Preserving Gardens and Memories
“In the quiet hours of a mid-October morning, I notice my children momentarily distracted by play. I slide my bare feet into the red galoshes sitting by the door and sneak outside before anyone remembers they need me. Steam quickly rises from my coffee cup in the cool morning air, and I wish I had grabbed a sweater. It feels too risky to go back. I let the rising sun and a big slug of coffee warm me instead as I make my way towards the garden.”
Read the rest of the essay “On Preserving Gardens and Memories” over at Twin Cities Mom Collective.
On Preserving Food
I feel entirely unqualified to document proper food preservation strategies as I simply follow the lead of mother Google. But I love the idea of having a taste of summer all year long and writing this down reminded me how important this is.
I don’t follow a strict plan or recipe, I just try things and see if they work. Here are some of the things I preserve, all that end up in the freezer because I’m too lazy for canning.
Slow Roast Tomato Sauce:
Half plum or cherry tomatoes and quarter or eighth large tomatoes, placing all on a large sheet pan. Toss with a few tablespoons of olive oil, a hefty sprinkle of salt, a good grind of black pepper, a few cloves of slices garlic, and a handful of whole herb sprigs. I like to use oregano and thyme. If you have an hour, do a 400 degree oven. If you have a few hours do 250 degree oven. Keep an eye on it. You want everything to be soft with a few dark edges forming. Let everything cool, strip the herbs from their sticks, then whir everything in a food processor or blender. I like to use the immersion blender. You can taste for salt but I never seem to need any. Then you may store in glass jars or freezer bags.
Herbed butter and Oil:
You can always dry your herbs at the end of the season on paper towels or hanging tied together. However, I don’t love dried herbs as much. So this is a great option. Oil and butter freeze well and can be added to roast meat and vegetables very easily. It could also even be good for dipping into bread.
For oil chop favorite herbs finely. Fill an ice cube tray half way with herbs and cover in olive oil. Freeze then store cubes in a ziplock bag.
For butter, blend two sticks softened butter with three tablespoons of herbs. You can also add a few cloves of minced garlic if you like. Roll into a log and store in freezer bags.
Frozen Greens:
Our CSA has been over abundantly generous lately. And among all those beautiful vegetables has been a crazy amount of greens—turnip greens, beet greens, kohlrabi greens, radish greens. I hate to throw any of it away but I can not cook it up fast enough. So just as it started to get a little wilty, I threw it in salted water for a minute, shocked in ice water, and then gathered in bunches a few tablespoons at a time. I squeezed these balls to release as much water as possible before freezing on a tray. Then I popped the green balls into a freezer bag to grab in amounts needed for soups or tacos or pasta.