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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Early November Harvest

It was a gorgeous day today. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the valley view from above the garden. You can't really see it in the photo, but at the lowest point on the horizon, ten miles away, is the Pacific Ocean. Just an itsy, bitsy, little sliver of an ocean view.


We had rain (at last!) this past weekend, just enough to clean things off and get the soil a little damp. It's the first significant amount of rain that we've had since last March, or was that February... it's been a long time.

Another Basket of Tomtoes

I picked another basket of late season tomatoes. We enjoyed a delicous tomato, mozzarella and basil salad last night - in November - hard to believe. We weren't eating tomatoes from the garden at this time last year. A number of the ones I picked today were cracked from the rain we had - gonna have to use them ASAP.

Cavolo Nero, Rugosa Friulana Squash, & Basil

I'm making soup for dinner tonight. The vegetables shown above, along with other ingredients on hand are going into it.

Vegetable Soup with Cranberry Beans and Italian Sausage

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 leek, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 large leaves Cavolo Nero, stems removed, coarsely chopped
8 ounces chard stems, sliced thin
8 ounces summer squash, diced
3 cups poultry broth
3 cups water
10 ounces fully cooked spicy Italian Sausage (Framani), sliced thin
1 pound tomatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups cooked cranberry beans with their cooking liquid
chopped basil
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion, leek, and garlic and sweat them a few minutes to soften. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Taste for salt. Add chopped basil just before serving.
Makes a big pot!

3 comments:

  1. What absolutely wonderful spot to have a kitchen garden, what a view! You got yourself a really nice november harvest, it is about the same stuff that I got left in my potager. Thank you for sharing, have a great day / Tyra xoxo

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  2. The Cavolo Nero really caught my eye! I see it is a type of kale. Where do you buy your seeds? Ah, I see you also have the Chioggia beet. I simply love that beet and am putting some into my garden today. My favorite lettuce mix is from Pinetree Seeds. I am gardening in the desert of Arizona, it is our best time of the year due to our mild winters. I found your blog while doing a search on Google because gophers are attacking my garden. Great blog!

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  3. Mrs. A. - I got the seeds of this particular strain of Cavolo Nero (Braschetta) from an Italian seed saver who is listed in the Seed Savers Exchange annual yearbook. I've also purchased Cavolo Nero seeds from Seeds From Italy (growitalian.com). The two strains are very similar.

    Did you figure out how to deal with your gophers? I use small cinch traps, the best trap I've tried so far.

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