How to cook a delicious vegetable dressing for the winter?
In summer, you can prepare any dressing by simply picking the necessary vegetables in the garden or buying them at the market. In winter, we also want to smell fresh herbs and vegetables. They are ideal for preparing soups, as well as for main courses with meat and chicken. Let's try to figure out how you can keep their freshness and taste for the whole winter.
Selection and preparation of products
Even if you don't have your own vegetable garden, you can make refills for the winter by purchasing everything you need from the market. In season, vegetables are much cheaper, and their quality is on top. After all, they ripened in a natural way and did not lie for a long time in warehouses and shelves. Therefore, feel free to purchase the right amount and start making blanks. In winter, this will greatly simplify your life, and there will be more benefits from such dishes. You can choose one recipe and cook according to it, or you can diversify your own menu and try several options for blanks at once. Everything depends on your desire.
Prepare all necessary products. Before peeling and cutting them, carefully inspect the fruits for rotting and mold. Since the blanks will have to be stored for a long time, it is necessary to choose only whole and good specimens. Before cutting and direct cooking, vegetables must be thoroughly washed and dried.
The last point is especially important if you are going to freeze them.There are no special rules or features here, all unnecessary parts are removed, the peel is peeled off (where necessary) and cutting is performed.
Preservation methods
There are several ways to preserve vegetables for the winter.
- Sterilization. This method allows you to get rid of all microorganisms due to exposure to high temperatures. Vegetables are subjected to such treatment and packed in processed sealed jars. If everything was done correctly, then the crop will remain in this form for a long time.
- Cooking. More often it is used for fruits in the manufacture of jam, marmalade and marmalade. But some dressing recipes also involve boiling or frying foods.
- Salting. Due to the preliminary sterilization of the container and the treatment of vegetables with boiling water, they retain their properties, while harmful bacteria do not develop. This also contributes to a large amount of salt.
- Leaven. In this case, the preservative is not hydrochloric brine, but lactic acid. It is formed as a result of fermentation. To do this, vegetables are not immediately placed in an airtight container, but are allowed to stand for some time at room temperature.
- Drying. Dressing in this case will have a look similar to that of spices and dried fruits. For greater convenience and speed, today there are special devices (dryers) for vegetables and fruits. Since there is no water left in the fruits, there is nowhere for pests to settle.
- Freeze. There are several ways to prepare dressings. You can place pre-peeled and chopped vegetables in containers or bags and freeze in this form. In this case, the mixture will be identical to that sold in stores in sealed bags. Or make a little effort and make, for example, a fragrant green dressing filled with oil.
It is convenient to use molds for ice. Then the frozen cubes can be placed in a regular bag.
How to cook dressing without cooking?
If you have regular vegetables, you can make a versatile dressing for many soups. And this does not require complex manipulations. Prepare, wash and process the following vegetables:
- bell pepper in the amount of 3 kg;
- hot pepper - 100 g;
- tomatoes;
- dill, parsley, cilantro (any herbs optional) - 100 g.
All listed ingredients must be scrolled in a blender. The beauty of the recipe is that all vegetables will be raw and will not lose their benefits. Now add salt to the mixture. Wash and dry the containers in which the mixture will be stored. It is better if these are small glass jars, but small containers can also be used.
Place the composition tightly in containers, pour oil on top. The layer of sunflower oil should be 1 cm. Put everything in the refrigerator. It will be possible to get it immediately before preparing the soup.
Keep in mind that the mixture is salty, so don't overdo it when making your soup.
Other recipes
There are a lot of recipes for blanks. It is simply impossible to list them all. Each hostess can change them at her own discretion. We will give those that have proven themselves and do not require either exotic vegetables, or special equipment, or a long multi-stage preparation procedure.
Dressing for borscht
We clean and rub an equal amount of beets and carrots (2 kg each). We also clean a couple of kilos of tomatoes and pass through a blender or meat grinder. Finely chop the same amount of onion. Pour a little more than half a liter of vegetable oil into a saucepan and lay carrots, beets and onions. Pour in 50 ml of water and 30 ml of vinegar (9%).simmer over low heat until the juice is released, increase the heat and let it boil.
