Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. With a frigid weather forecast last week I decided to harvest as much as I could from the less hardy brassicas. I made a big cutting from the Tronchuda Beira plants, some of which went in a pot of soup last night. The other day I got some great information about this and other Portuguese greens from reader Marisa. I now have some new ideas to try with the remaining leaves that didn’t go in soup. I don’t know if the plants will survive the recent cold snap or not, with temperatures dipping down to 14°F one night, but I plan on growing it again next year. I also want to try the Couve Galega that Marisa mentioned. I believe it is similar to (if not the same as) this one from Seeds From Italy which I actually grew here in 2016.
Tronchuda Beira
I pulled the kohlrabi from the main garden beds, a mix of Kolibri and Kossak. The Kossak wasn’t full sized by any means, but certainly big enough to eat. There was a bit over five pounds in all, enough to start a jar of fermented pickles and enjoy a bit of oven roasted kohlrabi slices.
Kolibri and Kossak kohlrabi
I also cut two more heads of cabbage, one each of Point One and Vantage Point. Like the Kossak they were not full sized but big enough to eat. It’s been a good year overall for cabbage, and I’ve harvested almost 40 pounds this year. I have several plants of savoy types out in the garden that will hopefully size up eventually, giving us a bit more for fresh eating.
Vantage Point and Point One cabbage
And I found a bit more broccoli to cut, some smallish Green Magic heads. It was not the prettiest broccoli I’ve grown for sure, but edible. The spring planted broccoli seemed to do better than the fall plants this year, which is unusual for our area. I was late getting all the brassicas planted this fall and the yields suffered as a result. That is one bonus of keeping a garden log, because I can make a note to plant earlier next year.
last of the broccoli
The last bit of brassicas to come in from the main garden was a purplish-pink napa cabbage called Scarlette. It wasn’t full sized either, but there’s enough there to go in a stir fry. The tips of the leaves were already burned from frosts, so I felt sure it wouldn’t survive the cold. I’m guessing the bright color goes away after cooking.
Scarlette cabbage
I also pulled more radishes from the kitchen garden area. From left to right it’s Alpine, April Cross and Bora King in the below photo. I plan to turn some into kraut and kimchi plus use them in stir fries. They also make a crunchy fermented ‘pickle’, similar to kohlrabi pickles. There’s 4 pounds of them in this batch. I used some of the Sweet Baby daikons from last week and roasted them in the oven. I was amazed they mostly kept their color, and the flavor was mild. I may try roasting the Bora King that way too, and I’ll have to get a pic of how they look after cooking. This week’s harvests brought our yearly total to 1215 pounds, not a record for us but a good deal more than last year’s 804 pounds. We’ve certainly had plenty of homegrown goodness to eat and preserve this year and to share.
Alpine, April Cross and Bora King radishes
Something I did get a pic of was a frittata I cooked up for lunch yesterday. My wife and I joke that we never make the same frittata twice, since it’s a great way to use up whatever veggies we have on hand. This one had frozen tromboncino slices on the bottom and a mix of shallots and mizuna in with the eggs. I added dehydrated sliced paste tomatoes (without rehydrating) on top of the egg mix and topped with sliced cheese before popping in the oven to finish cooking. I added homemade smoked paprika after cooking for a bit of added flavor.
lunch frittata
We’ve had some pretty sunsets lately so I’ll close with one image I captured of the setting sun lighting up the wispy clouds. It made for a pretty view out our back door.
Happy Acres sunset
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!
Those are some lovey harvests to have salvaged from the garden. The frittata looks yummy! This was a ho-hum kohlrabi year around here which was a bit of a disappointment, but the lessons learned this year will serve me well in 2018 (hopefully!).
The frittata looks delicious, and I think improvising with whatever you have on hand is a great idea.
The sunset is lovely.
No harvesting for us this week. I thought today was cold here with -3c or about 26F was cold. I do enjoy a good frittata.
I’m laughing at your comment about getting fall brassicas out late because I finally got a bunch of them into the garden this week! More broccoli, stick cauliflower, cabbage, napa cabbage, Tronchuda Beira, kohlrabi. Crazy late but if our current spell of unseasonably warm weather continues my gamble might pay off. It worked for me last year with broccoli and I’m still harvesting from those plants.
I use dehydrated veggies in my frittatas all the time, including slices of zucchini/Tromba squash, peppers, and tomatoes. I don’t bother to rehydrate them, they soak up some of the moisture from the fresh or frozen veggies and the eggs.
What interesting veg you grow. The Tronchuda Beira definitely looks like it is worth investigating and i may give it a go next year. I also love the colour of the Scarlette cabbage. Very appropriately named.
Many thanks for sharing.
Well you’re still getting great harvests Dave. It’s a lovely sunset too, nice to have some colour at this time of year.
I never would have thought of adding dehydrated veg straight to frittata like that, so thank you for the heads up, Dave and Michelle.
I love seeing the range of veggies you are still harvesting, too
Hi Dave, I think that Couve Galega will give you a nice Caldo Verde. Don’t know what recipe you use but if you want can give you one to see if it’s the same. To be honest, I don’t do always the same, you can use just potato and the “Couve” or you can also use onion and garlic. On the end some slices of “chouriço”, cooked or not gives a tradicional touch. We like it so much, that in Lisbon, there’s a restaurant opened all night long, where you can eat Caldo verde on the middle of the night after going to the discotheque. This new year I used 2 of my Portuguese Cabbages, named Pão de Açúcar, they are really sweet, very light green, but more cold sensitive… Just cooked with water salt, and seasoned with olive oil, (and vinegar if you like it). The other day the ones that weren’t eaten got to be sautéed, just olive oil and garlic. Wonderful with nice bread! Happy New Year 2018!