On Monday I picked the last of the leeks, bringing the total up to 5.01kg. Only trouble is, that’s far too much of any single vegetable to eat before it starts to go off, so some kind of preservation was in order.
Blanching was called for.
In theory, it’s very easy. You dig out your two largest pans and half-fill one with water. Put this on the stove to boil while you clean and chop your veg, and then get ready for some speedy action.
The key to successful blanching is to have everything ready in advance so that you can create a kind of one-person production line. You throw the first batch of vegetables into the pan and return it to the boil for two minutes, then you strain the water through a sieve into the second pan. Put this back on the heat to get up to boiling point again as you empty the sieve of vegetables into a bowl of freezing cold water to stop them cooking any further.
Make sure they’re properly cold, strain them from the bowl (you’ll need to replace this cold water anyhow as it will now be tepid), bag them, tie the tops and throw them in the freezer.
Now repeat the process with the next batch of veg. It’s a tiring, messy process, and by the end of the evening – it took almost two and a half hours – the kitchen floor was wet with spilled water and the worktops dripping where I’d been doing the bagging. I had leeks on my jeans and t-shirt, and my socks were sopping.
Still, with ten bags of freshly chopped leek now in the freezer they’re perfectly portioned out for two-person serving.
I’ll certainly do it again next year, but I don’t relish the thought.
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