Harvest Monday - January 17, 2011

Yay, there was something different coming from the garden last week! The first harvest of mâche from the volunteer patch in the garden. This is mostly Golden Corn Salad (Valerianella eriocarpa) and a few rosettes of Gala mâche. That's not a big salad bowl full of greens, just an individual soup bowl, so I added a few handfuls of pea sprouts from the farmers market and dressed it all with some balsamico and extra virgin olive oil for a simple side salad.

The third head of Romanesco broccoli from the garden is the prettiest one yet. I managed to harvest it before it got too big, although some of the lowest florets on the stalk were starting to elongate and open up just a bit, those are the leafier ones bunched together on the right. I used the previous head of Romanesco in a pasta dish. The head was cut into bite sized pieces and braised in a couple of cups of turkey stock spiked with some fish sauce and garlic, then tossed with some seared sweet onions and sauteed chanterelle mushrooms (tis the season around here) a couple tablespoons of crème fraiche, a touch of truffle butter and pasta. And don't forget the parmigiano!

Last week I also used most of one Marina di Chioggia squash that I had harvested in the fall. Part of it was used to make Roasted Butternut Squash with Pancetta and Chiles - a recipe from the cookbook A16 by Nate Appleman. That cookbook is one of my husband's favorites, not that he actually cooks, no, not really, just about never, but he loves to peruse the pages and point and plead - ooh make that, please... Well, I have to admit, he's got a pretty good eye for a good recipe, so I usually humor him. And he was right about that recipe, it's delicious.

I used more of the squash to make Crusted Pumpkin Wedges with Soured Cream - a recipe from the cookbook Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.  The "crust" is grated parmigiano, bread crumbs, herbs and lemon zest. That dish turned out to be a winner also (I can pick 'em also honey!). That cookbook is a new one in my library and I think it's going to become a favorite. I had never even heard of it before last week when it mysteriously came in the mail. No note and no recognizable return address (I don't know anyone in South Bend, Indiana). And stranger yet, it's a British imprint that's not been adapted for American kitchens. Hmmm, where did it come from? It looks like a winner, whoever sent it knows what I like... It's full of recipes using fresh seasonal vegetables, mostly Mediterranean inspired but also some Asian and a few other inspirations from around the world - that pretty much describes my usual style of cooking. My husband had the mystery figured out in no time - "let me call my sister". Yup, my SIL, a resident of Toronto, had spied it in a list of Top 10 Cookbooks in the newspaper there, ordered it online and had it sent directly.  Thanks Judi! Oh, and the recipe for pear crostini with goat cheese was a hit also.

Yet one more dish that I made last week with some of that squash and some of the celery root that came from the garden last year was Roasted Winter Vegetables in Puff Pastry, a recipe from the San Franciso Chronicle (lots of great recipes there, not surprising considering what a foodie town SF is). That and a salad of spinach and roasted beets with slivered toasted almonds made a fabulous dinner.

Here's the totals for the past week:

Portuguese Dairyman's kale - 5.5 oz.
Golden Corn Salad - 1.25 oz.
Romanesco broccoli - 3 lb.

The total harvest for the week was - 3 lb., 7.25 oz.
The total for the year is - 6 lb., 6.25 oz.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting and cooking up  lately.