Saving Summer's Bounty

By gathering and preserving fresh bounty from your garden, market, or roadside stand you can preserve it and enjoy it year-round.

The freshest produce is also generally the tastiest and most nutritious, and now is the time to take advantage of that. By gathering and preserving fresh bounty from your garden, market, or roadside stand you can preserve it and enjoy it year-round. You already may have canned or frozen fruits and vegetables, but try these garden recipes for fun, new ways to save the best food summer has to offer.

Favorite Garden Salsa

There is no “right” way to make a salsa. You can make many varieties depending upon the season and the vegetables you have on hand. Start with a main ingredient of an onion, leek, shallot, or green onion. Add something hot—a chili of some kind—and fresh herbs. Then, simply choose fruits and vegetables to attain the balance you want. This recipe will get you started, but substitute and add your favorite ingredients.

• 2 cups of finely diced onion
• 10 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 cup finely diced cucumber
• 1 cup zucchini or squash, finely diced
• 1 yellow pepper, finely diced
• 1 pasilla chili or any warmer pepper you grow, finely diced
• 2 fresh ears of corn, cleaned and scraped
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all ingredients together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes. Immediately ladle into hot jars and seal. Put into a water bath (immersion in boiling water to form a tight seal and kill microorganisms) for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool and store out of sunlight. This is excellent on grilled fish or chicken. Properly canned food stored in a cool dry place will retain its taste for at least one year. Makes 6 to 7 pints.

Freezer Tomato Sauce

If your garden yields tomatoes by the buckets, and you don’t want to waste even one, this quick and simple solution will provide fresh homemade tomato flavor all year.

This is quick because you freeze the sauce instead of canning it. Fill quart-sized freezer bags, and lay them down in the freezer until they are frozen. Then stand them upright so they don’t take up too much room.

• 6 pounds tomatoes
• 3 onions, diced
• 2 green peppers, diced or 2 chili peppers
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 inch piece of orange peel

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Immerse tomatoes in water for 1 minute. Drain, peel, and seed (optional). Set aside. Sauté the onions, peppers, and garlic in a pan with the olive oil and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat, until vegetables are soft. Puree the tomatoes in a food processor, or dice small and add to vegetables. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the orange peel. Let mixture cool completely. Ladle 3 cups into a plastic freezer bag. Lay the bags in your freezer. When ready to use, add chicken broth and white wine and it will be a great sauce for chicken cacciatore. Add beef broth, vegetables, noodles, and beans, and you will have a delicious minestrone soup. Makes 6 to 7 cups.

Pickled Vegetables

This is a great way to use lots of different vegetables in different combinations. They maintain vivid color and a real crunch, so this recipe is a delicious way to keep your garden alive on your table all winter.

• 4 cups sliced zucchini or green beans
• 6 cups sliced yellow squash, yellow zucchini, or any squash you have
• 2 cups carrots, peeled, & cut diagonally
• 4 cups diced bell pepper—use all the colors you have and mix colors
• 3 cups thinly sliced onion
• 2 cups salt + 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 cups water
• 4 cups rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons mustard seed
• 2 tablespoons celery seed
• 2 teaspoons turmeric

Wash vegetables. Cut squash about 1/2-inch thick and carrots about 1/4-inch thick. Dice the bell pepper into 1-inch cubes, or cut into long, thin strips. Cover the vegetables with water (amount will vary, depending on the vegetables) and sprinkle with 2 cups salt. Let sit for 2 hours. Drain and rinse. Combine the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, sugar, 4 cups water, vinegar, and spices and bring to a boil. When it is at a rolling boil, add the vegetables and cook for 2 minutes. Pack the vegetables into hot jars and fill with the hot liquid, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Release the air bubbles with a knife that you push up and down in the jar a few times, clean the rim of the glass, and seal with a lid. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Store in a cool place out of the sunlight. Makes 6 to 7 pints.

Tomato Eggplant Tapenade

This quick appetizer is great spread on grilled or toasted bread, or even better wrapped in spinach and prosciutto (aged, dry-cured Italian ham) and stuffed in a chicken breast. Bread the outside of the breast and bake, or wrap in phyllo (thinly layered pastry dough) and bake when you want to be fancy. If you do not grow eggplant in your garden, substitute zucchini.

• 2 pounds eggplant, unpeeled and diced
• 2 sweet red peppers, cut in chunks
• 1 large onion, cut in wedges
• 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and sliced
• 1 head of garlic, cut in quarters
• cup virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and pepper
• cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar to taste
• cup black olives, chopped
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped herbs—basil, rosemary, thyme, or oregano

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a rimmed cookie sheet with vegetable spray and spread the eggplant, peppers, onion, tomatoes, and garlic over the pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees until vegetables start to brown, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and pick out all the garlic pieces. Put the other ingredients in a blender or food processor. Squeeze the garlic into the blender or processor, throwing out the skin. Puree and add remaining ingredients. If too stiff, add a little more olive oil. Put into hot jars with a little oil poured on top and seal. Put into a water bath for 25 minutes. Cool and store out of sunlight. Makes 4 half-pints.

Peach Relish

A great-tasting relish can make a bland dish come to life. I change my relishes every time I make them by using whatever is fresh and available at the moment. Take your favorite fruits or vegetables and add sugar, vinegar, and a little liquid of choice and have fun. Butterfly a pork tenderloin (cutting the meat almost in half without completely separating it and spreading it apart to resemble a butterfly) and spoon some of this down the center, tie the tenderloin, and bake. Or, serve it next to some grilled chicken, fish or pork chops. It is delicious.

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon corn oil
• 4 cups fresh firm peaches, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 pineapple, peeled and chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 2 jalapenos or to taste, minced
• 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
• 1 teaspoons cinnamon
• teaspoon mace
• teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup peach nectar
• 1 cup sugar
• cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brandy (optional)

Sauté onion and garlic in oil on low heat for 5 minutes. Add peaches, pineapple, pepper, jalapenos, ginger, mint, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, nectar, sugar, and vinegar and mix well. Cook stirring until sugar dissolves and reduce heat and let cook over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Add brandy, if desired, stir, and spoon into hot sterilized jars, seal, and put into a water bath for 20 minutes. Cool completely and store in a cool place away from sunlight. Makes 4 pints.

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