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END OF THE HARVEST SEASON!
In Chicago, until the middle of November, we still had no frost!
Amazing! I hadn't had the chance to really do as much cooking as
I would like due to other responsibilities, so up to now I felt
like I had somewhat missed the harvest season (a relative statement,
since I'm usually cooking non-stop this time of year). Since I "went
crazy" at the organic farmers market recently, I had a pile
o' produce on hand. Coupled with the fact that I had to leave town
for a week, I realized I needed to do something about all of this
produce, or it would go to waste.
This is going to be more of a technique column, an insight into
what I do with food "on the fly" that also allows me to
have some incredible ingredients on hand during the winter to create
masterpieces. A lot of this column will be rehashing information
presented previously, but I do this to bring together lots of information
that is scattered over several years of writing. Even though much
of the US has now been hit by freezing temperatures, many (if not
most) of you are probably still able to get fresh produce from the
local farmers markets, so rush out, get the end of the harvest,
and use some of the ideas below to make some great food and to stock
your freezer!
Tomatoes
I was able to grab a bunch of heirloom tomatoes recently. Usually,
they are so gorgeous that I just slice them raw and use them in
salads or in a fresh tomato sauce with a bit of mint or basil (http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesAugust03.html),
or in that delicious Tuscan bread salad, panzanella (http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesAugust05.html).
However, due to travels, I knew I wouldn't be able to use all of
them this way. So, I did three things with them:
1. Roasting: I had a pile of cherry
tomatoes. I sliced them in half longitudinally, doused them with
olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted them face up on a baking
sheet at 500°F for about 15 minutes, until they just began to
caramelize on the edges. They freeze really well, and are great
in a number of applications (http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesOctober03.html).
I also sliced some of the larger heirloom tomatoes and roasted those
as an experiment. They lost integrity completely, so I scooped them
onto a cutting board, chopped them with some roasted scallions (see
below), and made a roasted tomato pasta sauce that I froze.
2. Frozen raw: Frozen tomatoes tend
to become chewy and soggy. However, I decided to try chopping them
in ¼" cubes and freezing them. I haven't done this before,
so I am imagining I'll just add these colorful cubes to another
cooked dish so that their texture will not be an issue.
3. Simple cooked sauce: When I have
lots of "ordinary" tomatoes, I make my famous ragout (http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesSeptember03.html).
However, this time I had a number of beautiful golden tomatoes,
and decided to make a quickly cooked golden tomato sauce. I just
cut up a bunch of peeled tomatoes into ½" cubes and
tossed them into a sauce pan over medium heat (I didn't even add
olive oil or butter, but you could). As they were cooking down,
I added salt, pepper and some chopped fresh scallions. Within 20
minutes I had a sauce that is beautiful with its orange color and
flecks of green from the green onions, and delicious with the natural
sweetness of the ripe tomatoes.
Green Onions
I was given a couple of bunches of green onions (scallions), and
again, needed to process them before leaving town. I processed them
using two techniques:
1. Roasting: roasted scallions are
delicious atop green salads. They freeze well, and are quite a surprise
when thawed out in the middle of winter. They do tend to become
tough, so chop them. Follow the directions at http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesApril03.html
and then either freeze them whole, or chop them add them to a sauce
as I did above with the roasted slices of heirloom tomatoes; trim
away any leaves that may have burned (it DOES happen).
2. Chopping and freezing: I roasted
one bunch of the scallions, but decided to just chopped the other
bunch in a food processor (trim the roots and any nasty leaves and
outer layers of onion), spoon into ice cube trays (each cube is
about 1T), add a bit of water so that they freeze solidly, and put
ito the freezer. When solid, empty the cubes out of the tray and
store in a plastic bag. This allows you to take out 1T of finely
chopped scallions to add to any dish.
Basil and other leafy herbs
I've written about making basil pestos and freezing them for future
use (http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesSept04.html).
However, sometimes I don't feel like making pesto, or don't have
time, so I just take a bunch of basil leaves, grind them up in the
food processor with a bit of water or olive oil, and then spoon
into ice cube trays as described above for the chopped scallions.
