On the beds you can often find cute flattened and ribbed plates under large leaves. This is the scallops. They are used in decorating, but they are of little popularity in our kitchen, and this is far from being deserved. This vegetable came to Europe from America when Columbus discovered it, and in French, the squash means “pie”.
Did you know? One cup of squash contains 38 calories, 43% of the daily intake of vitamin C, 13% folic acid, 5 g of fiber, as well as a significant amount of vitamin B6, magnesium, potassium and vitamin A.
Squashes are the “relatives” of zucchini, pumpkin, melon, cucumbers, and they can be cooked in many different ways: stew, bake, grill, canned, pickled, etc. Small fresh fruits are stored for a short time, and ripe fruits can be stored for a long time at a temperature of about 0 ° C.
Dried dried squash
Among the variety of ways that can be made from squash, in particular, and prepare for the winter, there is such a way that allows you to save a maximum of useful substances. This is drying squash. You can dry the squash in the country and even in the apartment. Electric drying is also useful, which will make this process quick and not so laborious.
Where to dry:
- in the sun;
- in the oven;
- in the electric drier.
This procedure is similar to drying zucchini. We select the fruits, mine, on the sides we cut off the edges and the stalk. Cut into rings of average thickness - up to 2-3 cm. Both young fruits and medium size will be suitable for drying. Mature fruits can also be dried out, but there will be hard seeds in such scallops, and they must be removed.
Did you know? “Puplyat” is the name for young squash fruits.
Squash rings lay out in one layer on the parchment, baking sheet or container from the electric drying. If you decide to dry the squash in the sun, then you need to monitor the uniformity of drying “chips”, turning them over. In the oven, the process itself will take 6-8 hours. Dry at 50 ° C and with the oven door open. Approximately so much time will take the process and when using electric.
The resulting chips should be stored in fabric bags that were previously washed in saline. This will prevent the appearance of moths and other bugs.
Frozen Squash
If you decide to try to prepare the scallops for the winter, but do not want to mess with the cans, cooking and seaming, try to freeze the scallops. Squash can be stored frozen for up to 10 months
Minimal processing will save you not only time and nerves, but also ensure the maximum content of nutrients in the pumpkins. Small fruits are suitable for freezing. They are thoroughly washed, cut around the edges by 1-2 cm. You can freeze whole fruits or cut into rings. Before freezing, vegetables blanch about 4-6 minutes.
Then problanshirovannye pumpkins immersed in ice water. Such a contrast does not allow the pulp to disintegrate. Before spreading the patsons into packs, they should be dried on a towel or paper. Peacoats can be frozen, laid out on a board or pallet in a single layer in case we freeze the whole ones, or using zip-packages for squids cut into rings. Frozen squash can be stored for up to 10 months, i.e. it will be enough for the next harvest.
Salty squash
Surely you at least once in your life something salted, well, for example, cucumbers, then you can easily pickle the scallops and scallops. The whole essence of the process is the preparation of the pickle and the squash. You can pickle the scallops themselves or add more vegetables to them, which will allow you to enjoy the taste of pickles. Salty squash for the winter can be done both in barrels and in cans, the latter fact will be very happy for those who would like to make salty squash in their apartment.
For salting we select young, medium-sized and unripe fruits. They are carefully washed, cut off at the edges. Toothpick pierce the fruit in several places. Next, put in jars. When salting the squash, you can add, in addition to the base bay leaf, a pair of black peppercorns, garlic, currant leaves, cherries, celery, horseradish (both roots and leaves), dill, parsley. For a more pronounced acidity, you can add a little citric acid to the jars.
Small cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet peppers will look great in jars of scallops. Decide for yourself, and let your imagination be inexhaustible. In the banks or other container we put the squash in rows, tightly pressing them together. We shift the fruits with greens and add spices. Next, pour all the brine. Cooking brine based on 1 liter of water 2 tbsp. tablespoons of salt, 1 tsp of citric acid. Someone adds vinegar instead of citric acid.
