Monday Recap: Beans, Greens and Scapes

The garden is giving us lots of green goodies right about now. Like the green garlic for instance, which is starting to bulb up. That’s a good sign, because it means the main garlic crop is sizing up too. We use the green garlic in so many things, anywhere you might use any other kind of allium in the kitchen. I planted about 40-50 cloves last fall that were starting to sprout, and that has kept us well supplied the last couple of months.

green garlic starting to form bulbs

green garlic starting to form bulbs

Those in the above photo wound up in a dish involving another green goodie, Cima di Rapa. I harvested a nice big cutting of the Maceratese variety last week. Unlike most kinds, this variety does not flower and make rapini. Instead it is grown for its leaves, which surely remind me of turnip leaves. As I was harvesting them I found myself thinking “this could be turnip greens”. They had a prickly feel, and the characteristic aroma of fresh turnip leaves.

harvest of Cima di Rapa Maceratese

harvest of Cima di Rapa Maceratese

I cooked them the Italian way, in a big pot of lightly salted water. They were done in less than five minutes, and I drained them and let them cool before chopping them up and using them in a dish with some big Corona beans I cooked up just for the occasion. The cooked greens were more tender and milder tasting than most turnip greens I’ve grown, and I think this variety is a real keeper, especially for a spring planting. I’ll let the plants grow and see how they fare as the weather warms up. The Quarantina variety I harvested a couple of weeks ago gave us nothing worth eating for a second cutting, so I pulled those plants. It will take me a while to figure out the planting schedule, but I think the Cima di Rapa is going to be a favorite around here.

Cima di Rapa with Beans

Cima di Rapa with Beans

To make the bean dish, I cooked a couple of anchovy filets in olive oil until they fell apart, then added two of the chopped up green garlics plus one thinly sliced lemon (with seeds removed). I cooked that briefly then added the chopped Cima di Rapa and a couple of cups of the cooked Corona beans, along with about a half cup of their cooking liquid. I cooked that for about 5 minutes, until the liquid was reduced to a nice consistency. Then I added about a tablespoon of fresh parsley and a bit of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. It made for a hearty and tasty dish, and my wife and I made a meal of it. I decided it needed some crusty bread to sop up the juices so I got some multigrain rolls out of the freezer. Next time I make this I think I will have some fresh baked bread ready!

loaf of 40 Percent Caraway Rye bread

loaf of 40 Percent Caraway Rye bread

And speaking of bread, earlier in the week I whipped up a batch of 40 Percent Caraway Rye bread, a recipe from Jeffrey Hamelman’s classic Bread book. This crusty bread will serve as a starting point for my future bread baking adventures over the next few months, as I search for my favorite hearth bread recipes. This bread has both natural and commercial yeast leavening, and I proofed it in a round brotform before baking it on a hot pizza stone and giving it a steam treatment. It got a tremendous oven spring, and had a little ‘blowout’ on the top of the loaf which tells me I should have let it proof a bit longer. I made a note of that for the next time.

reuben sandwich on 40% Caraway Rye

reuben sandwich on 40% Caraway Rye

We used the bread to make what I call a ‘Canadian Reuben’ that had Canadian bacon along with homemade cabbage sauerkraut and Swiss cheese. Of course there’s nothing really Canadian about the meat, but that’s what most Americans call it. It is a catchier name than ‘unsmoked back bacon’ which would probably be more descriptive. At any rate, the bread made a great sandwich and I look forward to more bread testing as we enter the sandwich days of summer around here. We served it up with some spinach from the garden, briefly cooked with mushrooms and more of the green garlic.