You get the flavor of fresh basil throughout the winter. By the
way, you can do this with lots of other leafy herbs, like sage or
arugula (see below); rather than using an entire tablespoon of these
herbs in a dish, you can take a cube and shave off what you need.
Use a sharp knife or rasp.
Beets (roots and leaves)
When I was at the market, I was thrilled to find not only the usual
purple/red beets, but also chioggia and white (!) beets, all with
their tops. This gave me the chance to double my future dining pleasure.
Roasted Beets: I discovered last
year that roasted beets freeze really well, with only a minor loss
in texture. Follow the instructions at http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesOctober03.html
and then slice the cooked beets in ¼" or 3/8"
slices. Lay the slices on pieces of plastic wrap, and wrap tightly,
preferably in single layers, but I've sometimes doubled up the slices,
separating each layer with plastic wrap. Even frozen, a salad in
the dead of winter made with these frozen beets and dressed with
olive oil, balsamico, some toasted walnuts and bleu cheese never
fails to elicit gasps in awe of the beauty and the flavor.
Sauteed beet greens: At the end
of the column at http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesJune03.html,
I have a recipe for wilted greens. This is essentially the technique
I used with the beet greens, though I omitted the bacon, using olive
oil instead. I removed the stems from the leafy portions first,
chopped the stems very finely, and sautéed them in about
¼"c olive oil with half a bunch of finely chopped green
onions; I also added about 1 T of roasted garlic that I had on hand,
toward the end, after everything was soft. While the stems and scallions
were sautéing and softening, I cut the leaves into 3/8"
"chiffonade." I had about 4 cups of sliced leaves, and
when the stems and onions were soft, I added the greens, about 5
grinds of black pepper and about 1t of salt, and turned them with
a spoon to cover with the oil. When the greens were wilted, I cooled
them and put them into cup-capacity freezer containers; note that
I omitted many of the ingredients, like vinegar, because I wanted
just basic greens that I could apply in any number of ways. These
could form a bed for a piece of pan seared salmon or a baked trout,
or be mixed with some steamed potatoes for a version of colcannon
(a future recipe), or added to some beans (see http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesMar03.html),
or to a tomato-based pasta sauce for a little extra nutrition (and
color!). I love having ingredients like this in my freezer. You
can do this with any sort of winter green (kale, collards, etc.),
but I'll be addressing these vitamin packed products in a future
Simple! Sensible! Sensational!® column.
Asparagus
I had a pound of asparagus that needed to be processed, and roasting
immediately came to mind. Just follow the recipe at http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesApril03.html
(the same one that I use for roasted green onions; see above), and
freeze flat, wrapped in plastic wrap, for a delicious, unexpected
and dramatic addition to winter salads, appetizer platters, soups
or even a side dish with steak or fish. These roasted spears are
so flexible in their application.
Arugula
I couldn't resist a bagful of young arugula at the organic market.
I ate a bunch of it out of the bag (love it!), and added more to
salads with the late season baby lettuces. But I still had lot to
deal with. I couldn't waste it! I could have turned the arugula
into a puree as described above for basil, but instead I removed
the long stems and sautéed the whole leaves in a tiny bit
of olive oil, and froze them in ice cube trays. I'll report on some
of the future applications of this technique.
Squash
No, I haven't processed any winter squash yet, but I'm going to.
With Thanksgiving coming up, I wanted to remind you of the easy
to follow instructions at http://www.god-dess.com/services_recipesNov03.html.
Squash are full of vitamins, and they're just darned delicious,
so revisit them now. If you have the oven turn on to cook other
recipes, go ahead and roast some winter squash at the same time
(saving energy!) and freeze the chopped flesh for future uses.
OK. I've now reported on what I do to have a well-stocked freezer
for the wintertime (a dear friend refers to it as my "Magic
Freezer"). I hope you'll try some of these techniques while
you have access to late harvest products, and that you'll share
some of your own experiments and applications with me at 773.508.9208
or bret@god-dess.com.
I'm going to be using some of these preserved products in future
recipe columns and newsletters, so stock up now, and be prepared
for these future writings!
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