Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I am harvesting the fall veggies now on pretty much an as needed basis. Though one exception is broccoli, which pretty much needs to be cut and harvested on its terms whether it is on the menu or not! I had two heads of Green Magic that were ready to be cut last week. There was a little browning of the beads on one, but they each weighed 12 ounces and I am always happy to get broccoli at any size. I roasted one of these for lunch Saturday, and I believe I will make soup with the other head.
Green Magic broccoli
I pulled a couple of daikon radishes to go in a batch of Baechu Kimchi (made with mostly napa cabbage) I started fermenting last week. I grate the radishes for this kimchi, though when I make radish kimchi (Kkakdugi) I dice them into medium cubes. The long radish is Summer Cross and the shorter one is Alpine. Both do well for me when planted in late summer and they mature in fall or early winter. I’ve also got Sweet Baby and Bora King planted and some of those should be ready soon.
daikon radishes
I cut a few leaves of the Tronchuda Beira to go in a pot of veggie soup I cooked up over the weekend. In summer I freeze bags of mixed veggies like snap beans, squash and cabbage to use later for soup. I added a bag of the frozen veggies to homemade broth, then cut up the greens and added to the simmering soup. Then I added some cooked Rancho Gordo Ojo de Cabra beans for protein. That day I also cut a small head of Minuet napa cabbage, which will likely go in another jar of kimchi. It’s a little wonky looking (or a lot), but it cleans up well and we try our best not to waste food here at HA. The Minuet only weighed a pound, but it was dwarfed by the giant Tronchuda Beira leaves which weighed half as much!
Tronchuda Beira and Minute cabbage
I’m still getting a nice supply of lettuce as we need it. I made several cuttings last week, including some Red Sails and Simpson Elite we used for wilted lettuce salads.
Red Sails and Simpson Elite lettuce
I’ve taste-tested most of the 2017 sweet potatoes and I am about ready to do a review. My latest tasting was a Grand Asia potato I baked whole and served up simply with a pat of butter and a little salt. The Grand Asia came from Duck Creek Farms as a substitute for Red Japanese which apparently was sold out. It had a fairly dry and sweet white flesh which I think compared favorably to the Red Japanese potatoes I have bought from our local Asian market. But it was the least productive of the ones I grew this year, so I still want to try Red Japanese next year to see how it does.
baked Grand Asia sweet potato
I found a few more ripe peppers from a Lady Choi plant I have growing in a container in the greenhouse. This a a Korean pepper usually used to make kimchi, and I dehydrated these for that purpose. I used some of these peppers from an earlier harvest to make a jar of kimchi which is now fermenting. I want to see how they compare with the commercial pepper flakes (gochugaru) I have been using.
Lady Choi hot peppers
And since I made a pot of veggie soup, that means I also made bread to go with it. This time I made a version of Baguettes à l’Ancienne from the William Alexander book 52 Loaves, using this recipe. It’s a hybrid recipe using both commercial yeast and a natural levain, and it has an overnight ferment in the refrigerator to give it extra flavor. I used a steam treatment to give it a crisp, shiny crust.
Baguettes à l’Ancienne
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!
We are doing the same and picking as needed. Interesting that you can acquire so many different varieties of sweet potato. Here we only have a couple or so to chose from and when we buy them from the greengrocer variety doesn’t come into it – they are just sold as sweet potatoes.
Beautiful looking bread, as always! And that sweet potato! I am really going to have to try growing those again …
There is really nothing like the taste of homegrown broccoli. Enjoy every bite!
Yes indeed, broccoli is not very flexible about being harvested, although I do let the side shoots get a bit loose headed and they are still fine eating. I don’t have any fresh Tronchuda Beira this fall but I’ve got a stash of dried shredded leaves some of which I used this week in a soup. The dried stuff works really well in soup.
I used most of my harvest of Aji Golden peppers to make a batch of pepper jam this weekend. It came out so good! The whole peppers have just enough heat to make it interesting and the fruity flavor is delicious. I will definitely be growing them again.
Beautiful baguettes!
Some great harvests there Dave. Ooh the baked sweet potato, yes please….and bread looking really yummy as usual. I can’t join in with Harvest Monday this week but will be back next time.
Wow – that is a HUGE sweet potato! Oh, you are pulling in some lovingly harvests in late November. I just laughed at your broccoli harvest comment – so true…it doesn’t wait around for anyone!
And I quite like your idea of mixed veg bags for soup…must remember that for next year.
Hello,here we only have a couple or so to chose from and when we buy them from the greengrocer variety doesn’t come into it – they are just sold as sweet potatoes.
Hi Dave, I’m Marisa from Portugal, I follow your blog for a really long time, but I’ve never posted a comment. I enjoy so much seeing what you do in the garden, the recipes ideas and all, so congratulations it’s a fantastic blog. But today I have to comment on the Tronchuda da Beira, Caldo Verde and Broa! The Tronchuda da (da=from) Beira is also called Couve Portuguesa (Portuguese Cabbage) or Christmas Cabbage (couve do Natal).
In my family we eat it on the Christmas night, just cooked in water and salt, then seasoned with olive oil, and vinegar if you like it with it, I don’t, love vinegar but not with cooked vegetables.
It’s eaten with cooked codfish. Another way popular where I live, but not everybody knows it, is in a recipe called Migas. There are 2 kinds of recipes called Migas, (on the south it’s different, with bread, not cabbage). The cabbage is shredded as for Caldo Verde, and you put olive oil, garlic and bay leave in a pan, sauté it, then you add Broa also shredded, and finish the cooking. You can also add black eyed peas.
What we don’t usually do is using that cabbage for Caldo Verde! The one we use it’s kind of a landrace kale, Couve Galega, that is not as soft as Couve Portuguesa. Know about Broa, I don’t know how to do it, just buy it! But I can find a Portuguese recipe and translate it if you want. Ok long post! Hope you try and enjoy Migas!
Thanks for the great info Marisa! I’m so glad you commented. I actually baked some Broa bread not too long ago, and it was delicious. I grew the Couve Galega last year, and I’ll have to grow it again next year now that I have ideas on how to use it.