Foodie

[dancerjodi]

Brian and I have a ton of veggies from our farm share, and I'm hoping to put some of them to use tonight and then freeze them, so that they aren't wasted:
I'm going to make some pesto with the basil (and freeze).
I'm going to make some salsa with the tomatoes (and freeze).

We still haven't even used up the herbs we dried last year, and we have a ton to cull this year (basil, apple mint and hot oregano). The drying process took so long before, I think I'm going to try freezing (unless we're able to get a box fan and try the Alton Brown method rather than hanging) :)

We also have a ton of garlic and onions. Do you think mincing the garlic and throwing into the jar in our fridge (we bought in the supermarket) will work? Or will they go bad? We have 5-6 bunches of garlic and I'd hate for them to go to waste. I'm thinking I'll fry up the onions with the bit of cabbage I have for some kind of stir fry at some point.

We have some turnips too . . . what the hell to do with those? I've only had them mashed which I like, but Brian's not nuts about.

Though I like getting fresh veggies from the farm share, I don't like the pressure of having to use X thing that we get. Next year we won't be doing the farm share, but we'll make more of an effort to get out to farm stands (or Russo's, at the very least).

Comments

[devina.livejournal.com]

Maybe you can make a 40-clove recipe to use up a bunch of the garlic?

I'm iffy on preserving the stuff, since I know garlic's a candidate for botulism. That may just be when it's packed with oil though, I'm not sure.

suggestion

[wench33.livejournal.com]

If you dice the turnip and put it in stews, it just ends up tasting like the stew instead of being strongly turnip flavored.

I usually add one to my guieness beef stew.

Re: suggestion

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

I agree with wench33 but here is something else to try. I would use what ever herbs you have and more garlic then listed. I am not sure how to make WW friendly.

Herb Roasted Chicken with Root Vegetables
1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) whole chicken
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves
1/2 tablespoon chopped sage leaves
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves (reserve the parsley stems)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 lemon, quartered
2 bay leaves

Baby Root Vegetables:
1/4 pound turnips, peeled and stem ends trimmed
1/4 pound red carrots, peeled and stem ends trimmed
1/4 pound orange carrots, peeled and stem ends trimmed
1/4 pound golden beets, peeled and stem ends trimmed
1/4 pound red beets, peeled and stem ends trimmed
1/4 pound fingerling potatoes, halved
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil


Chicken
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
Wash the chicken and pat dry.
Season well inside and out with the salt and pepper.
In a small bowl, combine the garlic, thyme, sage, parsley and olive oil.
Rub the olive oil and herb blend into the cavity of the chicken as well as all over the exterior.
Place the parsley stems into the cavity of the chicken, and squeeze each lemon quarter into the chicken and place the rind in as well.
Put the bay leaves inside the chicken and place the bird in a roasting pan or a saute pan, and put it into the oven.
Roast for about 1 hour, or until the chicken is golden brown, and the juices run clear.
Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before carving.

For the vegetables:
Place the chopped vegetables in a large mixing bowl, and season with the salt and pepper.
Drizzle with the olive oil and place in a roasting pan or on a sheet pan.
Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes, turning once midway during cooking to ensure even browning.
Serve with the herb roasted chicken.

[andrewfeland.livejournal.com]

40-clove Garlic Chicken

Break apart as many cloves of garlic as you have (40, 50, 150, whatever) but don't peel them. Spread them across the bottom of a good-sized roasting pan. Pour in one wineglass full of olive oil, and one wineglass full of good white wine. Wash your chicken, pat it dry, salt and pepper it, and if you like, throw a sprig of rosemary in the body cavity.

Cover the pan and roast the bird like you normally would roast a chicken. I like to roast it breast-side down at about 350 for 45 minutes, then flip the bird and roast it at about 250 for 2-3 more hours or until the meat is falling off the bone, then I crisp it under the broiler a bit.

Serve with good crusty bread and a salad. Spread the roasted garlic on the chicken, on the bread, on the salad, whatever. It's tasty.

You can also roast garlic and freeze it. It doesn't keep for all that long in the fridge.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Tember probably told you this, but in case not: a really great thing to bother getting if you're putting up loads of food is a VACUUM sealer. She talked me into getting one last year. Okay, I haven't used it, because I'm lazy and we eat out too much. (Which is why either of us outweigh BOTH of you put together.) I lent it to a friend with two kids and a busy schedule, and she adores it. It prevents freezer burn, and very much extends the life of the food.

[heinleinfan.livejournal.com]

Tips I've heard/done and a question:

1. I've kept unpeeled, unmolested garlic cloves (the whole bunch of them together as you would buy in the store) in my "humidity control" veggie drawer of the fridge for...oh geez...just weeks and weeks and weeks and it never went bad at all. Some of it did begin to sprout, however...so I'm not sure that "humidity control" works so well. (My granny kept onions and garlic in pantyhose, hanging in a dark, dry pantry, for months on end and they never went bad. Pantry was *very dry* though.)

2. I heard on NPR that a great way to freeze pesto was to make it without the pine nuts and with a little less olive oil at first, then freeze it into ice cube trays. When needed, you can thaw out an ice cube's worth (which is about 2 tbls. apparently) and add more olive oil and pine nuts for pesto, some vinegar for salad dressing, use as a marinade or bread spread, whathaveyou. Supposedly keeps the fresh basil flavor for months and months. I'm trying it now myself. Froze just fine, haven't thawed any yet.

3. With an electric oven, or gas oven that will actually let you keep the door open, you can dry herbs in about 2 hours. Lay out on baking sheets, set oven to 180 degrees or so, but no higher then 200, prop the door open about 3-4 inches, turn herbs about every 30 minutes since the back of the oven will stay warmer than the front.

4. What is Alton Brown's method for drying herbs, as the oven here in the new place is gas and will stop working if the door is propped open. :(