Harvest Monday - February 9, 2015

I don't have much to show for the past week. The winter garden is starting to wind down. Most of the brassicas have started to bolt so I've been cleaning them out.

This is the final harvest of Tronchuda Beira, both plants started to bolt. That was a lot of leaves that took up a lot of space in the fridge so I've been working on using it up. On harvest day I prepared a dish with wilted cabbage, confited octopus, and Corona beans. Last night I made a very hearty soup that calls for layering braised cabbage and onions in a casserole with rustic bread and cheese, covering it all with broth, topping the dish with a couple slices of bread with cheese and baking it until the top is crusty and brown. That was a really satisfying rainy night (yes, it rained!) dinner. There's still a bunch of leaves left in the fridge that I need to find some inspiration for.

Tronchuda Beira cabbage

The heading lettuces are loving the rain and are quickly sizing up. This butterhead lettuce may look a bit sorry around the edges but the heart was full and perfect. It yielded a number of perfect leaves that we used as lettuce cups. I made an Asian inspired mixture of sauteed ground turkey with mushrooms, chopped carrot and celery, seasoned with ginger, garlic, tamari, and garlic chile sauce. We filled the cups with a dab of plum sauce, a bundle of crisp fried bean thread noodles, and a heap of the turkey mix, and for good measure a sprinkle of toasted coconut flakes. Big messy yum!

Rhapsody butterhead lettuce

There were a couple other harvests last week that I didn't photograph, one was the last of the Romanesco broccoli. It was dark by the time I came in from the garden so I didn't photograph those. They are taking up space in the fridge while I try to use up harvests from the week before. I made another Asian inspired dish with some of the big bunch of China Rose radish greens - a chile spiced braise of chopped greens, King Oyster mushrooms, and cubed tofu, that had some ginger and garlic in it also. I love those China Rose radish tops when they are braised and they were great with the mushrooms and tofu. The only other harvest was a head of Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce.

Here's the harvest details for the past week:

Romanesco broccoli - 2 lb., 15.5 oz.

Tronchuda Beira cabbage - 4 lb., 11.6 oz.

Rhapsody butterhead lettuce - 1 lb., 2.5 oz.

Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce - 12 oz.

The total harvests for the past week were - 9 lb., 9.6 oz.

Which brings the total harvests for 2015 up to - 52 lb., 3.2 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.