Harvest Monday - January 29, 2018

Welcome to Harvest Monday. I'm stepping in for Dave of Our Happy Acres as the temporary host of Harvest Monday for the month of January while he takes a much deserved break from the task of hosting every week. Harvest Monday is where we celebrate all things harvest related. This is the place to share your latest harvests and what you've been doing with them. If you would like to link up you will find Mr. Linky at the end of this post.

My tenure as host of Harvest Monday is ending this week, please remember to check in with Dave at Our Happy Acres next Monday to join in the fun.

I'll start off with something new, a long anticipated and rather disappointing first harvest of Brussels Sprouts. If this had been my first experience with growing Brussels sprouts it likely would have also been my last. By this time last year I had harvested 15 pounds of sprouts in January alone and that measly harvest shown below didn't even make it to 1.5 pounds. Oh the differences a year and a decimal point make.

Gustus Brussels Sprouts

On a happier note, I got another generous harvest of Speedy arugula. The fall planting has been producing since September, although with a break in the short days of December, and is only now showing signs of bolting.

Speedy Arugula

The last of the Short Stuff and Bolero carrots hit the harvest basket. The runty Pink Plume celery proffered up a few small stalks, and the amazing Orion fennel produced yet one more bulb of many from a root that got left behind after the first bulb was cut in the spring.

Short Stuff and Bolero carrots, Orion fennel, Pink Plume celery

I cut another few baby lettuces and trimmed back a few more Petite Snap Green Pea plants.

Red Iceberg baby lettuce and Petite Snap Pea Greens

And I found a few more Habanada peppers for the final harvest from those plants.

Habanada Peppers

I've been browsing through a few cookbooks that I borrowed from the library recently and found an easy and delicious new-to-me way to prepare cauliflower. April Bloomfield has a recipe in her book "a girl and her greens" for Pot-Roasted Cauliflower with Tomatoes and Anchovies. Super simple. Take a whole head of cauliflower, brown it a bit all over, then roast it with a tomato sauce until tender. The recipe seems to have been a popular one with reviewers since it can be found on a few websites such as NYT Cooking. I'll admit to taking one shortcut, instead of browning the cauliflower in the pan, turning, turning, turning, splatter, splatter, splatter, I slicked the head of cauliflower with oil and roasted it in a 500ºF oven until it was lightly browned and then put it in the pot with the tomato sauce to roast it. It was delicious and made an impressive looking presentation. Another dish that I made that involved a new way to use tofu came from Melissa Clark's book "Dinner". I used some of my runty Brussels sprouts to prepare Thai-Style Shredded Tofu with Brussels Sprouts. The recipe calls for extra firm tofu which you grate on the coarse holes of a box grater. The Brussels Sprouts are thinly sliced to shred them and then briefly sauteed, the shredded tofu is stirred in and just heated through and the dish is seasoned with a Thai-style sauce featuring lime juice, fish and soy sauces, and chiles. Peanuts add some crunch. It went together quickly and easily and was quite tasty - my style of cooking. I love to prepare and Dave loves to eat one dish types of meals and that's what Melissa's book is all about. Her book is one that will probably end up in my collection.

If you have a harvest you want to show off then enter a link to your post below and please leave a comment too.

And remember next week to return to Our Happy Acres to link up with Harvest Monday.

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