Purple sweet potato slice before cooking

Purple sweet potato slice before cooking

Another meal last week featured one of the Purple sweet potatoes from storage that my wife sliced up, tossed with olive oil, salt and cumin, then grilled. She was admiring the color of the sweet potato slices before cooking, which got me to grab my camera and capture the above image. These sweet potatoes are a lovely mottled purple and white color before cooking. After cooking they turn a uniform dark purple, and this batch made a great combo with salmon burgers served up on my Dark Rye Potato Buns.

grilled Purple sweet potatoes

grilled Purple sweet potatoes

On Saturday I got the first harvest of garlic scapes. These came from the early varieties of Asiatic/Turban types I planted (Xian, Uzbek, Red Janice and Shilla). There will be more scapes later as the rest of the hardneck garlics put up their flower buds. That’s another case for growing these early types, even though they aren’t good keepers. Not only do the bulbs mature earlier, but they are also the first to put up scapes! I made a quick pesto with this batch, which went on pizza we had for dinner that night. I cut a few more yesterday that went into a batch of Daphne’s Garlic Scape Salad Dressing.

first batch of garlic scapes

first batch of garlic scapes

The salad dressing went on a salad I made with some of the Baby Oakleaf lettuce I cut. I also pulled a few of the Helios and Plum Purple radishes for the salad. I saved the radish leaves to make a batch of radish top pesto I’ve been wanting to try. I can see that slugs have been nibbling on the skins, and one of the purple ones cracked after our rain Saturday, but mostly they look pretty clean. I also planted a watermelon type (Starburst) and a spring daikon radish (April Cross) that aren’t ready yet. I’ll plant more radishes for a fall crop.

Helios and Plum Purple radishes

Helios and Plum Purple radishes

I also want to mention we’re having a great year for asparagus. We’ve hauled in over 24 pounds of it so far, with about two more weeks left to harvest it. We generally harvest for about eight weeks, as long as the patch is producing. I roasted that you see in the below photo, which is another of the many ways I enjoy asparagus.

roasted asparagus

roasted asparagus

I kept busy with gardening activities last week. I got a lot of garden prep and planting done in the main garden, and all the tomatoes have now been planted. I normally mulch them with straw on top of newspaper. I put the newspaper down when I plant, and ‘spear’ it with the tomato cage to keep it in place. Then I come back later and add the straw. I planted some of my favorite varieties this year along with a few new ones: slicing tomatoes Sioux and Mortgage Lifter plus small-fruited Blush, Mexico Midget and Umberto. The Umberto was a freebie from Totally Tomato and is an heirloom small pink pear tomato that should be good for drying. For the determinate paste tomatoes I plant one per cage and use shorter tomato cages that fold flat for storage. That’s what you see in the below photo. All the rest are planted two per cage using my homemade remesh cages.

determinate paste tomatoes mulched and caged

determinate paste tomatoes mulched and caged

We currently have lots of clover blooming, and I see the honeybees working it and a few of the other flowers that are blooming. So far the bees are doing well, and we plan another inspection later today or tomorrow. It is great to see them out and about as I’m working outside.

honeybee on white clover

honeybee on white clover

That’s a look at what’s happening here. To see what others growing and cooking up, visit Daphne’s Dandelions where Daphne hosts Harvest Mondays. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from HA!

 

 

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14 Responses to Monday Recap: Beans, Greens and Scapes

  1. Marcia says:

    My mouth started watering looking at all the food you’ve been preparing. I need to plant my tomatoes today or tomorrow. Must check forecast.

    Any ideas of how to use bok choy besides stir fry? How to preserve it for later? Have you ever frozen it?

    • Dave says:

      The choy is good in soups too. I have never tried freezing it, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t. I know some dry it for later use.

  2. Norma Chang says:

    I noticed you do not peel your purple sweet potato, is the skin chewy? I am looking forward to gathering green garlic this week, will be a while before scapes appear. The Cima di Rapa sounds like a variety I will enjoy, putting on my next year’s to-try list. Thanks for the recommendation.

    • Dave says:

      The skin is a little chewy. I don’t peel them before grilling, but I do if I’m baking or putting in most other dishes.

  3. Margaret says:

    I’ll have to try the Cima di Rapa – are you pulling up the entire plant or are you harvesting on a cut & come again basis? I’ve found that the rapini varieties I’ve grown so far produce a good flush of leaves the first time round, but only minimally after that.

