Archive for category Food Preservation
Green Tomato and Apple Chutney
Posted by castironidaho in Food Preservation, Recipes on October 27, 2011
So, we finally got a good hard frost in Boise the other night, the 24th or so of October. Late for us! When the frost comes, many of the plants in the garden turn instantly black, and kind of weirdly smelly. Though it’s not a pretty sight, I have to admit that the first hard frost is one of my favorite days of the year. It means the farm season is winding down and that I will soon get some well-deserved rest, once all the cleanup is done. I also love to go out the day or two before the frost and bring in as many things as I can from the field. Tomatoes, peppers, basil, tomatillos, squash, will all turn to mush. A few more weeks of abundance can be harvested from boxes in the storeroom, or canned or frozen to last us the winter.
So, we’ve been canning like mad since mid-summer, and I’ve been meaning to send out a canning recipe or two to you, our dear readers. It’s a little bit of a tedious process and requires you to be at home for several hours in a row. I’m kinda too tired of it to write too much about it…..but also very content with our storeroom full of jars. If you’ve never done any canning before, and have extra stuff that you just gleaned from the garden, I recommend having a look at the Ball Blue Book, made by the makers of the Ball canning jars. Or check out their website for the simplest instructions on basic stuff like canning tomatoes, plus all sorts of more interesting recipes.
Basically, the main thing for canning is to use a tested canning recipe. You can’t just make any sauce you want and put it in a jar, because the ph might not be right, and it could spoil. We do all of our canning in a hot water bath, just a big pot of boiling water. A pressure canner is only necessary for low-acid foods like green beans.
So, last year I made a number of chutneys and sauces, and all of them got used up! This one was one of our favorites, and it’s a perfect post-frost recipe because you probably have an excess of green tomatoes, and apples are at their crunchy best right now.
Green Tomato and Apple Chutney
- 4 lbs green tomatoes
- 1 lb cooking apples
- 1 lb onions
- 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 3 Tbsp pickling spice
- 2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
Chop tomatoes, onions and apples and place in a large pot with salt. No need to peel the green tomatoes, it’s nearly impossible to peel them anyway. Tie the picking spice in a piece of cheesecloth and add to the pot. Add half the vinegar and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour, until chutney is reduced and thick. In another pot, combine the rest of the vinegar and the sugar and heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add to the pot with the chutney.
I usually at least double this recipe, and have found that I have to simmer it for quite a while before the chutney thickens as much as I want it to. Be patient and stir frequently. Don’t let it stick to the pot. You can easily put the finished pot of chutney in the fridge and do the canning the next day, just be sure to bring it to a boil again before you put it in jars.
When you’re ready to can, get your canner pot of water boiling, and put your jars in to sterilize them. (If you’re lucky enough to have a dishwasher, unlike us, you can run them through there to sterilize them instead.) Spoon hot chutney into hot jars, using a funnel to make it easier. Heat another pot of water to just below boiling, and place your lids in it for a few minutes. Make sure you don’t have any drips on the jar rims, then fit the lids onto the jars and tighten the rings. Place in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.
I recommend letting this or any chutney sit in its jars for about a month before you use it, gives the vinegar some time to mellow out a little. We liked to use this on sandwiches with meats from Smoky Davis, and for making tuna melts. Just mix a can of tuna with a similar amount of green tomato chutney, spread it on bread, top with a slice of cheese, and warm under your broiler. Delicious instant meal!
– Katie
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Drying Morel Mushrooms
Posted by castironidaho in Food Preservation, Foraged Foods on June 11, 2011
You scored, found a spot with a mother load of morels, good job. But what do you do with all your mushrooms? Eat as many as you can and dry the rest. We used a dehydrator and it worked great. I’ve heard of drying them in the windshield of the truck. I’ve also heard morels absorb Vitamin D when sun dried. Alex said “dry the shit out of them. Can’t get too dry.”
Cut morels in half if too big to stack in dehydrator.
Set at 125 for 7 hours.
Mutton is Tasty
Posted by castironidaho in Farm and Garden, Food Preservation, Randy's Corner, Recipes on May 3, 2011
This is not at all what I planned, but I ended up with a whole lot of mutton. We knew for weeks we were going to have this mutton, so I set out doing some research. Most of my friends had never eaten mutton. I had never knowingly eaten mutton. My grandmother loves it, “oh its delicious.” But only from an old ewe that’s spent its life foraging on the mountain vegetation of northern Utah and raised by my Old Papa. For most people mutton was something joked about but rarely eaten. I like it.
