AUTUMN IN LA RIOJA WE KEEP FOR THE WINTER
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Most people in our area have a vegetable garden. We grow tomatos for salads and we also make hundreds of jars of tomato sauce for the rest of the year. We only use tomatoes ju s t p i cke d f ro m t he plant in Augu s t/ September, when the tomato season is about to finish. Tomatoes are planted in April/May. During all the summer we have tomato salad as a starter for meals. It can be mixed with letttuce and other vegetables but it is also common to have it alone, with just some salt and olive oil (you can also add salt and vinegar).
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INGREDIENTS • FRESH TOMATOES • SALT • OLIVE OIL
Pick the tomatoes from the plant. Wash them carefully Cut them in pieces and put them to boil slowly in a casserole
Mash them and boil them again so they lose water
Add salt and olive oil
Put the sauce in jars (leaving one cm from the top) Put the covers and turn them tight Boil the jars for 40 minutes in a tall casserole with a teatowel on the bottom (to prevent the jars from crashing) (the water must cover the jars completely, about 2 cms. above the jars)
PEPPERS We also grow red and green peppers. Some of them can be spicy. We eat them raw in salads but mos tly we f r y or barbecue them to accompany meat dishes. We usually add fried garlic cloves. Just like tomato sauce, we process them to keep them in jars for the rest of the year and even longer.
Ingredients Peppers Garlic cloves can be added
Process: - Collect the peppers from the plant - Barbecue them so that the peel comes off easily - Peel them and wash them in water so they are completely clean
- Tear them in thin strips - Put them in jars (add garlic cloves if you want) - Close the jars with the covers tight - Boil the jars for 30 minutes in a tall casserole with a teatowel on the bottom - Let them cool and label them
FIG JAM There are lots of fig trees in our area. Many of them grow wild so you can just go for a walk in the country and collect them. People who have fruit orchards and have figs will share with their friends and relatives as the trees give too many for just one household. We eat them raw as dessert. We also let them dry for weeks to use them in fruit puddings at Christmas. And we make fig jam for the rest of the year.
Ingredients - Figs - Sugar
-Pick the figs from the tree
-Wash them -Put them in a casserole -Cover them with sugar (half the weight of the figs) -Boil them slowly till they turn from green to yellow -Put the fig puree in jars and fill with water up to 2 cms from the top -Boil the jars for 30 minutes in a tall casserole with a teatowel at the bottom -Let them cool and label
Merche, our P.E. teacher does all this every year.
November, 2013