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.

 

Comment (1)

Here's the recipe.

Comment (0)

Why is it that the moment for canning and preserving always falls on really really hot days? Everyone with childhood memories of canning remembers two things: the smell and the heat. For many, sadly, the trauma of the heat curtails nostalgic longing for the intoxicating aromas of jam and tomatoes.

Lately, the humidity has been awful and, of course, I seized my opportunity for canning on a particularly disgusting evening. I set out to repeat the most delicious product of last year’s repeated bouts of sweaty, tomato-vapored kitchen delirium: sugo.

Sugo means “sauce” in Italian. Jars of pre-made tomato sauce like Prego are called sugo pronto, ready sauce. My sugo isn’t really a heat-and-serve thing that you just dump on boiled spaghetti, but it does save a lot of time later when making richly flavored sauces.

Sugo is basically tomato puree that also includes onions, carrots, red peppers, celery and herbs.  It’s like tomato puree and vegetable stock all rolled into one. I usually add it to meat sauces for pasta, but it’s great for other things like vegetable soups, dried beans, beef stew, and Spanish rice. It has a distinct sweetness from the onions and peppers and aromatic depth from the carrots and celery. You can feel all the warmth of summer on those cold winter nights.

And, most importantly perhaps, it’s a great way to use up some of the piles of partially rotting but perfectly usable tomatoes, onions and peppers that inevitably accumulate around the farm this time of year.

The method is very similar to my recipe for tomato puree. Basically, what you do is coarsely chunk up all the tomatoes and toss them in a big pot and bring it to a boil. Then, toss in coarsely chopped pieces of all the other vegetables and stew them in the tomato liquid until they’re soft. I also threw in a big bundle of basil and celery leaves that I took out before pureeing . (I also removed the celery so it wouldn’t make the sauce a yucky color: never puree red and green together, it looks like puke. If you have very light colored celery hearts, go ahead and puree them, too.)

So, for Christmas I asked for a mechanized solution to making this and here’s the verdict: the Kitchen Aid food mill attachment is really messy. I have never made such a mess of my clothes while canning; it even shot hot tomato water in my eye. (WTF!) Will I go back to the hand crank method? Hard to say. It was quicker and less physically exhausting, but not by much.

Anyway, if you want to make this—and I encourage you to do so—you can follow the procedure for tomato puree. You’ll find all the little tips and tricks I’ve learned in that post from last year. 

So happy canning, and please, take a shower.

 

Comment (0)

I have been making good use of this recent stretch of summer-like weather to do some serious grilling on my little hibachi. I’ve been making real wood fires and supplementing with natural hardwood charcoal. (Oliver likes to help.) I use regular cordwood to make the fire, splitting it with my boy scout axe into small sticks. You can make a pretty amazing grilling fire with a single chunk of wood. 

In the past year I have also learned to use my freezer as an important tool to stockpile fresh foods at their peak of seasonality and enjoy them whenever I want throughout the year. It’s awesome. You take something that’s only available once a year and turn it into convenience food. And it’s so easy. Everyone should do it. A chest freezer costs like $200. (Much, much more to come on this subject.)

For this recipe I combined our freshly picked green shallots with locally grown ginger from Casey and Missy of Old Friends Farm in Amherst that I bought in November of last year and Maine shrimp that I bought in quantity when they were on sale in January. It took all of 10 minutes to prepare (apart from the enjoyment I got out of stretching out the grilling process and knocking back a few cold ones).  Here’s the recipe (with a nod to David Chang).

 

½ lb raw shrimp

4 scallions, finely chopped

1 Tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 ½ tsp vinegar of your choice

1 ½ tsp soy sauce

Peel shrimp and thread them onto skewers. (It helps to soak the skewers in water so they don’t ignite on the grill.) Set aside. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl. Brush the shrimp with oil (or spray ‘em with Pam) and grill them over a hot fire until just cooked through, 3-5 minutes tops. Take them off, pour the sauce over them, and consume them immediately. This makes a nice little snack before you break out the serious meat. 

 

Comment (0)

My recent batch: daikon radish with its greens, napa with carrots and pears

From watching Maangchi I’ve come to understand that kimchi is comprised of essentially two elements: a salted vegetable and a “sauce” of salt, sugar, hot pepper powder and aromatics like garlic, ginger, and scallions. It takes a little thinking ahead to salt the vegetables but it comes together very quickly and you can eat it for months.

