Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Back in August I planted Speedy and Apollo arugula in one of the cold frame beds. Both of these are fairly mild tasting, as arugula goes, and now that the weather is colder I think the taste has gotten even better. I made a cutting of Apollo last week which you can see in the below photo. The leaves are large and rounded, and these wound up in a batch of pesto I made. I have come to enjoy the taste of arugula, and I think it makes a wonderful pesto.
harvest of Apollo arugula
For this batch of pesto I used olive oil, walnuts, arugula, garlic and a dash of salt. After planting garlic I always have a lot of partial bulbs and single cloves left. I plan on using some of these in a skillet chicken dish later in the week. As much as we use garlic in the kitchen they won’t be around long! They were all harvested back in July and August and so far have been keeping well, including ones that aren’t necessarily good keepers like the Turban types.
garlic cloves from planting stock
We continue to enjoy the turnips and greens. I pulled several Hakurei turnips for a dish I made called Sweet Potato & Turnip Mash with Sage Butter. Cooked turnips and sweet potatoes are mashed and mixed up with a browned sage butter. For the sweet potato I used one of the larger Beauregards that had cracking and scurf on the skin. I think it qualifies as ‘wonky’, don’t you? But there was nothing wrong with it at all after peeling away the surface blemishes. I plucked a few sage leaves from a plant I started from seed (Renee’s Italian Aromatic Sage) for the sage butter. Next time I think I will try roasting the veggies before mashing instead of cooking in water like the recipe specifies.
sweet potato, turnips and sage
The turnip and sweet potato mash made a tasty side dish for some salmon cakes I cooked up for dinner one night. I topped the salmon with the arugula pesto I made from the Apollo arugula. I have to say I really enjoy eating a dinner where I knew all of the veggies personally!
salmon with arugula pesto
With another hard freeze predicted last week, I decided to harvest the remaining cabbage and kohlrabies. In the below photo you can see the flathead KY Cross cabbage along with Kolibri and Winner kohlrabi. There’s also a few tiny broccoli side shoots, the only ones my plants have made this fall. This wasn’t one of my better years for broccoli, though I don’t know exactly why. There’s always next year though! At least the other brassicas have done nicely, especially this fall.
late season cabbage, kohlrabi and broccoli
I used some of the cabbage and kohlrabi to make slaw. I grated up the purple Kolibri kohlrabi skin and all to add a little color. The slaw was paired up with some burgers I grilled one night for dinner. I liked the purple kohlrabi in there and I will be doing that again when I have another Kolibri. I sometimes make slaw with kohlrabi alone, but I like a mixed slaw with cabbage in there too. This one was about 1/3 kohlrabi, though it’s hard to tell from the photo.
slaw with burger
A small harvest came in the form of a couple of green cayenne peppers I plucked from a container plant I’ve been keeping in the greenhouse. These are from Cayennetta, a great pepper for growing in a container. One plant always gives me loads of peppers. I used them to make a batch of hot seasoned vinegar I like to keep in the refrigerator for adding to cooked greens, especially turnip greens.
cayenne peppers
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!
I too find it my meals more satisfying and more enjoyable where I knew all of the veggies personally! Grating the purple Kohlribi with skin is a great idea doing that next time I have one which will be next year, unfortunately.
Great week. Thanks for the pointers on milder arugula. We tried arugula a few years back and it was VERY strong and the kids just hated it. I may have to switch to something like Apollo and see if they would like it then.
I will admit the taste of arugula took some getting used to! But I think a variety like Apollo or Speedy, when grown in cooler weather, has a milder taste than most other arugula I have grown and tasted here. I also think cooking it helps tame the taste a bit.
My usual approach is that if it’s a new or “weird” ingredient then I don’t tell the diners what it is… or even mention that there’s something “interesting” involved. I find that people, and especially kids, often let their preconceived ideas get in the way of what the food actually tastes like.
It’s ok to lie to kids…right?
I think you are so right when it comes to preconceived notions. I was a picky eater as a kid, but once I tried certain foods I found out I liked them. And yes, when it comes to food, subterfuge is ok!
That sweet potato mash sounds delicious! I think I’ll try the sage butter/sweet potato mash this week but without the turnips – unfortunately, my salad turnips have all been gobbled up.
I harvested my first Kolibri this past week – it was so good, I couldn’t believe it! My plants haven’t been sizing up very quickly though – I think I may only get a couple of tiny ones (if I’m lucky) from the dozen or so plants that are still in the garden.
The one Kolibri I have gotten so far this fall was not very large. I had issues with the squirrels digging in that bed, and all the kohlrabi there suffered. Thankfully I had more planted in the main garden, and so far the squirrels have stayed out of there.
Apollo arugula produces some big leaves! I may have to try it if it is as mild as Speedy. Love that wonky sweet potato. The Sweet Potato and Turnip mash sounds like a winner. And the slaw. And the pesto. Good eats at OHA last week.
Maybe we should form a wonky veg club.
I like the look of that slaw.
I love the idea of a wonky veg club!
I agree that arugula makes great pesto and its availability is greater than home grown basil because of the cold tolerance. Pesto atop anything salmon sounds wonderful. Enjoyed your garden tour in your last post and recalling how the garden winds down for winter.
Pesto and salmon seem like they were made for each other! I’ve used cilantro, parsley, even mint pesto with salmon and they all work. Arugula just happens to be what is plentiful now, and I’ve also been enjoying the pesto spread on a whole grain cracker as a snack.
Ooh I like the arugula (which I’ve been told is the same as rocket round these parts), the variety you’ve grown has nice full leaves. Some are quite narrow and you don’t get much per leaf. I make a rocket and walnut pesto too sometimes, yum.
Nice looking meals too 🙂
Yes, that Beauregard definitely counts a wonky! Certainly not a beautiful specimen – though I bet it tasted fine. I don’t think I will be growing kohlrabi for a while (if ever) because I grew some this year which were VERY strong-tasting – exceedingly unpleasant – and they have put me off kohlrabi altogether. 🙁
I have come to really love arugula the past few years, especially as a pesto. But I’m getting mixed up with the type of arugula I like … will have to research lots this winter to get the right kind as I take such poor notes of my varieties.
What a lovely harvest! I haven’t been able to harvest any of the cabbages or kohlrabi yet as we get a later start on the fall garden in the deep south. I’m looking forward to a yummy slaw though.