Brine boil, give cool and only then they pour the scallops. If you decide to salt in a large container (an enamel pan will do), then before pouring the vegetables in the brine, they are covered with oppression (something heavy must be taken: dumbbells, weights, even a bucket of water will fit) and then the brine is poured.
If you are salting the scallops in the jars, then pickle a new one every day. In this case, vegetables should always be covered with brine on top. Already in about a week you will get salted squash, ready to eat. Now you can cover the jars and put them in a cool place.
Pickled Squash Recipes
When the question arises how to diversify the dishes from the squash for the winter, among the options for preparing the squash, success is such a method as marinating. Squashes can be pickled solely by yourself, without adding other ingredients or experimenting and adding different vegetables, and we can make assorted or different spicy herbs to shade the taste.
Well, it depends on the marinade the taste of pickled scallops for the winter. For marinade there is a mandatory basic set of ingredients. - salt, sugar. Vinegar can be added to taste and desire. As for spices, then already, apart from standard parsley, dill, celery, horseradish, onion, garlic, pepper, you can add mustard seeds, cloves, cinnamon, mint, tarragon and so on.
Pickled Squash
Having marinated the scallops, you will never be disappointed, and with pleasure will open the next jar.
In order to pickle the scallops, we need the following ingredients per liter jar:
- whole scallops - 500 g;
- marinade - 400 g;
- horseradish leaves - 2 g;
- dill - 50 g;
- celery leaves and parsley - 4 g;
- chilli red hot pepper - 1 piece;
- bay leaf - 1 pc .;
- garlic - 1 clove.
- 1 l of water;
- 3 tbsp. l salts;
- 2 tbsp. l Sahara;
- 1 tsp vinegar.
My little patissons, cut, dry and blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes. After remove and lower in cold water with ice. By the way, the squash can be made and pickled in slices in the case when you have large enough fruit.
Cooking marinade:
Boil 1 liter of water, add salt, sugar, pepper. Possible spices in the jar are cinnamon, cloves, fragrant and black bitter pepper, garlic, horseradish, greens or parsley roots, celery. Pour in vinegar and remove from heat. Prepare greens: my, chop. Do not forget about the spices. In the washed sterilized jars on the bottom lay out the spices, herbs. Put the patties together tightly. Fill with hot marinade, cover with lids and sterilize. After roll up and set to cool.
Important! Try to marinate the scallops cool as quickly as possible, because during long-term cooling, they lose their taste, the flesh becomes flabby, soft.
Store pickled squash at room temperature. It can be eaten in two months. But remember, the longer the scallops insist in the banks, the tastier they are.
Marinated Vegetable Platter
When marinating patties, you can experiment by preparing a vegetable platter with a variety of vegetables from your garden. In assorted, you can put carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli to patties. You can add garlic, horseradish root, celery, parsley, dill, parsley, bay leaf, pepper in peas, cloves to the jar of spices.
For the marinade take water, salt, sugar and vinegar. Here are the proportions per liter jar: ½ patisson, 1 onion, 4 cloves of garlic, ½ carrot, 1 large thick-walled sweet pepper, 5-7 small cucumbers, 5-7 cherry tomatoes, 1 young zucchini, 10 black peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, 3 buds of carnation, 2 tbsp. l salt, 4 tbsp. l sugar ½ cup 5% vinegar
We wash out all the vegetables, cut them in the way we like: something in slices, something in circles, something in straws. Put greens, spices, salt, and sugar on the bottom of the jar. Then come all the vegetables. They can be laid out in layers or mix everything. Pour all the boiling water, put sterilized. Close the lid and put to cool.
Marinated squash with mint
In order to pickle the squash with mint, you need to prepare everything, as for pickled squash. But in a mixture of greens add a couple of sprigs of mint. Mint will give a special pleasant taste to pickled scallops.
