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Home » Articles » The Kitchen
Chronic in the kitchen: Preserving summer
by Jennifer Hess
(Editrix's note: This is #12 in a series of articles by Jennifer Hess on healthy cooking and eating. Questions? Suggestions? Contact Jennifer here.)
Autumn has moved in, and while the days may be getting shorter and cooler, summer lingers on at farmers’ markets. This is one of my favorite times of year for fresh produce - tomatoes, corn, beans, herbs and berries are all at the end of their growing season, and are particularly flavorful and abundant right now. You can and should enjoy all of this good stuff now, while it’s fresh and at the peak of its flavor, but you can also preserve fresh fruits and veggies with a minimum of time and fuss… spend a few hours in the kitchen and you can enjoy the taste of summer for months to come.
Frozen fruits and vegetables are the next best thing to fresh, because they are picked and preserved at the peak of ripeness, locking in not just their flavor, but their nutrients. Prepackaged frozen produce is readily available year round, but freezing fruits and veggies yourself is quick and easy. This is a great way to enjoy those beans and berries from your garden long into the winter months.
Freezing berries is extremely simple. Make sure they are clean and dry, and spread them out on a sheet pan or tray in a single layer. Place the pan or tray into the freezer until the berries are firm - about 30 to 45 minutes. Remove them from the freezer, and store in zip-top bags or freezer-safe containers.
You'll want to blanch veggies like string beans, shelled peas, corn or broccoli before freezing them. Blanching locks in the vivid color of the vegetables and helps them hold up to the freezing process. You'll need a large pot of boiling water, a deep bowl filled with ice and water, a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels, and a large slotted spoon or strainer.
Place your cleaned and trimmed veggies into the boiling water for just a minute or two, fish them out with a slotted spoon or strainer, and immediately plunge them into the ice water to stop the cooking process and set the color. Once they are cooled, place them onto the tray or pan, blot them and allow them to dry completely. Place the blanched veggies into zip-top bags or freezer-safe containers for storage.
Mix and Mash
To get the flavor of fresh herbs throughout the year, I like using pesto. A pesto is basically a paste made with chopped fresh herbs, olive oil and a little salt, but you can vary it by adding garlic, ground nuts, or grated cheese. Our basil plants were particularly abundant this year, so I’ve made a lot of this classic basil pesto, but you can certainly use whatever you’ve got a lot of - flat-leaf parsley, arugula, or cilantro are all good options.
Basil Pesto
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tbsp. toasted pine nuts (you can omit, or substitute another nut like walnuts)
- Kosher salt
- 2-3 handfuls fresh basil leaves
- Juice and zest of half a lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional, to taste)
In a blender or food processor, combine garlic, nuts (if using) and a pinch of salt and pulse until finely chopped. Add basil, lemon juice and zest and pulse again to begin to chop the basil leaves. With the blade turning, drizzle in the olive oil and blend until the mixture is the desired texture - I like mine as a somewhat chunky paste, but you might like a smoother puree, in which case you can add more oil. Spoon the pesto into a bowl and stir in the grated cheese if you are using it.
To store pesto for future use, prepare it but omit the cheese, scoop it into a jar or container, and top with a thin layer of olive oil - it will last about a week in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it by spooning it into ice cube trays, freezing the cubes, and then removing the cubes from the trays and storing them in zip-top bags. If you do freeze your pesto, be sure not to add the cheese before freezing, as it will cause the pesto to separate; wait until the pesto is thawed and add cheese just before serving.
Mmmm... Saucy!
Finally, a simple way to preserve the flavor of juicy summer tomatoes is by making a big batch of basic tomato sauce. It freezes well, and this method of roasting the tomatoes and then simmering the sauce is much less involved than making a traditional long-simmered sauce - you get all of the flavor, with less time and effort!
Roasted Tomato Sauce
- About 2.5 lbs. fresh, ripe tomatoes (I use a mixture of plum and small round red tomatoes)
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup diced carrot
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and lightly smashed
- 1 tbsp. tomato paste
- 1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
- Kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Halve or quarter the tomatoes, removing the seeds if desired, and place them on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Sprinkle tomatoes with several pinches of kosher salt, and drizzle with olive oil until they are well-coated. Roast about one hour, remove from the oven and set aside. If you wish, remove the skins when they are cool enough to handle.
In the meantime, heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat, and add the onion, carrot, and garlic clove. Add a pinch of salt and sauté until the vegetables are fragrant and softened. Move the veggies to the side to create a little "hot spot" in the bottom of the pan, and add the tomato paste.
Allow it to sit for a just a second to begin to caramelize, and then mix it with the veggies in the pan. If using, add the wine, raise the heat, and allow it to come to a boil. Add the tomatoes with all of their juices and the dried marjoram, stir well to combine and allow to come to a boil again. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If you are not using the sauce right away, allow it to cool completely, and scoop it into freezer-safe containers or zip-tip bags - I generally divide it into 1 cup portions (this recipe makes about 4 cups). The sauce will keep about three months in the freezer.
Posted: 10/16/2006 in The Kitchen
