Harvest Monday - February 6, 2017

There was nothing new from the garden last week, not that I'm complaining, the garden is providing plenty of fresh veggies to eat.

Hestia Brussels Sprouts

The Brussels sprouts continue to roll in. I fnally got caught up on the Hestia sprouts. There were a lot of big loose ones, but those are great for shredding so that's ok. There were also plenty of optimal sized sprouts which were nice and firm and perfect for roasting. So you may be wondering, what the heck have I been doing with all those sprouts? In case you missed it you can find out on my recent post listing Brussels Sprouts recipes HERE. One use that I didn't mention in that post was that I included a goodly amount of fresh shredded sprouts in a veggie packed frittata. I make frittatas frequently, big dense ones that I cut into wedges that Dave can pack in his lunch. The sprouts packed frittata was declared to be delicious. I also shredded up a couple of big sprouts and tossed them with some shredded carrot, olive oil, and vinegar and included that mix with other goodies in a veggie wrap that Dave and I enjoyed on a hike on Saturday. And on Sunday I made up a shredded sprouts salad that also had finely julienned apple, shredded Manchego cheese, I'itoi onions, and a dressing of grainy mustard, maple syrup, cider vinegar and rice bran vinegar. I'm finding that Brussels sprouts are quite a versatile veggie! Oh, one more thing, my adaptation of a Brussels Sprouts Kimchi recipe came out great, so I'll be writing up my version of the recipe one of these days.

Tronchuda Beira

The Tronchuda Beira cabbage/kale is still producing really nice leaves. I used that bunch in a noodle dish in which I sliced the leaves into thin ribbons and then cooked them with some edamame spaghetti (spaghetti shaped noodles made from edamame beans) and tossed the noodle and greens mixture with a carbonara sauce. Unconventional but delicious!

Pink Plume Celery

There's still plenty of celery available to harvest. That bunch went into a long slow braise of lamb shanks with prunes and bourbon. I also cooked up some Greek Gigante beans and sautéed some freshly harvested (but not photographed) golden chard to accompany the lamb.

Gangbusters Spinach

Merlo Nero Spinach

The spinach was large enough to harvest again. I combined both harvests in a stir-fry with tofu and I'itoi onion greens.

I'itoi Onions

I'm still learning how best to grow I'itoi onions and figured out that I planted this year's lot too close together so I've started to trim back some of the bunches to reduce crowding. The green onions are a great substitute for both scallions and chives, neither of which I've got growing right now. I'll have to remember to plant some I'itoi onions next season just for harvesting green.

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

Hestia Brussels sprouts - 4.2 lb. (after trimming!)
Tronchuda Beira cabbage - 13.1 oz.
Pink Plume celery - 5.1 oz.
Golden chard - 15.8 oz.
I'itoi green onions - 10.8 oz.
Gangbusters spinach - 4.4 oz.
Merlo Nero spinach - 4.7 oz.

Total harvests for the past week - 7.6 lb. (3.4 kg.)
2017 YTD - 32.8 lb. (14.9 kg.)

Harvest Monday is hosted by Dave on his blog Our Happy Acres, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.