Did you know? Squash seeds contain a lot of lecithin (430 mg), as much as in chicken eggs.
For marinating, you can take young small fruits or cut large ones. Take the whole fruit for pickling - they look on the plate more aesthetically. We wash well, cut around the edges and blanch for 5-8 minutes. We take out from boiling water, we spread on paper towel. Tightly laid in sterilized jars, putting greens, spices, mint on the bottom. Greens and spices will suit all those that you usually use for seaming and pickling. Fill the jars with marinade, which is boiled and cooled to 80 ° С.
For the marinade, take 1 liter of water, 10 g of salt and 1/2 tsp. acetic acid 70%. After that we cover the nylon covers and ship to a dry dark place. After 2-3 weeks, the squash can be eaten.
Canned Squash Recipes
Among the possible options for blanks canning squash for the winter is very popular.
In order to correctly and qualitatively pumping the winter squash for the winter, there are a few rules that must be fulfilled:
- wash each fruit thoroughly;
- peel patches are not necessary to peel;
- dry the fruit on a towel or paper towel after washing;
- cut each fruit from both sides;
- blanch the squash before putting it into jars for 5-7 minutes and then put it in ice water;
- then blot again with a paper towel or cloth.
Canned Squash
Excellent snack and nutritious decoration for your table - all this canned scallops. Cooking squash, put spices on the bottom of the jar, garlic, you can add greens if you wish (for example, horseradish will add spice). We put the scallops in sterilized jars. Pour sugar, salt, pour in vinegar and add boiling water. Roll up, turn over, let cool and send on the shelf. Per liter jar number of patissons - about 800 g.
For marinade (for 1 liter of water):
- sugar - 1 tbsp. spoon;
- salt - 1 tbsp. spoon with a hill;
- dried Badian - 2 colors;
- white pepper - 10 peas;
- cumin seeds - 0.5 tsp;
- 3-4 bay leaves;
- garlic - 3-4 cloves;
- Vinegar 70% - 1.5 tbsp. l
Canned squash and zucchini
When canning these vegetables, pay attention to the fill and spices that you add to the jars. Determine the proportion of squash and squash to one jar yourself: you can put everything in a jar in equal shares, you can give preference to something.
Per liter jar
- 4 tbsp. l 5% vinegar;
- 1 onion head;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- on 3 pieces black peppercorns and clove buds;
- 1 bay leaf;
- fresh herbs (dill, tarragon, basil, horseradish, parsley and celery).
To fill: 1 liter of water - 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Vinegar is poured into the bottom of the jar, we add spices and herbs. We put together tightly scallops and squash, which we have previously prepared and problanchili. Fill with pouring and sterilize for about 5 minutes. Remove, roll and set, turning, cool.
Canned squash and cucumbers
This kind of canned squash is similar to all the others, only the main ingredients here are squash and cucumber. You can use the previous recipe or preserve this platter as canned cucumbers. For seaming, it is better to select fruits of medium size and ripeness, then they will be crisp and dense. Remember that the squash we are blanching.
Squash Caviar
Among other things, from the squash it turns out excellent caviar with mushroom notes.
The basic set of ingredients for its preparation is as follows:
- squash - 3 kg;
- onion - 1 kg;
- carrots - 1 kg;
- tomatoes - 2 kg;
- vegetable oil - 250 ml;
- salt - 2 tbsp. l .;
- sugar - 4 tbsp. l .;
- vinegar / apple vinegar - 2 tbsp. l .;
- celery root;
- garlic;
- parsley root;
- parsley, greens.
Additionally, put another tomato paste (if few tomatoes) in the caviar for rich color and taste.
Caviar is prepared from the squash as well as squash or aubergine. For the caviar will fit both young fruits and mature enough. If we take young squatters, then they will be enough to wash and cut from both sides. If you have ripe fruits or there are scales on the peel, then these patissons should be cleaned, and the seeds inside should be removed if they are large.
