Winter Preparation: Greens and Apples

As our growing season comes to an end, these are some of the projects that have been keeping me busy, since I have the goals of not wasting delicious local food and being able to enjoy it throughout the winter.  Here I start a series on the foods I've been freezing, canning, and otherwise processing for winter. 

Freezing Kale, Swiss Chard, and Parsley
As you know, we can grow greens here, and that is no joke!  So how do we keep those wonderful vitamins for our winter meals? 

For Kale and Swiss Chard, I wash the greens and bring a pot of water to a boil.  I blanch the greens in the water for 1-2 minutes.  Pull them out and run under cool water, than using a towel I squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the greens.  I then chop them to the size I want and put them in baggies.  Whenever I'm making a soup or stew I pull out a baggie of greens to add. 

The parsley was even easier.  I chopped the parsley and put it in ice cube trays, covered the parsley with water and then froze.  After they are frozen, I dumped my parsley ice cubes out of the trays into a quart size freezer bag.  whenever I need a burst of fresh flavor, I'll just pull out a cube and put it in the meal I'm making!

Apples
This was a successful apple year for us.  It has taken us 7 years to get apples without worms, or with very few worms.  Last year, I think we had enough for one pie.  This year, Joe picked a box.  They are really good baking and eating apples, if you are partial to tart apples, which I am.  The picture at the top shows our apples.  They are on the smaller side, but with great flavor.  So far with the apples I have made applesauce and pies, and I eat them on my cereal.

      Applesauce

Sorry I don't have an official applesauce recipe, but here are the basics.  I like chunky applesauce.  This is important, because then I don't have to peel the apples.  I'm not sure I would do it if I had to peel all the fruit.

1. I roughly core and chop as many apples as I will fit in my pot.  I also add 2-3 pears if I have them for extra sweetness.
2. Sprinkle lemon juice on my layers of apples to keep them from browning. 
3. Add about a cup of water, some cinnamon sticks, a couple cloves.  I love cinnamon in my applesauce, so I also sprinkle some ground cinnamon in addition to the sticks.
4. Put the pot on the stove over medium/low heat until it takes on the consistency you like, stirring regularly.  This takes about an hour or more.  I then use my potato masher to break down any final pieces of apple.

Storage:  I use small plastic containers, like store bought hummus or feta cheese size and fill with apple sauce and freeze.  I like to freeze, versus can, but after defrosting, the applesauce will turn brown within a day.  So I've taken to freezing in small amounts for two.  That way I can take one out on a weekend morning and it's the perfect amount for over some waffles or along side a lunch sandwich.

       Pies

I have two pie shells and enough apple/pear filling for two pies in the freezer.  There are many ways to freeze pies and many questions to ask.  Should you fully or partially bake pies before freezing?  Can you freeze a pie without partially baking it first?  I've frozen pies before that I have partially baked and sometimes they come out perfect, sometimes they get mushy.  So I thought I'd try a new method.

For the crust: Using your favorite pie recipe.  I use a recipe that is 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening.  I just rolled out the pie crusts and layered them in a metal pie pan with parchment paper.  I wrapped securely and froze. 

For the Filling:  I used the Classic Apple Pie filling found in "The New Best Recipe" cookbook from Cook's Illustrated.  I simply mixed the below and froze in size appropriate containers.  When I get ready to make the pies, I won't defrost the filling and crust fully, just enough for the filling to fit in the crust and I'll add a crumb topping.

• 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• Enough apples to make 8 cups.  I chopped mine, versus slicing and I added a few pears.
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Ok, I admit, there would have been a revolt if I had just frozen pies.  I did also make a third, fully baked pie just for eating.  There is just no easier way to make the husband happy!  But, I forgot to take a picture.  Happy Freezing.