t’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I had a couple of new “first” harvests last week to give us some variety in our meals. I cut two of the Mei Qing pak choi I have growing in a bed behind the greenhouse. The outer leaves have some slug damage but the insides were clean and green. I also have a purple leaf pac choi that should be ready soon. Mei Qing is my favorite of the green stem chois, and it has been a reliable performer for me for years.
Mei Qing pac choi
We used the pac choi in a pork stir fry that also featured some of our fresh asparagus. With a few added mushrooms and carrots, we served it over brown rice and it made for a filling one-dish dinner.
stir fry with pork, pac choi and asparagus
We plan to cut the asparagus for another couple of weeks. The spears are getting smaller, but we’re getting plenty to eat and I think the smaller ones are just as useful in the kitchen as the big ones. We eat them every which way when they are in season, and then we don’t eat asparagus again until the next year.
asparagus harvest
The other “first” was a harvest of kohlrabi. The white skinned Beas and the purple Kolibri are sizing up nicely for me now. We enjoy kohlrabi both raw and cooked, and we ate these raw – peeled, sliced and served with a yogurt garlic dip.
Beas and Kolibri kohlrabi
Salads are still frequently on our menu. I cut a couple heads of Simpson Elite lettuce last week to use for wilted lettuce. And some of the oakleaf lettuce from last week wound up as a base for a Pork Carnitas Taco Salad we had for lunch one day. I made a buttermilk ranch dressing to go with that one. We try and mix it up with our salads, though most are usually meatless and use beans, cheese and egg for protein. The taco salad had all the flavors of tacos, but with a lot more lettuce.
Simpson Elite lettuce
Pork Carnitas Taco Salad
For years I’ve been baking all the bread my wife and I eat, and I keep leftovers in the freezer pretty much at all times. It was time to replenish our stores, so I went on a bread baking kick last week. I baked a loaf of my Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread and a sourdough pullman pan loaf. That should keep us supplied for a bit, but now I need to bake some sandwich buns since we are out of those too. Baking the sourdough bread in a pullman pan makes for a dense, moist loaf that can be sliced quite thinly on the second day after baking. We used some of this for an open faced tuna salad sandwich we had for lunch one day.
homemade breads
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 think next week will be our last asparagus harvest, a couple of weeks early because we started cropping two weeks earlier than last year
I just can’t grow Pak Choi or any of the other Chinese type leaves. The slugs or flea beetles just devastate them
So many good things to eat! You’re making me hungry, and I just had breakfast! The kohlrabi looks great, and so big for so early in the year. I think we all overlook any slight damage to the Asian greens; it just comes with the territory. They are so useful. We’ve stopped cutting asparagus, but kind of regret it now.
Your views on asparagus are similar to mine for zucchini, butternut squash, corn and other garden veggies. I never buy them but revel in the season when they come in the garden. The pullman pan is a nice idea for sandwich bread. This week I’ve found that the slugs, earwigs and sow bugs seem to like crawling into a buried tuna can filled with cooking oil and a dash of soy sauce as an attractant. They’ve been nibbling on my strawberries and lettuce.
Your bread looks delicious as usual 🙂 And yum to the kohlrabi! We didn’t harvest any last year – can’t for the life of me remember what happened – but this spring I have rectified that. My son is also anxious for it to mature as it’s one of his favourite vegetables.
I am about to harvest my first ever kohlrabi, Blauspecht variety, i’m pretty excited about it, i harvested my first ever Dragon Tongue beans last week. Didnt have enough yet for more than a taste, but I think they are going to be a great bean.