened: tomatoes and chilies are left whole; onions are quartered; garlic is left unpeeled as individual cloves. After toasting, “sweat” the tomatoes and chilies in a covered bowl or container so the skins loosen. Leave until cool, then peel and discard the skins. Peel the onions and garlic and scrape off any excess char.

Squeeze as much liquid out of the peeled tomatoes as possible. Blend or puree tomatoes, onions, garlic and chilies together in a blender or food processor. Add lime juice, vinegar, sugar and salt. Taste and adjust seasonings so that it tastes good to you. Personally I think the secret to a delicious salsa is the added sugar and vinegar. It really heightens the sweet-sour flavor of the tomatoes. Remember, this is a condiment, after all.

When making a red salsa, it is important to use only red, orange or yellow colored chilies. If you use green chilies, they will turn your salsa an unappealing puce color if blended with red tomatoes. If all you have is green chilies, chop them by hand and add to the rest of the pureed ingredients. Same goes for the cilantro: always hand-chop it rather than blending it. It makes for a much nicer appearance.

At this point the raw salsa is done. If you wish to make cooked salsa, heat a few tablespoons of cooking oil in your tomato sauce pan and add the sauce. Simmer until reduced by about 1/3 and thickened. It becomes a completely different sauce when cooked, turning and orangey red and having the pronounced sweetness of cooked onions.

Keep it for winter:
You can make a huge batch of this and can it, as I’m doing today, raw or cooked. Sterilize your pint jars, bring the salsa to a slight simmer and hot-pack the jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. The high acid and sugar content of this salsa makes it pretty foolproof and easy to can.

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• 1 lb eggplant, cut into ½-inch slices
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1-2 medium sized fresh red or green chilies (or sweet bell pepper for the meek)
• 1 Tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
• 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1 bunch Thai basil

Coat a large fry pan with about ¼ inch of oil and carefully fry the eggplant in batches until golden brown and melting.  Meanwhile, cut the garlic into slices and the chilies into diagonal rings.  When the eggplant is ready, remove it and add 2 Tbsp of fresh oil to the pan, add the garlic and half the chilies, and stir-fry until the garlic is golden.  Add the soy sauces and sugar, stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar starts to bubble, and return the eggplant to the pan.  Add torn basil leaves, stir and serve, garnished with the rest of the chilies (if you dare!)

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• 4 Tilapia fillets
• Flour for dusting
• 6 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1-3 small hot chilies, sliced
• 1 inch ginger root
• 2-3 scallions, in 1-inch pieces
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce (optional)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp white or rice vinegar
• 4 Tbsp chopped cilantro 

This dish is prepared using a method commonly used in Chinese cooking.  Heat the oil in a fairly large skillet. Cut the fish fillets into 1 inch chunks. Put some flour on a small plate or saucer and roll the fish pieces in it before adding them to the hot oil. Fry briefly (only a minute or two per side) as the fish cooks fast and you don’t want it to crumble. Drain the fried fish on paper towels and set aside. Drain all but 2 Tbsp of the oil out of the pan. Meanwhile, cut the ginger root into matchsticks by slicing it very thinly and then chopping the slices into  narrow slivers. Add garlic, ginger, chilies, and scallions to the oil.  Sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent sticking or burning.  Combine the sauce ingredients and add to the pan, stir once, then return the fish to the pan, stirring gently to coat with the sauce, about 1 minute. Turn off heat and garnish with the cilantro.  Serve immediately with rice. 

Note: this dish can be made with any kind of meat, tofu or eggplant, but fish is good luck in China.

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Eggplant was introduced to Europe by the Moors and became a favorite vegetable in the places that they took over, like Sicily. The Moorish taste for sweet and sour also comes through in this dish.

• Lots and lots of olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 head garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes or fresh hot peppers, to taste
• 1 pound peppers, cut into large chunks
• 1 pound eggplant, cut into large chunks
• 1 or 2 ripe plum tomatoes, chopped
• salt & pepper
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp capers
• 3 Tbsp chopped Kalamata olives
• Few sprigs chopped basil and parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat about 4 Tbsp olive oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven with a lid that can go in the oven. Sauté the onion and garlic until soft.  Add the pepper flakes and peppers and sauté over medium heat 5-10 minutes.  Add eggplant and sauté another several minutes. You may want to add more oil to make sure everything is generously anointed.  Add the tomatoes.  Cover the pot and put it in the oven to bake for 20-30 minutes.  Everything should be very, very soft.  Season with salt, pepper and the other seasonings.  Adjust sweetness, salt and acidity to taste.  Serve it warm on fresh crusty bread or at room temperature the next day.  Makes a great pasta sauce, too. Freeze in quarts for a taste of summer in December.

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• 1 lb eggplant, cut into ½-inch slices
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1-2 medium sized fresh red or green chilies (or sweet bell pepper for the meek)
• 1 Tbsp light soy sauce or tamari
• 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1 bunch Thai basil

Coat a large fry pan with about ¼ inch of oil and carefully fry the eggplant in batches, following the procedure described in Pasta alla Norma, above.  Meanwhile, cut the garlic into slices and the chilies into diagonal rings.  When the eggplant is ready, remove it and add 2 Tbsp of fresh oil to the pan, add the garlic and half the chilies, and stir-fry until the garlic is golden.  Add the soy sauces and sugar, stir for about 30 seconds until the sugar starts to bubble, and return the eggplant to the pan.  Add torn basil leaves, stir and serve, garnished with the rest of the chilies (if you dare!)

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• 1 pint cherry tomatoes (or 2 slicing tomatoes)
• 1 sweet onion
• 1 clove garlic
• Hot chilies, to taste
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp sugar, optional
• 1 Tbsp vinegar, optional

Chop everything to a fine dice and toss with the liquids. Allow to sit for 1/2 hour to meld the flavors. Eat with tortilla chips or quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos, etc.

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