It was time to pull most of the Burpee's Golden Beets this week because they were on the verge of bolting. These were roasted and have been featured in a couple of salads this week. I still have one of them left in the refrigerator, it will probably go into another salad. We've had a few large salads in the past week because the lettuce is also on the verge of bolting. Last night I used most of one head of butterhead in a Roman pasta dish that features fava beans, pancetta and shreds of the heart of the lettuce. It was really good, I'd never tried cooked lettuce before. The book that that recipe came from (Cooking the Roman Way by David Downie) also has a recipe for stuffed lettuce, like stuffed artichokes, that I want to try (there's more butterhead lettuce that needs to be picked).
The fava harvest is continuing in a big way. Saturday I picked 25 pounds of beans, with my husband in the garden to catch the beans again. This time he helped with the shucking and peeling, all the way to the bitter end. Sunday morning we started pulling cookbooks off the shelf in search of recipes to use up some of the four and a half pounds of peeled beans that we netted. There's a few recipes for spring vegetable stews that I may try, but that requires a trip to the farmers market for peas and artichokes.
Here's the harvest totals for the week:
Burpee's Golden beets - 3 lb., 2 oz.
Piracicaba Broccoli - 6.25 oz.
Fava beans - 25 lb.
Green Garlic - 10.75 oz.
Butterhead lettuce - 1 lb., 8 oz.
Cimmaron lettuce - 5.5 oz. (there was more but I forgot to weigh it)
Noga lettuce - 2 oz. (there was more that I forgot to weigh)
Even' Star Rapa - 14.5 oz.
Strawberries - 11.25 oz.
The total for the week was - 32 lb., 12.25 oz.
The total for the year has been - 144 lb., 13.75 oz.
8 eggs this week (the girls haven't been lazy, I only collected on 2 days)
There are more harvests to ogle and inspire on Daphne's Dandelions, the home of Harvest Monday. See you there!
Have you ever grown cannellini beans? I'm looking for a seed supplier.
ReplyDeleteThat is one huge harvest for the week. And you got strawberries too! I so want to have strawberries back in my garden.
ReplyDeleteThose are lovely. I like the idea of roasting ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteThat's an abundant spring harvest! I am also looking for new ways to eat my fava harvest. I am actually quite fond of fava bean and citrus salads with fresh herbs. I'll try your pasta sauce recommendation!
ReplyDeleteIsn’t it interesting how harvests determine what you will eat following days... I have harvested so much chard, and I would like to eat some beans. Who cares, I have a full fridge of chard, so that is what will be. :)
ReplyDeleteYou did have a large harvest!
That is really a nice haul of veggies and fruit, and such a diverse mix. It sounds like the fava beans are really keeping you busy!
ReplyDeletemaybelline, I haven't actually tried growing canellini before, they aren't one of my favorites, too waxy for my taste. Try Gourmet Seed International or Seeds From Italy, they both carry a lot of Italian seeds, there's some links on my sidebar.
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Daphne, Yes, strawberries! They are doing much better than expected. I bought a couple of 6-packs of plants on a whim a couple of months ago and plunked them in the ground and whoopee!, they are producing. I'm envious of your raspberries, my plants are gnawed by critters and hardly produce, I need to start some new plants in a different location.
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Stefaneener, Roasting the beets ahead of time works really well, they keep quite well in the fridge.
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Angela, I also ran across a Greek recipe that calls for deep frying whole immature fava pods - everything is good fried, I've gotta try it. I can copy the pasta recipe and email it to you if you like, there's more to it than the cursory description in my post.
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villager, The favas a rather a chore, but my husband and I both love them so we do it. I'll probably let much of the rest of the beans mature and dry, then it will be a different chore to shell those.
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vrtlarica, So true, but our diet doesn't get monotonous since the harvest keeps changing, thank goodness. The veggies are rolling in . . .
Those golden beets look REALLY tasty. Mine are growing at a snail's pace for some reason. I think the best beet I've had was a golden one. I hope you enjoy these!
ReplyDeleteI've heard mention of cooked lettuce before but have never tried it. Sounds interesting. I love golden beets. Easy to work with and mild flavoured.
ReplyDeleteAnother big harvest! Nice yellow beets, were they overwintered or you grow them this year?
ReplyDeleteDon't know is it my imagination or what, it seems yellow beets germinates slower than red beets.
I love fava beans, it's the shelling part I don't like. I've peeled dried favas before and I don't want to do it again.
Ottawa Gardener, The golden beets are my favorite, they taste great.
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Thomas, the golden beets do seem to get off to a slow start but they will size up soon enough. They are the best in my opinion, so worth the wait.
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mac, I started the beets indoors in paper pots back in January. All of the overwintered beets bolted a couple of months ago. I don't think it's your imagination, I've found that the golden beets are the slowest and most difficult to get to germinate.
You had a nice harvest week. The beets are looking great and that Roman pasta dish really sounds yummy. We are always looking for different ways to use our fava beans so I will keep that in mind. 25 lbs is a lot of beans to be shucked.:)
ReplyDelete25 lb of beans! How many plants do you have? And how do you manage to eat them all? I love broad beans (favas), but 127 gm (about 8 oz, I should think)(without pods) made a good pasta dish for two of us.
ReplyDeleteYour lettuce recipe reminded me of a dish I had in Tarragonna (in Catalunya, Spain), which was lettuce hearts with Romanesco sauce - paprika and ground almonds - it was delicious.
Mr. H., Thank goodness I had help with the shucking again, 25 lb was a lot to get through.
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chaiselongue, We don't eat all the favas at once, I freeze much of the peeled beans in 8 oz. portions and use them through the rest of the year. I don't remember exactly how many plants I have, probably about 30 producing now and a second sowing of about 24 plants that are just starting to produce mature beans. I think I'll let the beans from the second sowing dry.
Lettuce hearts with Romanesco (Romesco?) sounds great, I love that sauce.
I admire you for your successful harvests! I'm in awe!
ReplyDeleteChandramouli S, Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteI need to try the golden beets. They look beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe harvests are really starting to add up! How many sqf do you grow?
ReplyDeleteNo harvest for me yet, but I thought I'd let you know that the snow peas are blooming. So far so good.
ReplyDeletekitsapFG, beautiful and tasty too.
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Dan, the four beds in the veggie garden total about 400 square feet.
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Susan, I knew you could grow them. :)
Wow what a fantastic harvest Michelle! If we get enough Broad beans this year I shall try freezing them (for the first time), last year we managed to keep up with them! I made a lettuce soup last year after we were given loads of them, but it wasn't worth saving the recipe :-(
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to read about a spring harvest...helps me plan (as we are in autumn here in Oz). :)
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