For the salted cabbage:
1 head napa cabbage
Kosher salt or sea salt
For the kimchi sauce:
1 ½ cups water
¼ cup rice flour or AP flour
¼ cup sugar
½ cup fish sauce or 1 ½ Tbsp salt
½ daikon radish, cut into julienne strips
1 head garlic, minced
½ inch piece of ginger, minced
½ cup Korean hot pepper powder
3 scallions cut into 2” pieces

Method:
Wash the head of cabbage, carefully rinsing any dirt away from the base of the outer leaves. Pat dry and cut cabbage into 4 quarters. The leaves should be attached at the core. In a large bowl or wash basin sprinkle the cabbage quarters all over and between the leaves with the salt, massaging gently. Leave for approximately 1 hour. Turn the cabbage over and leave for another hour. You will see that the leaves have wilted considerably and a lot of liquid has accumulated. Rinse the cabbage in three changes of water, squeeze them gently to expel the water and set aside.

Meanwhile, assemble the ingredients for the sauce. Mix the water and flour in a small pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  When the mixture thickens and begins to bubble, turn off the heat and allow to cool. Add the sugar and fish sauce or salt. Add the other ingredients and mix well. It should be a gravy-like texture and sticky, not watery. Taste it. It should taste like kimchi but sweeter. It should not be overly salty tasting. If it’s not spicy enough for your taste you can add more hot pepper. Same goes for the garlic, etc. In addition to the daikon, you can add other vegetables if you like, such as carrots.

Spread the sauce all over the cabbages and between the leaves and put them into a plastic container with any of the remaining sauce. Leave it out at room temperature for 1 day, then refrigerate. You can eat it right away or wait a while. The flavor will gradually go from sweet to sour as it ferments. It will keep indefinitely, but it is best if eaten within 2-3 months. To serve, cut cabbage with scissors into bite sized pieces.
Watch Maangchi make it here.

Comment (0)

Tomato melancholy can quickly give way to fits of hording. The best way to deal with a surplus of beefsteak tomatoes is to make tomato puree. These tomatoes are meant for slicing. They’re juicy, full of water and seeds. But when they’re abundant, they’re almost always over-abundant, and so one needs to do something with them. They’re too precious to let go in good conscience.

Equipment
canning pot
large stockpot, or several saucepans
fine mesh sieve or colander
every bowl in your kitchen
food mill or tomato machine
jars, lids, rings
canning tongs
ladle & funnel
fresh towels
tomatoes
salt
basil leaves
lemon juice or citric acid, optional

Bring water up to boil in your canning pot. I use a 20 quart stockpot and throw a dishtowel in the bottom so the jars aren’t sitting directly on the flame. The enamel ones with the rack are nice, too. (Keep in mind that the level of the water will rise when you put the jars in.)

Wash the tomatoes. I usually fill the sink with warm water and let them soak in there a bit to loosen up any sticky stuff or field debris that might be stuck to them. Cut out any bad spots. Do the smell test: cut the bad spot out and stick your nose in there. If it still smells fermented, cut more until it smells like fresh tomato.  This test will never fail you.

Cut the tomatoes into large chunks, 4-6 pieces per tomato, nothing fancy. Put these pieces into a large pot over high heat. As the tomatoes heat up, they will release their juices. Fill the pot right up to the top and bring the whole thing to a boil. Cook until the tomatoes are good and soft, about 5-10 minutes after you add the last ones.

Now you’ve got the tomatoes separated into their two elements: solid and liquid. The goal here is to remove as much of the liquid as possible from the pulp, then to remove the good stuff from the pulp, leaving behind the seeds and skins.

Using a ladle, empty the contents of the pot into a sieve or colander to drain off the water. You can capture the water and save it if you like. It’s good to drink if you add a little salt and pepper and a twist of lemon. (I once tried to can this stuff: long story short it was a waste of time.) It’s not tomato juice as we know it and it doesn’t make a great Bloody Mary. So have a glass or two and pitch the rest.

