Harvest Monday - January 26, 2015

The harvests were light last week because I was unusually busy and just didn't have time to spend in the garden or do much cooking. Most of what kept me busy was the 2015 EcoFarm conference at Asilomar, but I won't go into that now, I'm still trying to digest all the information that I was inundated with.

Romanesco plant number two has started to produce, but this plant is behaving more like a sprouting broccoli, but in reverse. There are a number of side shoots forming from the bottom up while a small main head develops. Romanesco tends to be less hybridized than its broccoli and cauliflower cousins, so unnamed varieties tend to have more variation in how the heads develop. These shoots are just as delicious as the big beautiful pointy spiraled heads.

Romanesco shoots

 I continue to harvest celery stalks for salads and other preparations.

Dorato D'Asti celery

One head of Tronchuda Beira is still producing sweet tender leaves while the other one is showing signs of wanting to bolt. These leaves were cut up and wilted into a warm salad of Purgatory beans (a small white bean), shredded duck confit, carrots, and celery.

Tronchuda Beira cabbage

I harvested the first small head of Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce from the fall sowing. This head was the perfect size to make two servings.

Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce

And this is my first ever harvest of Michelle batavian lettuce (I had to try it just for the name!). This was a good sized head that I've used to make two salads and there's still enough left for at least a single serving salad. It's a crisp head type and the leaves are sturdy and crisp, even the outer ones are sturdy without being tough or strong tasting. My husband isn't generally fond of soft leaf lettuces, especially red ones, but I didn't hear any complaints when I served this one. I want to try it again for warmer weather harvests to see if it stays crisp and sweet.

Michelle batavian lettuce

That's about it for the harvests last week, the only harvest not photographed were some China Rose radishes. I used the radish leaves again, they were delicious sauteed with some garlic and black sesame seeds, finished with a drizzle of sesame oil and a splash of fish sauce.

Here's the details:

Romanesco shoots - 1 lb., 7 oz.
Tronchuda Beira cabbage - 1 lb., 1.4 oz.
Dorato D'Asti celery - 13.7 oz.
Michelle batavian lettuce - 14.3 oz.
Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce - 9.8 oz.
China Rose radishes (including greens) - 2 lb., 9.1 oz.

The total harvests for the past week were - 7 lb., 7.3 oz.
Which brings the total harvests for 2015 up to - 27 lb., 6.3 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 lately.