With the month of November almost over, our harvests now are slow but steady. I pretty much harvest what we need to eat, when we need it. It’s nice to have fresh food to compliment what we have in storage.
I got a bucket bull of Lacinato/Black Tuscan kale. We made baked kale chips with part of it, and I steamed the rest of it another night. We are now in the process of taste testing our 5 different kale varieties. The Lacinato was very tender and tasty, though not as sweet as the Red Russian. I think the leaves made better kale chips than some of the other varieties. It is usually not as hardy as some of the other kales, but I think I would grow it anyway just for its looks and earthy flavor.
Lacinato kale
To make the kale chips, I first remove the tough stem from each leaf, then cut the kale into small, 2-3 inch pieces. I toss the leaves in a little olive oil, then place them in a single layer on a baking sheet. They get baked for about 20 minutes in a 300F oven. I don’t salt the chips, because we think they are flavorful enough without it. I lined the baking sheet with foil for easier cleanup.
baking kale chips
The finished chips are crisp, and the kale flavor is really highlighted. This has become one of our new favorite ways to fix kale.
kale chips
I finally got to harvest some of the fall planted broccoli. Due to the drought and hot weather, this broccoli has been very slow to head up. We were happy to get a little over a pound of it from several plants. Hopefully it will give us a bit more before the really cold weather comes. Though we have some in the freezer, this was our first taste of fresh broccoli since early July. It was lightly steamed and cooked in no time.
I also got some nice lettuce this week for salads. This was some Salad Bowl (green and red) from the greenhouse. It’s been a great grower for us this fall, planted back when weather was hot.
Salad Bowl and Red Salad Bowl lettuce
The total haul for the week was 3.7 pounds, which brings our yearly total to 860 pounds. I am very happy with the results we have gotten in a somewhat challenging gardening year!