Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. My favorite harvest of the week had to be the first spears of asparagus we cut this season. I briefly sauteed the first two, which my wife and I shared. I can say I truly enjoyed each bite, which only left me wanting more! The next batch in the below photo wound up in a frittata. The beds are just now waking up, and hopefully the harvests will perk up soon. The recent cold snap surely set them back a bit, but the forecast is for temperatures in the 70°Fs all week which should get the beds going again. We cut all the spears, big and little, so that there’s nothing in the beds for the asparagus beetles to eat when they emerge from the ground. I haven’t seen any yet, but they always show up eventually.
second 2017 harvest of asparagus
The frittata also featured some of our dehdrated tomatoes, and a couple of young I’itoi onions. The mushrooms and orange bell pepper were not homegrown however! I sprinkled a little homemade smoked paprika on top before I popped it in the oven to finish cooking.
frittata
Volume wise, the biggest harvest of the week might have been the parsley I got from the greenhouse. I pulled two of the three overwintered plants in there so I could replant with new ones. The Giant from Italy plant was bolting already, though the Georgian Flatleaf wasn’t. The parsley wound up in a number of dishes, including a main dish lentil salad I made with French green lentils. And a large part of it went into a batch of chimichurri sauce I made.
harvest of overwintered parsley
I cut more of the overwintered kale in the greenhouse last week. I believe this was the Western Front variety, though the plant tags in there seem to have gone missing. It is starting to bolt to flower, and I harvested a couple of the small rapini along with the larger leaves. Hopefully it will keep producing a bit longer until the spring planted kale is ready for cutting.
overwintered kale
I also cut a bit of the overwintered greenhouse lettuce. There’s a little more of it left, and the spring planted lettuce is almost ready to start cutting too. It’s mostly Radichetta in the below photo, which is one of my long time favorites. It’s an oak leaf type with a mild flavor and a crunchy rib that’s much like a romaine.
Radichetta lettuce
My bread creation of the week was another batch of lavash crackers. I used a mix of semolina flour and fresh ground white whole wheat, and sprinkled on sesame and poppy seeds before baking. The egg wash gives it a shiny look and helps the seeds to stick. I’ll have to share this recipe when I get through tweaking it. We break them into pieces right before eating, and I served them up with the French green lentil salad.
lavash cracker
It’s not my harvest for sure, but the bluebirds eggs have hatched and we now have baby bluebirds! I’ve been keeping bird nesting boxes for over 30 years now, but I still get excited when I see the baby birds. I remember when my wife and I were looking at Happy Acres before we bought and I thought “this looks like a good site for bluebirds.” I was right, and we’ve had them here almost from the beginning. The parents have been keeping busy feeding this batch, and there appears to be five of them in the nest which means all the eggs hatched. I spoke to them and got the one to gape open for the paparazzi. And yes, I talk to the birds!
baby bluebirds
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!
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