Spring vegetables are quickly disappearing from my garden. Here's one of the last harvests of Sweetie Baby romaine. These three heads were quickly followed by another 5 heads, and then finally by the last 6 heads. I stripped them all down to their hearts which should, I hope, keep well in the refrigerator for the next week to 10 days. I treated my husband to one of his favorite salads, a Caesar made with a grilled heart of romaine. So very simple, just cut a heart of romaine lettuce in half, leaving the core intact, lightly oil the cut side and place it on a hot grill or grill pan until it is lightly browned. Serve immediately with the cut side up. I like to serve it with the dressing and cheese on the side. And since I don't eat much bread anymore I substituted the usual croutons with some fried capers. More salads to come this week. There's some green coriander seeds in the basket also. I'm letting those dry. I think dried green coriander seed is much more flavorful than letting the seeds dry on the plants.
A snack sized harvest of Sugarsnax carrots.
Front and center is a funky looking Sugarsnax carrot that I harvested for a salad. I've been pulling the Sugarsnax as I want them, they are keeping fairly well in the garden for now so I'm not cleaning out the patch yet. The zucchini glut has arrived. The Romanesco zucchini (top) just keeps pumping out huge fruits. The Ortolano di Faenza zucchini is much more modest in size and quantity. It would be a good choice for someone who wants some zucchini but doesn't want to deal with a glut. The shiny cucumber on the bottom is the first Garden Oasis which went into a salad with the three legged carrot. And the fuzzy thing in the center is the first pollinated Tortarello Abruzzese cucumber.
It's much tastier than its appearance would leave you to believe. The fuzz washes off and leaves a nice smooth skin and it has a good sweet cucumber flavor.
There just a few small side shoots coming off of the Purple Peacock broccoli. The plants look like they could produce a number of side shoots but they are slow to produce. There's just a few of them on the left and the other shoots are from the Di Ciccio broccoli, which has been pretty slow in producing side shoots as well.
And here's the final main head of Di Ciccio broccoli. This last head is a doozy, weighing in at just over 2 pounds. I like my broccoli florets a bit on the loose side so this is larger than if I had harvested it with a tighter (more conventional) head, but it would have been a good sized head even harvested with a tight buds.
Look at it compared to the little bunch of side shoots.
And there's lots of good crunchy stems to eat. I love broccoli stems.
And then there was more zucchini and the first runty Japanese cucumber. I've been experimenting with making seasoned dried zucchini chips. I'm not yet happy with my first efforts but my husband has been happily crunching through them so I think I'm on to something. That Romanesco vine is certainly giving me lots of material to play around with!
I'm still busy getting through the vegetables in the refrigerator from the last week or so. The last of the spinach went into a crustless quiche (the recipe for which I finally put on my recipe blog). I've got some blanched rapini that I'm going to use in Beans and Greens tonight. And some of the last snap peas went into the grill basket with asparagus and zucchini. I didn't have to make dinner 4 nights this past week (girls night out, book club, and two birthday dinners - whew!) so the fridge is still bulging. I need to start eating veggies for breakfast too.
Here's the harvests for the past week:
Di Ciccio broccoli - 2 lb., 7.4 oz.
Purple Peacock broccoli - 1.7 oz.
Sugarsnax carrots - 9 oz.
Garden Oasis cucumber - 2.9 oz.
Tasty Green Japanese cucumber - 3 oz.
Tortarello Abruzzese cucumber - 10.6 oz.
Lorz Italian garlic - 1.3 oz.
Red Janice garlic - 1.3 oz.
Sweetie Baby romaine hearts - 8 lbs., 14 oz.
Ortolano di Faenza zucchini - 13.8 oz.
Romanesco zucchini - 3 lb., 7.6 oz.
The total harvests for the past week came to - 17 lb., 8.6 oz.
Which brings all the harvests for the year up to - 165 lb., 11.1 oz.
Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers from around the world have been harvesting lately.
That's a big head for Di Ciccio. Mine are going to be tiny, at least the first ones. The green coriander is a nice idea that I have to try. Have some coming in s week or two.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful harvests. If you find a good way to make zucchini chips let us know. Zucchini is always one of those things that come in abundance and is hard to get rid of.
ReplyDeleteInteresting looking cucumber. Nice harvest.
ReplyDeleteWOW! That's one large head of broccoli! and love the zucchini and carrots.
ReplyDeleteWow that is a gigantic broccoli! Looks like your garden is doing quite well! Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest, a head of broccoli weighing over 2 pounds, wow, that's huge.
ReplyDeleteThose carrots look sweet as sugar!!! And your broccoli is perfect! Ours (both of ours) are still itty bitty, no where near harvest ready! Enjoy those delicious veggies!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful harvest. The broccoli looks great, I'm jealous we won't have broccoli until fall because we got a late start at our new place. That cucumber looks interesting, I've been looking for a new variety I may have to give that one a try!!
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only one who likes broccoli stems. Fried capers sound tantalizing, any recipe? Btw, I saw you grew Spigariello broccoli. How long did it take them to mature? Mine were seeded 2 months ago and are nowhere near harvest size.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't really a recipe for fried capers, I just heat some oil (I like rice bran oil for frying) in a small pan until hot and drop in some capers and fry until they expand and nearly stop sizzling, then remove them from the oil and drain on paper towels. I use my home grown salted capers which must be soaked in water for a while to reduce the saltiness and then drained and squeezed dry. It's fun to fry them because they open up almost like they are blooming. I've not tried frying capers which have been bottled in vinegar so I don't know how those would turn out.
DeleteTwo months from seeding doesn't sound nearly long enough for Spigariello broccoli, I don't remember just how long it takes, but it is definitely slower than "regular" broccoli. I would give them at least another couple of months.
Like magic! Must and WILL try the capers! And I'll wait some more on the Spigariello, then. Thanks, Michelle.
DeleteHadn't thought about drying the coriander seeds while still green — excellent tip!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to hear about your experimenting with zucchini chips. I have dehydrated them, but found many of them to be bitter when dried. But getting them crispy is another issue. I've got to grow that Romanesco next year!
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