I was talking to a new gardener who’s dealing with a healthy crop of tomatoes right now and doesn’t have time to can or cook them. She’s been giving the extras to friends and family, but wants to save some for the winter.

The quickest solution:  wash and dry the tomatoes, put them in a freezer bag and stash them in the freezer until you’re ready to cook them.  When you take them out of the bag, run the tomatoes under warm water and the skins will fall right off.

Whether you’re growing your own food or shopping the farmers markets, August and September are months of abundance, and you can easily freeze local produce to enjoy through the winter.  My five core freezer foods are blueberries, tomatoes, basil, corn and winter squash.  They freeze well and easily last until the next year’s harvest.

Here’s how I keep them:

Blueberries: wash and dry, lay out on a baking sheet and freeze for an hour or two, then put the berries into freezer bags.  I put 4 cups of berries in a quart bag and then put a few of these into a larger bag for extra protection from freezer burn.  Great for desserts, pancakes or tossed right onto your cereal.  I usually freeze about 15 pounds of berries.

Basil: wash and dry, blend in a food processor with a little olive oil (or grind into a paste by hand), and put the mixture into ice cube trays, small freezer bags or plastic containers.  If using ice cube trays, put these into a large freezer bag or wrap with a few layers of waxed paper, foil or plastic wrap.  The basil will turn a little brown, but this doesn’t affect the flavor.  Drop a basil cube or a piece of frozen basil into whatever you’re cooking and you really will taste summer.  This will work for any fresh herb – and it’s both easier and tastier than drying your own.

Corn: two schools of thought here -  blanched or unblanched.  I’ve found that frozen raw corn is good for a couple of months, and then it gets a little bitter.  So it depends on how long you plan to keep it.  Just cut the corn off the cob, make sure the pieces are separated and put into freezer bags.  I break it into single meal portions – about two cups per bag, then put those into a larger bag.  If you blanch, do it on the cob for about 4 minutes, then cut off the kernels.  Details are here.  I freeze about 4 dozen ears of corn and use it in soups, fish stew and, on rare occasions, creamed.

Squash: roast it to taste, either in chunks or to puree – a little undercooked is better since you’ll be recooking it.  Cut or scoop it off the shell and put into containers or freezer bags. My favorite varieties are delicata, acorn and butternut.

Quick recipes for freezing:

If you have a little extra time, it’s easy to make a flexible tomato sauce, squash soup or quick pesto.  It also saves freezer space.

Tomato sauce: preheat your oven to 275 degrees.  Wash and roughly chop whatever mix of tomatoes you have and put them into a shallow roasting pan.  Leave the skins on.  You can fill the pan to capacity.  Mix in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Optional, but I generally add few handfuls of torn basil leaves,  a dozen or more crushed garlic cloves and a red chili or two.

The sauce cooks down slowly and caramelizes. Depending on how much liquid is in the tomatoes and the size of your pan, it could be anywhere from 4-10 hours.  You can remove it at any point.  If you have limited freezer space, cook it down to a thick paste and you can reconstitute with water or broth.

When cooked, puree with a stick blender (easiest), food processor or blender, mixing in all the skins, garlic and pepper pieces and herbs.  When it cools, put in freezer bags or small containers.  You can use this sauce as is, add seasonings or use it in place of tomato paste in soups or other recipes.  It works with seafood, meat or veggies – but I have two favorites:

• as a quick pasta dinner -  thinned with a bit of pasta water, tossed with romano cheese, fresh parsley and either sardines or anchovies.
• on polenta – cook the polenta, spread in a skillet (cast iron if you have it), add the sauce and bake for 20-30 minutes to a half hour (about 325 degrees).  You can add anchovies, sardines or sausage if you like.

Squash soup: I love roasted squash soup with a lot of roasted garlic.  Use vegetable or chicken stock, add any herbs or veggies you have on hand (onions, carrots, celery, sage, thyme, chick peas, black beans, corn, etc).  Roasted pears or apples are also great.  This is one of the few soups I like to puree completely, and often add a handful of cooked cranberries or fried sage leaves as a garnish.

Pesto:  4 parts basil, 2 parts fresh parsley, 2 parts parmesan cheese, 1-2 parts toasted pine nuts, garlic and salt to taste.  I know the argument that the only way to get great pesto is to do it by hand, with a mortar and pestle, but I get great results in my food processor.  And it’s quick.  Add the basil first and start the food processor, adding oil, garlic, nuts, cheese as it runs.  Alternate the ingredients.  Stop and taste, add salt and whatever ingredient you need to balance it out.

There’s no standard pesto recipe – I find that this works best according to taste.  I prefer large-leaved Genovese basil, but sometimes use purple basil. More cheese makes it creamier.  More pine nuts make it nuttier and thicker, so add more oil.  You can leave out the parsley for a more intense basil flavor.  When you get the right combination, put it into meal-sized containers or freezer bags.  Use on pasta (thin with the pasta water).  Additions to pasta with pesto: add raisins or currants,  toss in shrimp, scallops, capers, fresh tomatoes or anything else that seems right to you.  (No need to use high end parmesan for this – I use an affordable cheese from Wisconsin sold at the food coop.)

Hands down, my favorite use of frozen blueberries.  Everyone loves this:

Navajo Blueberry Crumble: adapted from Navajo Peach Crumble in the Mooseood Restaurant Book of Desserts

Serves 4-6
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment: 9- or 10-inch pie-pan

Topping
1/2 cup cornmeal
¼ cup unbleached white flour
⅓ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup butter
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts (optional)

Fruit
6 cups frozen blueberries
⅓ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (more to taste)

Preheat the oven 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt. Cut the butter into the mixture with two knives until coarse crumbs, form. Stir in the pine nuts, if using, and set aside.

Combine the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and vanilla and and spread in the unoiled pie pan. Sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the fruit. Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden about 30-45 minutes. Allow it to sit for a few minutes before serving, fresh and warm from the oven, or at room temperature or chilled. Store refrigerated.

Resources:

• National Center for Home Food Preservation’s tips on freezing fruits & veggies.
• Canning Across America
• How to Cook Everything (Mark Bittman’s supremely useful cookbook with basic recipes, riffs and references.)
• Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts (Neither a baker nor a fan of elaborate desserts, this is the book I turn to when I need to make one.  And I do love the fruit pies from Michigan’s local Achatz Handmade Pies.)