Put the pulp into a large bowl and let it sit for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the jars. Wash them thoroughly with soap and hot water and then sterilize them by putting them in the boiling water of the canning pot for a few minutes.

Now that the pulp has settled you will notice it has released more liquid. Dump it back into the sieve one more time to get the rest of the water out.

Now we’re ready to put the pulp through the mill. I use a hand crank mill. Every one of these I have ever owned has been a real pain in the ass, but unless you have one of those nifty machines that are made especially for this purpose, there is no substitute.  I’m going to get me one of those machines for next year, I swear to god I am.

Put the pulp into the mill and get to work over a very sturdy bowl or pot. Grind that stuff until it’s bone dry, pausing from time to time to scrape the precious excrescences off the bottom. Does this make it go through easier? Maybe not, but it’s nice to see that something is actually coming out. Don’t wimp out toward the end! The last few efforts will squeeze out the precious pectin found in the skins and seeds that will give your future tomato sauce nice body and texture.   

Okay, whew! That was the hard part. Now let’s get it into the jars and get on with our lives. Bring the puree back up to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to avoid scorching it. Have your clean sterile jars and lids all ready. Ladle the hot puree into the jars, leaving ¼ inch of headspace for pints, ½ inch for quarts. (I always do puree in pints.)

It’s a good idea to get your additives into the jars before ladling the puree because it’s easy to forget. I do ¼-½ tsp salt per pint jar and one basil leaf. If you are working with tomatoes with dubious acidity, it’s good to up the acid with ½ tsp lemon juice or ¼ tsp powdered citric acid per jar. There’s nothing worse than seeing all those lids pop back up in a frothing stinky mess during the next hot spell.

Now that you’ve got all the jars full, use paper towels to wipe any spills from the rims that would prevent a good seal. It’s better to be careful and make no mess (use a good funnel).  Put the lids and rings on and close tightly but not super tight: the air has to be able to seep out later to create the vacuum seal.

Put the filled jars carefully into the canning pot. They should sit in boiling water for 15 minutes to be safe. Cool on a clean towel, leaving space between the jars for air circulation. Then just listen for that sweet pop that tells you you’ve done it right. Good work. You’ll thank yourself.

Comment (2)

Greetings from the farm! Nothing at all is growing. What few crops were left in the field at the end of November have long since perished. But that doesn't stop us from eating our own vegetables several nights a week.

Actually, we tend to spend more time and energy cooking with the produce from our farm during the winter. And I'm glad for it, because at the height of the season when we're putting in 12 hour work days, cooking is often the last thing we want to do. But eating our own veggies this time of year is only possible because we devote a special effort during the growing season to canning, freezing, and setting aside the proper amounts of storable crops. You should do this, too. With a little planning and understanding of some basic techniques, food preservation is pretty simple. The first thing to think about when setting food aside is what you are actually going to enjoy eating during the winter; it is just as important to know what not to preserve. When I first became interested in food preservation, I would spend hours making jams and pickles that would just sit on the shelves. My pickles weren't very good, and I like my toast plain, when I eat breakfast at all. Let's just say moving day was a sad one.

Through the years, I have honed my list. I cannot live without canned tomatoes any time of year, so I put away cases of tomato puree and whole peeled tomatoes. We freeze peas, shell beans, hot peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and a variety of greens (broccoli rabe (see photo), turnip greens, kale, chard, spinach). Strawberries and blueberries are also a cinch to freeze. We set aside enough garlic to get us through til March, and try to avoid selling all of the onions and potatoes, which doesn't always work. Canning tomatoes is time consuming and exhausting, but not disproportionate to the enjoyment I get out of having them. The rest of what we save is a snap: blanch and freeze or simply tuck away in the basement. It's easy and anyone who likes to eat local food should make it a summer ritual. Detailed instructions for preserving all of our vegetables are found on The Vegetable Pages.

If you missed the opportunity to preserve food this year, be sure to check out Winter Fare in Greenfield on Saturday, Feb. 6 from 10-2. (We won't be selling there because we sold everything we grew this year!) There's also a locally grown Pancake Breakfast to support the Northampton Survival Center at Enterprise Farm on Saturday Jan. 30 from 9-noon.

