Harvest Monday - August 3, 2015

There's a few new veggies trickling in now. The Romanesco zucchini seems to be going into decline, it seemed to get the signal that its time was coming to an end when it grew the big 4 pounder a couple of weeks ago. It's growing less vigorously and the zucchini are smaller from the time they bloom. But that's ok, the Tromba D'Albenga squash are just getting started so there won't be a gap in the squash harvest.

Tromba D'Albenga and Romanesco zucchinis

 And just as the Royal Burgundy and Slenderette bush beans are winding down the Rattlesnake and Purple pole beans are starting to produce. I steamed these for just 3 minutes then shocked them in ice water to stop them cooking. Both varieties turned entirely green when cooked. These got warmed through in a simple Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter from Marcella Hazan and served with a ball of Buffalo Mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto which was seared all around just long enough to warm the cheese but not melt it. (I always have some of that tomato sauce on hand in the freezer). Both varieties of beans are tender and flavorful and beautiful in the harvest basket.

Rattlesnake and Purple pole beans

And just a few days later the Stortino di Trento beans started to produce as well. I steamed and shocked these beans also, but they were served as part of a composed salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and beets.

Stortino di Trento pole beans

Most of the tomatoes in that composed salad came from the Farmer's Market bu there were a few Sweet Gold cherry tomatoes on the plate from the harvest shown below. The orange tomatoes are the first Jaune Flamme tomatoes harvested this year. And you can see that the cucumber vines are quite prolific. A lot of the cukes got shared with my shift mates at the Aquarium.

Green Fingers and Tasty Treat cucumbers

That's the second main "head" of Di Ciccio broccoli from the summer planting.

Romanesco zucchini and Di Ciccio broccoli

 The first head was rather small, but the two heads together made a generous portion for two people. I split the heads into stalks, blanched them for about a minute, cooled them, then slicked them with a bit of olive oil and roasted them in a 400ºF oven.

Di Ciccio broccoli and Speedy arugula

I've also been harvesting small amounts of the Spigariello Riccia broccoli. It puts out long shoots that I cut back back fairly low.

Spigariello Riccia broccoli

The lower stems are too tough to eat even if they are peeled, but the leaves and shoots growing along the stems are good. I use the top portion of the stem, cutting it where the stem is tender, and cut off the larger leaves, removing their stems because they can get a bit stringy, and use the side shoots whole unless their stems have toughened so those get trimmed to a tender point. These stems were harvested before any flower buds developed so I use it like kale. This bunch was blanched, chopped and incorporated into a frittata.

Trimmed Spigariello shoots

The three Padron pepper plants are all producing now. Each harvest has been just enough to make a nice serving of pan fried peppers for the two of us.

Padron peppers

Yesterday I harvested the first Mareko Fana peppers. These seem to be a multi-purpose pepper, good in an immature green stage as a frying pepper similar to Padrons, or mature to be used as a fresh seasoning pepper, or dried to make pepper flakes. I can't report yet on how they compare to Padrons, I put off frying this harvest until tonight or tomorrow.

Padron (top) and Mareko Fana peppers

This is the thinnings from my patch of Thai Tender amaranth. We had these braised with some zucchini and mushrooms and eggs served over some toasted rustic bread.

Thai Tender amaranth

I saved the weird veg for last. This is a head of Sicilian cauliflower which I dubbed a funkyflower.  It didn't make a classic head of cauliflower, but it tastes just fine.

Here's the details of the harvests for the past week:

Thai Tender amaranth - 4 oz.
Speedy arugula - 9.9 oz.
Purple pole beans - 7.7 oz.
Rattlesnake beans - 14.3 oz.
Strotino di Trento beans - 4.3 oz.
Di Ciccio broccoli - 10.9 oz.
Spigariello Riccia broccoli -  8.4 oz. (trimmed)
Sicilian cauliflower - 3 lb., 11.1 oz.
Green Fingers cucumbers - 2 lb., 14.8 oz.
Tasty Treat cucumbers - 3 lb., 12.9 oz.
Mareko Fana peppers - 1.6 oz.
Padron peppers - 11 oz.
Jaune Flamme tomatoes - 5.3 oz.
Sweet Gold tomatoes - 3.8 oz.
Romanesco zucchini - 1 lb., 6.1 oz.
Tromba D'Albenga squash - 12.8 oz.

Total for the week - 17 lb., 10.9 oz. (8 kg.)
2015 YTD - 428 lb., 11.8 oz. (194.5 kg.)

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