Cut cubes of scallops and send to stew in a pot or cauldron, after adding vegetable oil there. Keep on fire for about one hour until the juice is gone. Meanwhile, we cut carrots, onions, celery root and tomatoes. You can either a straw, or cut into cubes or grate carrots. To the squash we send then onions and carrots. Simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally. This procedure takes about 10-15 minutes.
Then add tomatoes in a container with stewed vegetables and still keep on fire for 10-15 minutes. Next, we remove the vegetables from the heat and grind the mass with a blender or use a combine. In the puree, add salt, sugar and vinegar and bring to readiness on low heat for 30 minutes. Do not forget to stir. After cooking the caviar, place it in cans that have been pre-washed and sterilized, rolled up and set to cool.
Squash Salad Recipes
Among the variety of possible preparations, you can make a lettuce of squash for the winter. In winter, when there is an acute shortage of vitamins, bright and tasty squash salads will not only save you time, but also give you warm memories of summer. Cooking salads with the squash is not difficult. They can add all the vegetables that you like, well, a little mushroom aftertaste from the squash will give a highlight to any variations. Salad with peppers and tomatoes looks especially beautiful in banks, and vegetable platter looks like colorful fireworks. Here are some proven recipes from the squash.
And remember, when preparing salads, we sterilize the jars: you can simply pour boiling water or stand jars with salads for 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the size of the jar) in boiling water.
To fill for 1 liter of water must be taken:
- 50 g of 9% vinegar (you can eat less or more to your taste);
- 3 g of citric acid;
- 50 grams of sugar;
- 5 g of salt.
We will put spices and greens in all salads in jars: bay leaves, black pepper and allspice in peas, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, cherry leaves and currants, horseradish, both leaves and root, celery, parsley, dill, but without umbrellas.
Salad of squash with sweet peppers and tomatoes
You will be able to please your guests and loved ones with an unusual salad with squash, pepper and tomatoes. To make this salad, we need: 2 kg of patissons, 1 kg of sweet pepper, 1 kg of tomatoes, 50 g of garlic, spices, greens, vinegar 9%.
All wash, dry on a towel. Squashes and pepper cut into cubes or straws, you can grate for Korean carrot. Cut the tomatoes into rings or you can take small cherries and roll them whole in a salad. Garlic skip through the press. All mix and give stand 1-2.5 hours. Or we do not mix and then we will lay our vegetables in layers in a jar. Then add salt, slightly sprinkle with sunflower oil. Put the spices in sterilized jars, then vegetables.
Vinegar added to each jar for 1 tsp. vinegar, pour the salad with hot pickle. We put to sterilize: 0.5-liter - 25 minutes, 1-liter - 30 minutes. Roll up, let cool and put on a shelf in a dark, cool place.
Squash Salad with Garlic and Dill
Such a salad is an ideal appetizer and an alternative to rolled zucchini or cucumber. For the preparation we need: 1 kg of patissons, 0.5 heads of garlic, 25 grams of salt, 25 grams of sugar, 25 grams of vegetable oil, 25 grams of 9% vinegar, 1/2 of a bunch of dill and parsley.
Wash and clean the scallops. Cut them into cubes. Parsley and dill wash and finely chop. Cut the garlic into thin slices or pass through a press. To the squash add greens and garlic, mix. There also add salt, sugar, vegetable oil, vinegar. Stir and let stand for 2.5 hours. Place them tightly on sterilized jars and put them on for 15 minutes (if we cook in half-liter jars) to be sterilized.
Roll up and set to cool.
Vegetable platter with squash
Для салата-ассорти отберите самые маленькие плоды, чтобы они поместились в банку. Такой нюанс придаст эстетичности вашей закатке даже на полке. You can put whole vegetables in the jars or cut them all. We take the necessary vegetables, that is, all the ones you love, plus the squash, greens and spices.