After that, reduce the heat again and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 200 g of sugar, 5 tbsp. l. salt, peppercorns, toss tomatoes, another 60 ml of vinegar and 100 ml of water. Simmer for another 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft. 10 minutes before the end, put the bay leaf. It remains only to decompose the dressing into pre-prepared (sterilized) jars and remove it until required.
Dressing for pasta and pasta
Fragrant dressing with garlic and onions will delight you in the winter and will reduce the cooking time. All you have to do is boil the pasta. So, we need tomatoes and onions. Their ratio should be one to three. For the recipe, we use 3 kg of tomatoes and 1 kg of onions. We cut everything into small cubes, after removing all unnecessary and rumpled parts (with a tomato). We put a large frying pan and fry the onion in it in sunflower oil, when it becomes soft, add the tomatoes.
They will need to boil for 10 minutes. Some hard varieties may take 15 minutes. Now add 4 tbsp. l. salt, half a tablespoon of sugar and a little red pepper (ground). Mix and hold for a few minutes. It's garlic time. It can be passed through a garlic press or finely chopped. Cook for another minute and pour into sterilized jars, roll up.
Dressing for first courses
It is difficult to give a recipe for a universal dressing. After all, every hostess is used to preparing soups according to her own recipe. Therefore, we will give a recipe suitable for many soups, and you can add or remove individual ingredients from it at your discretion. After all, no one forbids you to create your own unique author's masterpieces.
Soak beans (0.5 kg) for several hours to make them soft. Next, chop the carrots (1 kg), cut the pepper into cubes (1 kg), scroll the tomatoes (1.5 kg) in a blender, chop the cabbage (2 kg) in the usual way. We send everything (except beans) to a pan with 500 ml of oil, add salt (1.5 tablespoons), sugar (3 tablespoons), simmer for almost an hour. Boiled beans are added to the mixture, simmer for 10 minutes, add vinegar (150 g), simmer for 3 minutes. Now it remains to decompose everything into sterilized containers, roll up and put away for storage.
Dressing for meat
In addition to sliced blanks, you can also prepare a fragrant sauce for meat. It can be used in the cooking process or served separately. It will require a kilogram of plums, 3 cloves of garlic, a chili pod, cilantro and dill.
My plums and cut into small cubes, put in a saucepan, add 50 ml of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. We take out a colander, drain the water. Pass the plum through the same sieve. We don't need the pulp anymore. The resulting puree is sent back to the pan. Finely chop the chili pepper and send it to the pan, add salt and sugar to taste. Bring the contents to a boil. We send the mashed garlic, chopped greens, cook for a couple of minutes. The sauce is ready. You can pour it into jars.
Vegetable dressing for hodgepodge with mushrooms
The most difficult step will be the preparation of butter. They must be peeled and rinsed well with hot water. As a result, you should get 2 kilos of mushrooms. We cut them and let the water drain completely. Let's take care of carrots (2 kg): boil until tender, remove the peel, cut into cubes or circles.We clean the onion (1 kg), cut it and send it to the pan with oil, add chopped bell pepper (1 kg) there.
Fry until soft, add salt to taste, pour in 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste, stir. Next, add the mushrooms and simmer for about an hour. Remove from heat, add 100 ml of vinegar, add peppercorns. This completes the cooking, you can lay out in sterilized containers and roll up.
Tips for storage and use
The usual place for us to store blanks is a garage, loggia or cellar. But general tips for storing blanks are as follows.
- The best storage method is a temperature range of 5 to 20 degrees.
- It is not recommended to expose the blanks to sudden changes in temperature.
- If you are storing canned food at temperatures around or below zero, then do not fill the jars very tightly to the very neck. Remember that water tends to expand, and this is fraught with the fact that the banks will simply burst.
- Pickled blanks are best stored cool (8-10 degrees).
- Blanks in a transparent container must be stored in a dark place. Exposure to direct sunlight leads to the loss of some of the vitamins, and in some cases to spoilage.
- Do not forget to periodically inspect the blanks. Dispose of spoiled food immediately, do not risk your health.
- If using metal lids or storage containers, the room must be dry.
As for the use of blanks, everything is simple here. Use them to cook cabbage soup, borscht or other soups according to the author's recipe. In this regard, universal recipes are good, which are suitable for a large number of dishes. You can also experiment by adding different preparations to one dish. This will help to give an unusual taste to an already familiar recipe.
How to cook vegetable dressing for the winter, see the following video.