Randy suggested we have all the chops cut and grind the rest. So that’s what we did. We had Meats Royale do the butchering and I was very very happy with the price and their work. I had a special request: I wanted half the ground mutton mixed with ground beef (a 50 50 mix). We got the beef from our friends at Homestead Natural Meats. We ended up with 26 pounds of mutton beef mix.
This we used to make sausage. The sausage is more like spiced burger. Great for sliders like the picture at the top. To determine the right amount of spice, we would periodically make a little patty to fry and try.
To make the sausage I enlisted the help of my friend Alex Hartman. These are the three sausages we made.
Greek: Traditional Gyro mix
- 10 lbs mutton beef mix
- 2 Cups fresh Rosemary
- 2 Tbls dried marjoram
- 2 cups chopped caramelized onions
- salt and pepper to taste.
First caramelized onions in butter and let cool. Add ingredients and knead into meat. Let sit in refrigerator, covered, 24 to 48 hours taking out once to knead. Pack and freeze.
Garam Masala
- 10 lbs mutton beef mix
- 1 Cup dried mint
- 2 Cups chopped caramelized onion
- 3 Tbsp Garam Masala
- 2 Tbsp Crushed peppers
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Caramelize onions in butter and let cool. Add ingredients and knead into meat. Let sit in refrigerator, covered, 24 to 48 hours taking out once to knead. Pack and freeze.
Italian
- 6 lbs mutton beef mix
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh rosemary
- 1/2 Tbsp dried basil
- 1/4 Tbsp fennel seed
- 1 Tbsp dried oregano
- 1 cup chopped caramelized onions
- salt and pepper to taste.
Caramelize onions in butter and let cool. Add ingredients and kneed into meat. Let sit in refrigerator, covered, 24 to 48 hours taking out once to kneed. Pack and freeze.
Caution, Meat.
Posted by castironidaho in Food Preservation, Handmade, Hunting and Fishing, Randy's Corner on April 24, 2011
Despite the love and pleasure food has brought me, it’s a conflicted affair. When I don’t eat I get grumpy. Bob Marley said, “a hungry man is an angry man.” I believe him. The closest thing to my heart is my belly. I hate being hungry. When I am really famished a salad and steamed veggies won’t do. When it’s been a long hard day of work, it’s meat I crave.
The yearning, I believe comes from my belly (or is that my hearty?). The meat comes from an animal and that’s the hard part. To satisfy my hunger an animal must die, it’s so primal. The factory food system has hidden this reality. In an attempt to learn what it takes to feed me and my friends I have ended up slaughtering a few animals. It has never been easy. One thing for sure there is nothing tastier and more satisfying than meat with a name.
Before you go out to confront the alienation between you and your meat and start killing your pets, I suggest you find a mentor. One who has experience with raising animals and slaughtering them. My first killing was some old hens. My teachers were a couple of 80 year old Basque women. For sheep and other wild game, Randy is my connection. For the kill, gutting and skinning it takes practice and should be done under tutelage.
Butchering on the other hand (well is a butchering). When you are good at it it can take 30 minutes. The first time I butchered a lamb, I did it alone, half one night and the other half the next. Bucky tasted awesome, but the cuts weren’t the best. The second time I butchered two deer with a friend. It took us all day to cut and wrap.
For Old Momma we took the whole carcass into Meats Royale on Overland and had them do the butchering. Well worth the money.
… Here’s Randy’s How to Butcher a lamb.
Chiles Rellenos (Stuffed Peppers)
Posted by castironidaho in Food Preservation, Recipes on March 14, 2011
Literally a 15-minute winter dish if you’ve already frozen some peppers and canned some salsa. A Cast Iron standard, great appetizer or side dish. Healthier and better than the deep-fried version.
Anaheim peppers are always particularly prolific for us. I prepared these for the freezer by cutting them in half, removing the stems and seeds, and blanching them in boiling water for no more than 30 seconds. Then I froze them in ziplock bags. They freeze wonderfully and our guests really appreciated a fresh-tasting pepper in the middle of winter. I usually also freeze some peppers already chopped up, this way they take less space in the freezer and are ready to throw into whatever I’m cooking.
Ingredients
- 6-10 Anaheim peppers, cut in half and seeded. Ours were blanched and frozen last summer.
- Small jar of salsa. Ours was canned last summer but store bought or fresh made will also work.
- 1 can of any kind of beans. I’ve used white, black, or garbanzos.
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese.
Mix salsa, beans and cheese. Spoon into the center of the peppers. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and peppers are heated through.
– Katie
