Most Recent Uses For Preserved Food

So the DIY movement has swept you up. You've stocked your freezer and cabinet shelves with zip-top bags and lined up your canning jars in size order. Perhaps you even feel like you missed a bit of the supposed laid-back nature of summer. Now what?!

Now the fun begins. Time to use the fabulous food you put away. The secret is to think of your bulging storage as fodder for main ingredients as well as condiments to help take the hum-drum out of everyday. At Essen, the items we put up in our classes show up year round on our menus. We looked back on menus from the past couple months, remembered a few goodies in the past year, and scribbled a list of how we've been using all the goodies we put away with you in our Classes.

In no particular order, we present our Most Recent Uses for Preserved Food (preserved item is noted in parentheses):

1. Chicken Live Pate with Pickled Cherries (Pickled Cherries)
   
2. Coffee-glazed Grilled Duck Breast with Coffee Cherry Sauce (Cherry Preserves)
3. Peach Pudding Cake (Frozen Peaches)
4. Hand Pies (Assorted Preserves)
5. Turkey Shwarma with the Works (Pickled Eggplant)
6. Homemade Plum Soft Drink (No-cook Plum Syrup)
7. Bulgur Salad with Green Beans and Chick Peas (Pickled Onions)
8. Black Raspberry Margarita (Black Raspberry Shrub)
9. Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake (Frozen Shredded Zucchini)
10. Butternut Squash Risotto (Orange Mostarda)
11. Roasted Figs with Thyme and Honey (Frozen Figs)
12. Grilled Pork Chops with Rhubarb Chutney (Frozen Rhubarb)
13. Green Chile (Roasted Tomatillo Salsa)
    
14. Pasta with Oven-dried Tomato Pesto (Oven-dried Tomatoes)
    
15. Pistachio Coriander Mahi Mahi with Preserved Lemon Yogurt Cream (Preserved Lemons)
    
16. Potato Salad (Preserved Lemons)
    
17. Poached Halibut with Lentils and Fennel Salad (Preserved Lemons)

It's exciting to note that at least half of these items were taught in Classes within the past two months, including on of our all-stars, preserved lemons. Preserved in the gray of winter, their briny, deep flavor adds a bit of oomph to summer's plant-based bounty and reminds us that food preservation and use of said ingredients is a year-round event, not to be saved for the dregs of winter.

So, tell us, how do you use your preserved foods and what's your favorite?