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

[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. :(