December has brought our first really cold weather of the season (for us), but the garden keeps on giving. The cold frames and greenhouse are protecting many of the plants, but others are doing well unprotected despite the cold.
komatsuna leaves (click on any image to enlarge)
This week we enjoyed some komatsuna I harvested from the greenhouse. I stir-fried it briefly, and it made a nice green side dish for baked chicken, along with some sweet potatoes that I roasted. This meal was for our Dark Days Challenge, and was made from all local ingredients except for the oil and salt. The chicken came from our CSA and the sweet potatoes, komatsuna, rosemary and garlic came from HA. I like simple meals that highlight the quality ingredients!
Baked chicken, sweet potatoes and komatsuna
We still enjoy salads this time of year, though some days I want something warmer to eat. One day at lunch I plucked some arugula leaves from a mini salad box and spinach from the cold frame, added some Red Sails lettuce from the greenhouse and it made for a nice salad. That big red and white thing in the photo below is a China Rose radish.
salad and ingredients
I also harvested most of our fall/winter radishes, which have been growing since late August in one of the beds outside the greenhouse.. We have really been enjoying the China Rose radishes. Though they are getting huge now (the four in the photo below weighed almost five pounds total), they are still mild and tasty. I’ve never grown ‘winter’ radishes before, so I have been pleasantly surprised. We’re storing some of these in the refrigerator and the rest in buckets of damp sand in the cellar.
China Rose radishes
I also grew daikon and beauty heart radishes this fall. With temperatures below 20F forecasted, I decided to pull most of them from the ground. The daikons (Minowase Summer Cross) got huge. Now I am looking for recipe ideas. Any suggestions anyone? I’ve got over seven pounds of them! I am thinking of trying some radish chips, but I know they are good pickled too.
Minowase Summer Cross radishes
I harvested some Lacinato and Rainbow Lacinato kale this week for kale chips. So far all the kales are standing up well to the weather.
Rainbow Lacinato (L) and Lacinato (R) kales
We also enjoyed turnips and turnip greens this week one night for dinner. I am really loving the white ‘salad’ turnips, even though they are pretty big at this point. This year I planted Tokyo Cross, Oasis and Hakurei and they have all done well.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing what we’ve been harvesting here in early December. Thanks to the hefty radishes and turnips we hauled in over 24 pounds from the garden this week. For more gardeners and their December harvests, visit Daphne’s Dandelions.