The beans produced twice last week. Yesterday I tried something a little different with the Royal Burgundy beans, rather than cooking them and losing that velvety purple I used my Benriner slicer to thinly slice a few of them on the diagonal and then I added them to a salad with the butterhead lettuce, some shaved fennel, toasted slivered almonds, and bacon. That was tasty and the flashes of purple from the beans was quite pretty and the crunch of the raw beans was good too. The baby Portuguese kale also went into a salad with bacon and sunflower seeds and something else which I've forgotten - I have to take better notes - but I remember it was tasty also. (Psst, look, the rats aren't destroying the strawberries).
Speedy Arugula is living up to its name. One day it's little wispy leaves and the next it's a forest. I used the most mature leaves from this bunch to make Arugula Pesto (I use my basil pesto recipe with modifications) which was a delicious compliment to pan roasted local King Salmon and butter steamed snap beans.
I haven't gotten around to using the baby Tokyo Bekana napa cabbage, Ruby Streaks mizuna, and Purple pac choi. I think I'll do a quick saute with the Tokyo Bekana tonight and the other greens (purples?) are destined for a lunch salad today.
Other harvests included a few more capers (the production is quickly dwindling now) and a big Red Candy Apple sweet onion which went into a grill basket stir fry with the last of the asparagus from the farmers market and of course a bunch of zucchini.
Here's the harvests for the past week:
Speedy Arugula - 12.6 oz.
Royal Burgundy beans - 9.7 oz.
Slenderette beans - 1 lb., 4.7 oz.
Tokyo Bekana napa cabbage - 15.4 oz.
Capers - 3.4 oz.
Baby Portuguese kale - 3.7 oz.
Kagraner Sommer butterhead lettuce - 9 oz.
Ruby Streaks mizuna - 2.5 oz.
Red Candy Apple onion - 13.2 oz.
Purple pac choi - 3.5 oz.
Romanesco zucchini - 5 lb., 11 oz.
San Pasquale zucchini - 3.5 oz.
Zucchini blossoms - 6.1 oz.
The total harvests for the past week were - 12 lb., 2.3 oz. (4.8 kg)
Which brings the total harvests for 2014 up to - 316 lb., 8.5 oz. (143.6 kg)
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 lately.
That basket with the strawberries, beans & kale - just beautiful. I had never really considered using the Portuguese kale (or any flat leaf kale) in a salad - For some reason, I had it in my mind that it had to be curly kale. I think I will give this a try for lunch today.
ReplyDeleteThat basket with berries and beans and kale is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Margaret that basket with the berries is beautiful. I just love the colors. I hear you can keep the purple color with an acid too though I've never tried it. Have you tried sauteing them in something with lemon juice?
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried that, I'll to see what happens if I use some vinegar or lemon juice.
DeleteWas the salmon from Community Seafood? I'd been jealous of your CSF subscription that you've mentioned in the past, and when Community Seafood brought a drop to my local farmers' market, I knew I had to join. A few weeks ago, we had a King Salmon share and hells bells--it was the best salmon I've ever tasted. So good. Your berries are gorgeous. I've never been able to keep them from the sowbugs.
ReplyDeleteThe CSF here is called Local Catch and yes the salmon came from them. It too has been the best salmon, no doubt about it. I have some problems with the sowbugs, but lately they've not been too bad, for some mysterious reason. I like to imagine that the lizards are feasting on them.
DeleteThat basket of berries is indeed feast for the eyes. When you find out how to keep the purple beans from losing its color please let us know. Some chefs use certain method to keep the vegetable from air exposure while cooking it thus keeping the purple color from fading.
ReplyDeleteIf I find something that works I will let you know!
DeleteBeautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL!!! I always love your photos of your delicious garden produce!!! Kragner lettuce seed.... can you help me out as to where to purchase seed for that lovely butterhead?!
ReplyDeleteThank you ever so much for taking the time out of busy gardening days to share with us!
It's from Renee's Garden Seeds, you can find it here: http://bit.ly/kagranerlettuce
DeleteThank you for the link.... SO appreciate it! Will order!
DeleteA nice, even manageable, harvest. Even if the purple beans lose their color with cooking, at least they become a very dark green color, and I found they freeze well. The arugula is intriguing. I have never had the space to grow it but my garden neighbors grow lots of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not growing purple snap beans this year but I do enjoy them raw. It is a shame to see that color disappear with cooking. I am thinking the anthocyanins are there even after cooking though. I wish I had some of that Speedy arugula growing here now. I'm waiting on mine to size up and it's like watching paint dry!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos to show off your beautiful harvest! Rats in your strawberries? I came home two days ago to find a family of wild turkeys in my patch (or what was left of it). :)
ReplyDeleteLovely harvests. It is a shame that those beautiful purple beans lose their color when cooked, but your salad solution sounds delicious.
ReplyDeleteThat arugula looks lovely. Mine was quick to bolt this year. I'll have to look for that variety next year. I like how it has the wild arugula serrated leaves.
ReplyDeleteGreat harvest. I love the arugula...........I would say my favorite salad greens I have to make some pesto next time I make a picking.
ReplyDeleteLemongrass
The strawberries are lovely! I hope the rats leave them alone. Such a beautiful harvest as usual. A feast for the eyes.
ReplyDeleteThose strawberries look great. The local ones just started producing here so I made a strawberry, rhubarb crumble pie with a good amount of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, so good! As always great photos!
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