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When I say "plan in advance," I mean W-A-Y in advance! If you want frugal organic food, this is the time to start thinking about planting extra veggies to freeze for winter. This is also a good time to start hitting yard sales in search of old windows for building cold frames.
This is a picture of European Mesclun salad blend from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds direct-seeded in the cold frame on November 19th, 2008. I know I got a late start, but this mix held up well through our harsh Missouri winter, then really took off in early February. This is a delicious salad blend!
In my experience, salad greens grown in a cold frame tend to be more delicate than field grown. When washing them, be gentle. Fill your sink with cool water, then add the lettuce and gently swish it around. Never blast water from the faucet directly onto the leaves or it will bruise them. Dry in a salad spinner and chill. The chilling in the fridge will crisp the greens up nicely.1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup light olive oil
Pasta Sauce
The basic ingredients for the pasta sauce were grown and stored last summer. I use a variety of storage methods, from dehydrating to canning to freezing. The eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, red peppers and basil were frozen. When freezing fresh basil, the best way to preserve its flavor is chop the basil in a food processor, combine it with olive oil, then freeze in ice cube trays. Once frozen, remove from trays and store the basil cubes in freezer storage bags. This makes it easy to remove individual cubes as needed.
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Here comes the fun part - cooking! For this meal, I chose to make a garlic/basil sauce, but you can go anywhere with this combination of vegetables. It could be a curry, a simple stir fry, whatever you're in the mood for.
A note on freezing eggplant: Forget blanching! The best way to freeze eggplant is to roast it first. Cube the eggplant or slice it, depending on what you're going to be using it for. Spread the eggplant on a lightly-oiled baking sheet and roast it in a 350 degree oven till almost tender. You want to cool the roasted eggplant down quickly. As soon as the trays are cool to the touch, I put everything into the freezer, baking sheets and all. After the eggplant is frozen on the trays, remove the eggplant and store in freezer bags until needed.
Rustic Eggplant Pasta Sauce2 cups cubed eggplant (approximately)
2 cups cubed/sliced zucchini1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 large tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 cup fresh or 2 cubes frozen basil
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, bell pepper, zucchini and eggplant. Saute until vegetables are soft. Add the tomato and basil, and a little water if it seems dry. Cook 5-10 minutes longer. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta. This is a VERY flexible recipe. Add more basil, less basil, add capers - anything goes. Follow your tastes!
For the No-Knead Crusty Bread, the only advance planning you need is to start the dough the night before. You can find the recipe at Mother Earth News. This is the perfect bread for those times when you just don't feel like kneading dough. I've always had great success with this recipe. It's a real winner. You MUST try it!
The roasted red pepper spread is best made at the height of summer, so I'll pass along the recipe then - I promise!Reading all this at once, it may not seem "simple" as advertised in the headline, but spread out over the whole course of a gardening season, its doable. Planning for the long term in the way described on this website allows you to live simply in the moments. The ingredients are all there when you need them. You planned it that way!
