Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It’s hard to believe it is April already, and that’s no fooling! The asparagus harvests are still a bit slow here, but they should pick up when the weather starts warming up a bit. So far we have harvested almost three pounds this year, while last years total was 35 pounds. I sometimes get asked what varieties we have planted, and we have one 30 foot row each of Jersey Giant, Jersey Knight and Jersey Supreme. The first two were planted in 2007, and Jersey Supreme in 2009. I can’t find a whole lot of difference in the three we have, but I would say Jersey Supreme might be slightly less productive for us.
Asparagus Mimosa
Asparagus is definitely the star of our April harvests. I made Asparagus Mimosa for a light lunch meal on Saturday. And it joined up with some fresh Mizspoona and green garlic plus a 2015 Purple sweet potato from storage for a stir fry last week. I added tofu, shiitake mushrooms and a sweet red pepper from the grocery to the homegrown veggies. I made it with a pretty simple sesame/soy sauce and served it up sans rice. I tried to get as many colors as I could in the meal, and the Purple sweet potato holds up quite well for this treatment. I cooked it in the microwave first, let it cool, then cubed and added to the stir fry at the last, right before I tossed in the Mizspoona. I love stir frying using our homegrown veggies because it is quick, easy and the combinations are endless.
stir fry
I’m using the fresh green garlic fairly often now. Back in mid-December last year I planted about 50 cloves of garlic that had begun sprouting. I started harvesting it a couple of weeks ago, and it should give us fresh green garlic until the main crop is ready to start digging. I used this one in the stir fry in the above photo.
green garlic
The overwintered Giant Winter spinach in the greenhouse is bolting, so I pulled it all up. It’s typically the first to start bolting here, so it wasn’t a surprise. We’ve enjoyed it in salads and other dishes for the last month or so. I love this variety because even though the leaves get quite large, they stay tender enough for salads, at least when grown in a protected environment.
Giant Winter spinach
I used it to make a Crustless Spinach and Feta Pie which served as a main dish for us for two meals. Though there is whole wheat flour in the filling, it is a lighter treatment than making it with a crust like I usually do. Instead of blanching the spinach like I would before freezing it, I lightly sauteed it for a minute or so then let it cool and squeezed out as much water as I could. Popeye would be proud, because the taste of spinach came through loud and clear in this dish!
Crustless Spinach and Feta Pie
I also made cuttings of lettuce and spinach for salads and arugula for a pizza. Spring is salad season here, with lots of greens to choose from.
spinach and lettuce for salad
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!
No harvests for me again this week, Dave. I’m definitely in “Hungry Gap” mode. Although, come to think of it, we have used several tubs of home-made tomato sauce from the freezer, and one bag of frozen Runner Beans, so I suppose that qualifies…
Your colourful stir-fry looks very appealing: I think I would like that a lot. I also wish I could have a Spinach Pie like yours, but regrettably my wife hates Spinach . It wouldn’t be tactful to make separate meals for each of us, would it now?
We occasionally do ‘his and hers’ meals here, since I like a few things my wife doesn’t, like lamb and bison for instance.
Yum, if I have any success with spinach this year, I’m making that pie! Amazing that you have stuff bolting already – is your greenhouse heated or is your season really that early?
I heat the greenhouse on the really cold nights. I think our season is early, and the overwintered Giant Winter just bolts early too. Viroflay and Space spinach haven’t started bolting…yet!
Never thought of using purple sweet potatoes in a stir-fry, will remember when my new crop comes in. Like the combination with tofu, sure is making me hungry. My green garlic is ready and I should bring some in this week.
I think the Purple sweet potatoes work well in a lot of things, including curries. I think the trick is to not overcook them first, so they hold together in the stir fry or other dish. I am so glad you sent me that one to try, because it has become one of my favorites!
90 feet of asparagus?! Do you preserve it somehow as well?
How do you cook the carrots you had with the spinach pie? I’m trying to broaden our eating horizons
I wish I could grow garlic..I don’t know if I have the patience or the space 🙁
We eat lots of it fresh, then freeze some for later use.
That’s a lot of asparagus you got last year, brilliant. And a really lovely looking spinach pie, yummy. I’m never very successful with spinach, it just bolts straight away in my sandy soil, but chard does ok.
I wish I could learn to like chard, but I’m afraid it’s not my favorite green. Too bad, because it sure grows like a weed!
Stir-fries are regular menu items here also, it is such a great way to quickly put a fresh meal together. I’ve really not done any spinach salads this year, it must be because there are so many other salad greens coming from the garden. Oh, I wish my garlic looked that good!
I wish my onions looked as good as yours, Michelle!
Oh boy…your asparagus has me drooling! There’s word of wild asparagus all over the village, but I’ve yet to find some! Yours has given me new energy for searching 🙂
Thanks for hosting us, Dave! I hope to be here more often in the coming weeks and months ahead! Hope you have a great week!
Thanks Melissa. It is good hosting but I do miss Daphne. I’ve never had wild asparagus but Euell Gibbons says it is worth stalking! 😉 If you find some be sure and let us all know.
Its been a while since I participated, a very small harvest from me – White broccoli and chard. I love all your home made dishes, that is what I love about being a vegetarian indulging in what I have grown and tasting the difference.
Your Spinach Pie looks awesome, maybe I will try that with my rainbow chard.
And I dare not show my husband your asparagus, he will be jealous.
Shaheen, any harvest is a good harvest, I always say! I bet the chard would work well in the spinach pie recipe. I am tempted to try it with kale some time.
Such beautiful harvests – and that spinach pie – yum! What you get from the greenhouse is so impressive. I think you are about a month ahead of us and that’s if we had a greenhouse – without one, I doubt we’ll be harvesting any lettuce until at least another 6 weeks or more.
The green garlic is a nice idea. I never think of maybe planting the small left-over cloves in a block for green garlic. Maybe this fall. And I would like to have 90 feet of asparagus but my wife hates the stuff.