Comment (0)

Broccoli is one of the most familiar vegetables to Americans because it's favored by supermarkets thanks to its long shelf life. But there's a world of difference in flavor between fresh-cut broccoli and what you find at the store. Rich and green, not at all funky, we prefer to stir fry it gently with garlic making sure to retain some of its crunch. Like most green vegetables, if you boil or steam it with a cover on you'll want to pull it out within 5-6 minutes because longer than that will turn it soft and cause it to lose its color. We like to harvest our broccoli with a long stem and some of the leaves still intact because both are extremely sweet and delicious - not to be thrown out!
Broccoli also freezes quite well. When we've got more than we can use immediately we cut it into florets and slices of stem, quickly blanch it one minute in boiling water, plunge in cold water and dry thoroughly. Then we just pack it into a ziplock and throw it in the freezer for easy stir fries and fried rice throughout the winter.

Comment (0)

We have a limited supply of plum, or paste, tomatoes available for special order if you would like to try your hand at canning. (Call Caroline at (413) 387-5163 to inquire about ordering for delivery with your share or for pick-up at the Greenfield or Springfield farmers' market.)

Of course, it's possible to make tomato sauce from any kind of ripe tomatoes you have but the benefit of paste tomatoes is that they have a much higher proportion of flesh to juice than slicing tomatoes and therefore yield more sauce with fewer tomatoes. We've been busy recently filling up quarts with our preferred canned tomato product: whole, peeled plum tomatoes. Read on for a detailed description of our method. 

Pomodori Pelati (Italian Whole Peeled Tomatoes)

A week before you plan to can, pick your tomatoes and allow them to ripen fully at room temperature in a cool, dry place. You will probably need to throw away one or two when it comes time to can, but it’s crucial that the tomatoes are as ripe as possible. The Ball Blue Book (most Americans’ canning bible) recommends using only perfect tomatoes “free of cracks, spots and growths” but we disagree. So long as you remove all such imperfections you’re good to go).

First, assemble all the necessary equipment: Canning pot with rack, stock pot, strainer basket with handles, canning jars with screw-top rings and brand new lids, several large bowls, canning tongs and funnel, slender-headed wooden spoon with a long handle, clean dish towels, paper towels.

• Ingredients:
• Paste tomatoes
• Basil
• Salt
• Lemon juice

1.    Fill canning pot with rack half full with water and bring to a boil.
2.    Fill stock pot half full with water and bring to a boil for parboiling tomatoes.
3.    Wash all tomatoes and carefully core, cutting out any green, scarred, or bad spots. Lightly score with a sharp knife in an X shape to ease peeling after parboiling.
4.    Fill a wire strainer basket with handles with cleaned, scored tomatoes and carefully submerge in the stock pot of boiling water. Be sure to rotate all tomatoes on the top layer so that all sides spend a minute under water. Remove the basket within 3-4 minutes, and drain and place tomatoes in a bowl to cool. Repeat as needed to parboil all the tomatoes.
5.    In the meantime, wash all jars and rings in hot, soapy water. Use a bottle brush if you have one, or use a wooden spoon to push the scrubby side of your sponge around the bottom of each jar to remove any buildup. Cleanliness and sterility are imperative whenever canning. When your canning water is boiling place empty jars and rings in the rack and submerge to sterilize for several minutes. Do not sterilize lids longer than a minute. Carefully pour out water and place jars on a clean dish towel to dry.
6.    Using a paring knife peel all tomatoes and place in a bowl. Any previously unseen blemishes should be removed at this point.
7.    Fill jars with tomatoes, packing them vertically like pickles, and carefully jam the spoon down the side of the jar to release any air bubbles. This may create space to squeeze in one last tomato. Make sure all tomatoes are completely submerged in their own liquid. For pint jars leave ¼ inch of headroom; for quarts leave ½ inch.
8.    Add ½ tsp. salt, 1 tsp lemon juice and a few basil leaves to each quart jar (half these amounts for pints). Carefully wipe the lip and rim of each jar with paper towel. Place a clean, new lid on each and screw on rings.
9.    Place full jars in canning pot rack, quickly submerge in the boiling water, and close the lid. Process for 40 minutes for pints and 45 minutes for quarts from the time the water returns to a boil.

Comment (0)