Preserving Roasted Red Peppers – Preserving Summer Bonus Post
For those of you following along with our series, you`ll be expecting a post on what many consider the holy grail of dinner preserves – the almighty tomato. If you`re expecting that today, you`ll have to come back tomorrow – we`re throwing a bonus in; a quick piece on preserving roasted peppers.
Roasted red peppers are one of the great secrets of our tomato sauce – they are added at time of cooking and one of the easiest things to preserve in the world. I adore how fast they are to process and that I get to use a BBQ in the process.
Freezer Pesto
I don’t know if you are tiring of hearing of the woods and the traditions we hold dear in the north – let’s take a break and head to the kitchen for some of the easiest preserving (and most practical) known to man, woman or child.
Do you have a selection of herbs that you are afraid may turn the corner of freshness? Are you worried about losing a fridgefull – or even a garden full – of them? When we run into this, we make pesto and whatever we don’t use we freeze in cupcake liners.
These handy little packages freeze well from 9-12 months and can be added (sans paper) to soup, stew, dips, sauces or other meals as needed. They are a wonderful flavor boost that we use through the winter to remind us of summers bounty and hold us through to the next year.
Preserving the main harvest finally slows down…with roasted red peppers
Local preserving season is slowing down with the quieting of the harvest. One can still pickle onions, beets, garlic and other cellared delights but the variety is not as boundless as early autumn.
Preserving roasted peppers typically mark the closing of the harvest for our family. They are the easiest batch of preserving we do in a year and one of my favourites through the winter. We usually use Sheppard peppers (which are long and red) and/ or hot peppers (often processed separately) but anything fresh and local will do.
Cold eats what? How to transport frozen food a long way home…
To this day I don’t know exactly what he said although I do know what he meant. I had been confident for years the my Grandfather told me that “cold EATS cold.“ In retrospect, I have begun to question my young ears and wondering if his Acadian accent was saying “cold HEATS cold.”
It is 2,200 kilometers (about 1,400) miles from the front door of my childhood home to that of my Mothers place of birth. The drive is typically split over two days and is one I have done more times than I can count. I can remember doing it in pickup trucks, cars, a motorcycle, towing a tent trailer, a Transport filled with yogurt and even in a small car sitting in the middle seat for 24 hours straight.
We would drive across the country to visit family for a week (or several) before the long drive home. The return trip often involved transporting a bounty from the sea such as frozen clams, crab, shrimp or that sort of thing. If you have been reading Well Preserved lately you will know this tradition continued when we froze about 40 pounds of crab meat) and prepared to bring it home.
My parents were driving the long trek and took it in their car. We followed Pepés advice:
“Cold EATS cold.”
Look closely at the picture above – frozen crab, scallops and no ice. Each package is individually wrapped in newspaper to insulate one from the other. The final step is to put the lid on and tape it sealed.
The insulation is vital as, otherwise, the frozen bags of crag would draw cold from one another and promote early thawing. As one bag would begin to melt, it would attract cold from the one beside it to try to stay cold thus thawing it sooner.
The crab and scallops sat in the trunk of the car for almost 36 hours in August and arrived in Toronto with only the starting signs of a thaw. And icepack would promote melting.
Next time you find yourself needing to drive across country with a trunk full of frozen goodies, you have a plan! If you stay in hotels with restaurants, many will make room in their freezers for the entire package.
How to preserve crab meat
Let us just suppose that you find yourself in Nova Scotia one day soon. Let us pretend that you are visiting family. Let us imagine that they are wonderful and, to boot, they have access to very affordable seafood. By very affordable, let us imagine that you can purchase almost 100 pounds of live crab for $80 Canadian. What is one to do…
Look closely at the picture below – the large bowl in the front is wider than the back of the chairs at the table. We estimate the total weight of meat below to weigh almost 40 pounds.
Pickled Garlic Scapes and Pesto
Another wonderful weekend. We`ve been noshing on leftovers from last week (Dana made a wonderful pasta and some asparagus soup made with our leftover asparagus ends from the pickled asparagus we made last weekend), connecting with more great food people and exploring our city. We even had a quiet date night with a slow dinner on the Danforth last night and a visit with friends on the beach in Toronto on Sunday.
We had another great visit to the Brick Works farmers market again. The growing season is really revving into full gear and variety is starting to fill the tables and some wonderful offerings. We were there in the early afternoon which limited selection but gave us a relaxed tour and plenty of time to visit with some old friends.