Ingredients per liter jar: ½ patisson, 1 onion, 4 cloves of garlic, ½ carrots, 1 large thick-walled sweet pepper, 5-7 small cucumbers, 5-7 cherry tomatoes, 1 young zucchini, black pepper in peas, 1 bitter paprika, 2 bay leaves, 3 Buds cloves, dill, parsley, cilantro, celery, 2 tbsp. l salt, 4 tbsp. l sugar, 5 tbsp. l vegetable oil, ½ cup of 5% vinegar.
Squash cut slices, carrots - rings, zucchini - diced, pepper and onion can be half rings or rings. Also, the scallops and carrots can be grated on a Korean carrot grater. Garlic is passed through the press, finely chop the greens. All vegetables are mixed, add spices, herbs, salt, pepper, sugar, oil, vinegar.
You can leave to stand for a couple of hours, and you can immediately decompose into banks. Tightly lay on the banks and sterilize 20 minutes from the moment of boiling. If desired, you can add broccoli or cauliflower to this salad.
Squash and cherry plums
There is one more unusual way how to prepare patissons for the winter. - it is cooking compote. Compote can be cooked in the season of vegetables, and you can boil and roll up for the winter to enjoy a healthy drink and surprise households and guests.
Important! Select for compote only small patissons, with a clean skin without stains. Peel on the fruit should have a smooth light green color.
To prepare the compote, you need to take 1 kg of patissons, 1 kg of cherry plum, sugar and cloves (you can add your favorite spices - cinnamon, vanilla, star anise), this will diversify the taste of compote and give it unique aromatic shades.
Before proceeding to the workpiece, sterilize the jars and lids. Now you can wash the cherry plum and the squash, trim the cob and the tail of the squash. After washing plum and patissons dry a little, then put into jars. First, take the squash and put them on the bottom of the jar. Top lay plum. There are no special remarks on the proportions, just fill the jar with the scallops to the middle, and fill it with two thirds of cherry plum on top. Also add spices.
Fall asleep all this with two cups of sugar, pour boiling water. There are options when the contents of the jar are filled with syrup, which is also appropriate. Fill the jar to the lid itself. Next, we put the banks on sterilization for about 20 minutes. Then we roll up the cans, turn them over, put them in a warm place, wrap them up. When they cool down, take out the cellar or set in a dark, cool place.
Squash jam
It may be that many will be surprised by the fact that even the winter jam can be prepared from the squash, although they can be savored the whole year. It looks good in the form of confiture or jam. In order to prepare the jam, take the scallops and sugar in a ratio of 1: 1.
But before that, prepare the vegetables themselves:
- cut the scallops;
- remove the peel and seeds;
- cut the squash into cubes. You can use a special cutting or combine. Cubes must be large;
- soak in cold water up to 5 hours;
- drain the liquid using a colander;
- skip soaked scallops through the meat grinder. Blender also cope with this task.
With the preparation of the squash finished. Now we cook the syrup: we take sugar and water in a ratio of 1: 1/2, i.e., we pour 1 kg of sugar with half a liter of water. Bring to a boil, pour out a lot of squash and cook, stirring until cooked. This is another 40 minutes. The readiness of the jam can be checked by dropping it on a saucer: it has not spread, which means it is ready.
Important! It is necessary to remove the foam on top of the jam, as it may adversely affect its taste.
Put jams in prepared jars and put them in the fridge after cooling.
If you want to add citrus notes to the squash jam, you can add the juice of one orange to the boiling mass and boil it all together for 15 minutes. And if you add lemon pulp, you will not only make the taste of the jam expressive, but also extend its shelf life.
Squash - not only beautiful, but still very tasty vegetable. It is very useful and, in fact, is a versatile vegetable that can be cooked in various ways. Squash fits perfectly into the everyday menu and looks good on a festive table. Include it in your diet and enjoy a delicious variety of dishes every day.
