We’re still pretty much in ‘harvest as needed’ mode here with the fresh vegetables. This week I harvested several things to add to our menu. I cut some Mei Qing pak choi in the greenhouse bed for stir frying. I tried something different and added a spoonful of virgin coconut oil to the wok before adding the pak choi. That and a splash of soy sauce at the end was all the seasoning it needed. It made a good side dish along with some blackened salmon and a baked spaghetti squash from the basement storage.
Mei Qing pak choi (click on any image to enlarge)
Another green I cooked this week was some Lacinato kale. This fall-planted kale was still alive and well a few days ago, before the latest cold snap, and hopefully it has survived. The cold weather has made it super sweet. I steamed it in a little water then added some sliced garlic and a few of our dried tomatoes. It went with one of our Dark Days meals along with baked chicken and sweet potatoes.
Lacinato kale
I’ve been getting lettuce and other salad greens all winter from the cold frames and the greenhouse. I harvested a nice head of Flashy Trout Back lettuce this week from the green house. This is a Frank Morton selection of Trout Back lettuce that has more uniform coloration. It and some of the other salad greens went into a salad we had one day for lunch. I’m still using some China Rose radishes I harvested last December. They have kept nicely in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. They add a nice crunch to salads, soups, and other dishes, and you can bet I’ll be growing them again.
Flashy Trout Back lettuce
lunch salad
And more lettuce went into some chalupas we had for dinner last night. I’m not sure how I got started making chalupas, but they’ve been a favorite of mine for many years. I cook the pork and pinto bean mixture along with onions, peppers and other seasonings, then freeze it in serving size containers for later use. To serve it, I add some baked corn tortillas, lettuce, cheese, and other toppings (like some green tomato salsa from the freezer). It’s sort of like taco salad, except with the pork and pintos on the bottom. It’s a meal in a bowl!
chalupas
Spinach and arugula went into a frittata my wife made for lunch yesterday. We are currently blessed with a lot of eggs from our CSA, and frittatas are one of our favorite ways to use them. I harvested enough of the Giant Winter spinach to saute some tonight for dinner. With one 4×4 foot cold frame devoted to spinach, and more in the greenhouse, we should have a nice supply of it before it decides to bolt.
Giant Winter spinach
That’s a peek at what we’re harvesting here in early February. To see what others are harvesting visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Mondays!
Wow! That is so impressive! I can’t wait to see if we can get beautiful greens like yours through next year’s winter.
Your winter harvests are impressive – the greens look beautiful and healthy and you have a nice abundance and variety. Your integration of the garden produce into the weekly menu sounds delicious. We are just starting about to start getting harvests from the replacement lettuce plantings I put out in late December in the unheated greenhouse.
Your greens are amazing! I will aspire to grow as many next winter! Though not sure my green thumb is as magical as yours is 😉
I am amazed at your greens. Mine only come from the supermarket this time of year however, I do have on pod of lettuce in the aero garden that I was able to munch on one leaf the other day when I tending to the garden but don’t think I will ever see enough to make a sandwich with a little fresh lettuce on it.
What a beautiful harvest especially for this time of year. The bok choy is so beautiful. I miss mine.
Nice harvest for this time of year! And your salad and chalupa look mighty tasty – I must be particularly hungry 🙂
Beautiful harvest, we are jealous of your lettuce. We were craving a good lettuce salad and had to buy it from the store this week. We are still 6 to 8 weeks from fresh garden lettuce again. 🙁
That is some harvesst for February, I am so jealous.
Looks great! Love the speckled lettuce. I didn’t realize it held up that well in storage.
Great harvest! I am definitely going to have to try a winter garden next year.
Lynn
I grow a very similar looking lettuce but it came in a mix and I’ve never known what it was called before. Having said that the Australian version probably has a different name. Chulpas sound interesting – not something I’m familiar with at all.
Your Chalupas sound tasty! I haven’t really seen our garden much in the last two weeks…I’m half afraid I might have a kale forest up there right now 😉 I grew a little Mei Qing choi last year, and it almost took over the entire bed. We let a couple go, to grow larger for the chickens…they can get HUGE! They were great though. I love the lettuce, the last Trout Back I grew wasn’t as uniform, mostly green with random splotches. Yours is much prettier though.
One whole cold frame devoted to spinach – that is awesome! What a great harvest you are continuing to get. Our arugula will soon be ready to start cutting, but that’s about it for winter-grown eats in our garden.
Thought of you the other day when saw a recent interview with Gary Oppenheimer of Ample Harvest…I know you and your wife donate a lot of your garden harvest each year and I think it’s really wonderful.
Also wanted to let you know that I nominated your blog for a little award – thing that’s been circulating…details are in my latest post. You can do with it whatever you like (or not), I’m just a big fan of your blog and hope to encourage other folks to come check you out. Off to make dinner now – you made me hungry with that chalupa description!
It is almost supper time here and all of your harvest made me hungry. It looks awesome. You are doing well getting beautiful produce like that.
I am going to try the speckled trout lettuce for the first time this year. I hope I get nice big leaves like yours.
Wonderful lettuces you have there. Mostly over winter I’ve been doing cut & come again. I’ll probably do a few heads n0w that things are warming up. I’m going to have to try that spinach; my Bloomsdale looks puny next to yours…
the chalupas sound wonderful. we just got a reach in freezer, we will have to try this. I am missing lettuce, we are waiting for enough to grow to have a whole salad.
We sure would love to try that trout lettuce. It looks very good.
We really need to taste your food! That’s all there is to it. We really need to taste your food!
I just planted some kale in my garden. The greens seem to be the only thing doing well.