    You mentioned that you use remesh for your tomato plants – I’m assuming this is concrete remesh? I was planning on using this as a trellis for my peas, but then found out that it rusted very easily – in fact it was already rusted at the store. I don’t really mind the rust esthetically, but was worried that it would be difficult to handle and could damage the plants in some way and, of course, that it wouldn’t last very long either. I ended up buying the much more expensive cattle panels for the peas, but if my concerns are not really valid, wouldn’t mind getting remesh for other things like my cucumbers…what has your experience been with it?

    I wonder where the Canadian in the bacon came from – around here, we call it either back bacon or peameal bacon (as it often has a cornmeal coating).

    • Dave says:

      Yes, it’s concrete remesh that comes in a roll. Mine was rusted when I got it too. I’ve not seen any ill effects on the plants or the gardener, though I do wear gloves when handling them just to keep the rust off my hands. I made my cages back in 2008, and they cost around $5 each for materials. I estimated they would last at least 10 years, and this will be the 8th season I have used them. Some of the ends I spear into the ground are bending and coming off, but the above ground parts are still quite sturdy. I could always cut off one 6″ section and make a fresh section for contact with the ground, if you are following what I mean. Since I make them oversized (6 ft circumference/22″ diameter) to hold two plants, they would have been cheaper to make if I have made them ‘normal’ sized. I haven’t done a post about how I make them, but I cut off the bottom wire and leave ‘prongs’ pointing down that I spear into the newspaper I use for mulch. If the cages get top heavy I drive a piece of rebar in beside the cage and tie the cage to it.

      When we bought this place, there were a half dozen ones the previous owners left for us. They are about 1 ft in diameter, and I use them for cucumbers. I know they are older than 10 years, and they are holding up well too.

      • Margaret says:

        Thanks SO much! I’ll be back at the store to grab some later this week. It’s in an outside area & the guys had to use a forklift to get it down when I was there before…and then decided not to get it because of all the rust. I’ll probably get an eye roll or two when I go back 😉

      • Dave says:

        It was all I could do to get a 100 ft roll in my truck, and then roll it back to the garden when I got home!

  4. Susie says:

    24 pounds of asparagus?! So envious! That bean dish looks so tasty (I just found some borlotti beans from last fall in the freezer, might make something similar). What a great photo of the honeybee!

    • Dave says:

      It took several tries to get a clear shot. She was moving around real fast on the clover, and not at all interested in posing for me!

  5. Michelle says:

    Hamelman’s 40% rye recipe was the starting point for the rye bread I made a while back, but I omitted the yeast and caraway, hand mixed, and did a few folds. I under proofed mine as well, but it tasted great. His book is the only one I’ve seen that gives great information about dealing with rye.

    Beans and Greens! I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I do love that combo, and your latest looks super.

    I do remesh tomato cages also, but just set them on top of the soil and secure them with a rebar stake. This year I going to forgo the cages and trellis the plants instead, I hope that helps to lessen some of the fungal problems I’ve been having. It’s more work to trim and tie the plants, so I’ll see if it’s worth the effort.

    • Dave says:

      I have learned a lot from that book, and no doubt there is much more to learn. One of my favorite naturally leavened hearth breads gets a quick mix in the mixer or by hand, then about 3-4 folds over the next few hours to strengthen it up. I will be experimenting with different flours since it is supposed to be quite versatile. In case anyone is interested, check out this thread about Flo Makanai’s 1-2-3 formula for soudough bread on Freshloaf.

  6. Daphne says:

    That is a lot of asparagus. You must have a huge patch to get that much. I’ll be envious of your asparagus forever as it just won’t grow here. I’m not sure why. It just doesn’t come back the next year.

  7. Dave's SFG says:

    The garden is looking good. Nice to have garlic scapes this early. You and Michelle got me thinking about fermentation as a way to preserve the harvest. The Shockeys’ book, Fermented Vegetables, has a recipe for fermented garlic scape paste that I ‘m going to try this year with some of my scapes.

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