Drying Fall Produce

You often think of drying early and mid-summer vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes and beans.

The dehydrator is a work horse that can continue into the fall.

Here are some things we dry in the fall...

Eggplant Dirty Rice

Here is an interesting twist on an old favorite.

Dried Eggplant with an Attitude - Moussaka (eggplant casserole)

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Moussaka

 This is an eggplant casserole. Note both eggplant and bell peppers are dried and need to be rehydrated. You can use fresh bell peppers if you have them.

     2 tablespoons dried bell pepper pieces, ¼-inch thick
    3 tablespoons water
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    1 cup onion, chopped fine
    1 tablespoon garlic
    1 pound ground meat, lamb or beef
    2 tablespoons dried parsley, crushed
    ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
    ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
    ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
    3 cups canned tomatoes
    3 cups water
    24 2 by 7-inch dried eggplant slices
    2 cups ricotta cheese
    3 egg whites, beaten
    ½ cup Parmesan cheese

Dried Eggplant With an Attitude - Simple Lasagna

Dried eggplant can be used in almost any way that fresh eggplant can be used. This recipe is a low carb version of lasagna using dried eggplant instead of pasta noodles. We dehydrated several bushels of eggplant last fall and so have lots of dried eggplant for sale at winter market. Enjoy one of the tastes of summer with dried eggplant.

Ingredients:

- two bags dried eggplant (about 3 fresh eggplant)
- 2 large red bell peppers
- tablespoon oregano
- tablespoon thyme
- fresh pepper to taste
- 1 large onion chopped
- two shallots chopped (or one head of garlic)
- 5 cups (36 oz) marinara sauce
- 16 oz ricotta
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley

How to rehydrate eggplant

Eggplant is very crispy when dried and it keeps very well.

It can be easily rehydrated by putting in a bowl and pouring boiling water over the pieces. Put a plate or bowl over the top of the pieces to help keep them submerged in the hot water. Let the eggplant pieces soak up the liquid for 30 to 60 minutes until desired consistency is reached.

If you are using it for lasagna you can soak 30 minutes, as it will continue to soak up the liquid from the lasagna sauce, and this is desireable.

If you are using it for a dip and are going to cut into small pieces, soak for more like an hours.

If you are adding it to soup which will cook for a while. You probably wouldn't need to rehydrate at all just cut up pieces to the size you need and then add to the soup liquid for the required time.

The dried eggplant will be more intensely flavored and concentrated.

Dryhydrate Everything

We have a row about 300 feet long of very large Jalapenos, that are the source of a bushel of Jalapeno peppers in the dehydrator this evening. We had two bushels at the market this week. We sold one and I am drying the other. It takes about 30 trays in my dehydrator for that many peppers. It will take about 24 hours to dry the peppers to a pliable consistency and 36 hours completely dry. If you are going to smoke them, the pliable consistency is best. If you are going to store them long term completely dry them and put them in the freezer. If  you want to try your hand at drying, stop by our stand.

We have a lot of Jalapenos but the real gems are the Poblanos or Ancho's as they are sometimes called. We have two rows 300 feet long of beautiful dark green peppers. Poblanos are quite a bit larger than Jalapenos and don't fit as well into the dehydrator. But the medium and small ones can fit in the trays. They dry beautifully and smoke even better.

I had a few extra trays so I loaded up a few hundred serranos with the Jalapenos. They are hotter so a little goes along way. They have a unique flavor, which is different than the other two.

Tomorrow night I'm thinking that I will load up some Roma tomatoes. They have much more moisture in them so they take a little longer to dry. You can also smoke the Romas and the will dance in your tomato dishes.

You can dehydrate just about everything:

- Green beans, for winter soup
- Watermelon, like cotton candy
- Herbs, pretty much anything
- Sweet Corn, makes ooh soo sweet corn meal
- Egg Plant, really reconstitutes well for late winter lasagna