Thursday, October 25, 2012

Celery, Zucchini, and Rosemary

This week I've been working on the last of the things to preserve for the winter. Yesterday I spent part of the day redesigning next year's garden. You wouldn't think they were related, but they are. I had it worked out in my head where things were going, but I ran into a snag. I really want to keep the fall carrots in the ground longer, maybe a couple more weeks. The garlic really needs to get planted this week. But I had the garlic following my fall carrots. My biggest problem is the mache that I willy nilly just tossed into the garden. It was old seed I wasn't willing to throw out. I really didn't think it would germinate. But germinate it did. The only other place to put the garlic is where the mache is growing right now. If I want to keep those carrots in the ground a little longer to size up more (and they could use sizing up a bit more), then I'll have to transplant the mache. Darn. It is what I get for not thinking about where I put things and not thinking of my rotations in the garden.

But carrots are for future preservation this fall. This week I froze the celery harvest. I'm not a huge fan of fresh celery, but I do love it in soups. So I froze batches of celery in 3/4 cup packets. Before I've frozen it on a cookie sheet and then put it into a ziplock. But by the time spring rolls around the bag is mostly ice crystals. I decided I wanted slightly better quality, which means individually packaging them. I used my new FoodSaver vacuum sealer. It works so much better than my last one. It really can suck out the air.

But when I tried to do the zucchini, the vacuum was so strong it sucked the juice out of them. So one got frozen like that. And the other two zucchini packets were frozen first and sealed after. I guess there is a flaw with a really strong vacuum. Ah well. I used to freeze the zucchini first anyway before packaging it up.

In more attempts to use up my zucchini pile, I had a zucchini frittata for lunch that was delicious. I can now say my zucchini problem is solved. I have exactly one 3" long zucchini left. I was worried that they would start to rot before I used them up, but freezing really helps. I just wasn't willing to freeze the little tiny zucchini.

I had an epiphany while eating my lunch. I love three bean salad. While this is a take off of three bean salad (notice I used zucchini in this too) and not the pure form, it is still bean salad. And what is bean salad but pickled beans? I ought to be able to can them shouldn't I? I always look for good ways to preserve things. I do freeze some beans, but I don't like them nearly as much as fresh and usually just eat them in soups. I hate canned beans. But I might just love pickled beans. I did dilly beans, but three bean salad would be so much better. Next year I have to make enough for a jar every month. Yum. And just so you know, every item in this lunch had something from the garden. The salmon salad was made with leftover salmon and some of my canned relish - on a homemade sesame seed bun. The soup was leftovers too. You saw the first bowl last week. It has my Chinese cabbage and squash in it. The bean salad itself was totally garden filled with black beans, green beans, carrots, onions, zucchini, and garlic from the garden. Yummy. And can you tell I eat a lot of leftovers for lunch?

And I almost forgot I dehydrated some rosemary. I had used half of what I'd dehydrated earlier in the year and I figured I ought to top off the jar before winter hits. In the summer I use a dehydrator, but since the heat came on in the house, the air is dry enough to dehydrate it by hanging it up. It takes longer, but is less work that way. I think today it will be dry enough to put into jars.

Since Robin is away on vacation, Jody is doing Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard so head on over to his blog, Spring Garden Acre.

10 comments:

  1. Your packets of frozen celery look so good! I never got my celery planted out this year and now I am sure regretting it.

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  2. I really like the idea of canned 3 bean salad. I, too, love dilled green beans. I bet I would like the pickled 3 beans, too. They sound great.

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  3. looks like you have been busy and eating very well!!!

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  4. That zucchini frittata looks excellent so sad I didn't grow any this year.

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  5. I am working on learning about crop rotation so that I can grow more in my little space. I plan to plant a few celery plants next year and am wondering how far apart they need to be. boy, that frittata sure looks good! Do you have the proportions posted for your vinegar bean salad posted somewhere. Never thought about making a jar for the refrigerator to last for a month! Wondered why I get ice crystals on my bags of freezer food. Guess I need a food saver!! Nancy

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    1. The dressing I made for my salad was here:
      http://www.food.com/recipe/finally-found-four-bean-salad-113174

      I won't use that one for canning (as it has oil), but it would make a fine refrigerator pickle dressing. I'm probably going to find one next year that uses cider or distilled vinegar as red wine vinegar is pretty expensive in quantity. Also I didn't use the veggies that they did, but just used what I had in my fridge. My typical meals are whatever is in the fridge. I've looked up some three bean salads for water bath canning and they use much less vinegar and more water. I'll probably be experimenting with what I like (though safely which means never lowering the proportion of vinegar).

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  6. Would this site give you any insight on substituting for the red wine vinegar? http://www.food.com/library/wine-vinegar-493 Nancy

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    1. Well if you used distilled vinegar you would want to dilute it as distilled vinegar has more bite to it than red (cider might be a better substitute). I'm not talking canned though just refrigerator. Diluting a recipe for canning would be dangerous. But that recipe is not for canning and I want to can mine next year in a water bath. I've looked some up and there are quite a few out there. I'll have to play around next summer and see which ones I like the taste of.

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  7. This will be my first time freezing celery, so I was glad to hear how you did it. I think sealing it with the FoodSaver and freezing in small portions is the answer for us. Ours will wind up mostly in soups too.

    I can really identify with the whole garden rotation situation. It does take a lot of planning to make it work. I wound up following potatoes with garlic, and garlic with turnips. I have no idea if that's good for the soil but it worked well time wise. And I guess that's as good as it might get for me.

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  8. Wow that lunch looks so good. I have to pack my lunch to work and take leftovers from the previous night's dinner so it typically is homemade fresh items - but nothing like that lovely meal you enjoyed.

    I got a foodsaver for Christmas this past year and it has been a really nice addition to the kitchen. I still use the zip loc bags for the celery, diced peppers and diced onions because I like being able to scoop out just what I need. I do know what you mean about the frost crystals though by spring.

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