Even though the temperatures are slowly warming up here, this weeks harvests definitely speak more of Spring than anything else. First there was what will probably be the penultimate broad bean harvest. Note to self: grow more broad beans next year – this year I’m really not ready for them to be finished.
This lot went into pasta with smoked trout, pine nuts and some garlic.
I ate salad with my pasta. Although I grow and cut from many lettuces each week, I have been pulling a few of my ‘freckles’ lettuces whole to make way for expanding summer crops.
Even my salad baskets were looking more winter than spring this week. Lettuce, Spring onions, mint and beetroot.
I find cylindrical beetroot great to cook with but quite difficult to photograph without it looking a little, shall we say, suggestive…
Aside from herbs,
My other photographed harvest this week was this year’s solitary red cabbage.
I had endless problems with my cabbage crop this year. Most of my other seedlings either got eaten or bolted but this one survived and I harvested it this week. I enjoyed a bit of it braised last night and I suspect the remainder will become coleslaw sometime later this week.
As always there are more harvests to be seen over at Daphne’s, head over – it’s always great eye candy.
I love red cabbage. With growing lettuce on the plot rather than in the garden we usually dig up the lettuce leaving the root them we pop it in water to keep fresh for when we need it during the week.
Great idea for keeping the lettuce fresh – I use most of mine on a leaf by leaf basis but I do have a few that need to come out pretty soon so I will use your method to keep them fresh.
Wow! I have never seen cylindrical beet root before. That broad bean and grout pasta sounds divine too.
I really like using smoked trout in pasta – really seems to work well.
Beautiful harvests. Those beets would have been so nice for my pickled beets. Right now I’ve got little pieces and big pieces that I had to cut in half.
I do find the shape really useful.
We tend to eat the broadbeans while they are small and eat the whole bean skin and all. We also like the tops off the plants.
LOVE your cylindrical beet root! have to look our for some seeds.
Love Leanne
I tried the tops last year but wasn’t hugely excited by them, having said that maybe I need to experiment with cooking methods etc.
Those favas, um, broad beans, are beautiful. I have to pull out my tomatoes so that I can plant my favas. It’s hard to do while the tomatoes are still producing a trickle of a harvest, but seeing your beautiful beans is motivating me to get it done. And I’m tired of dealing with excess tomatoes now anyway, hard to believe, but true.
I think it’s worth it – well almost worth it….as long as you are sick of the tomatoes…and in a few months you’ll glad you did.
Love the look of that ‘Freckles’ lettuce – it’s going on the list for next year. And the cylindrical beetroot too, is it as easy to grow as the standard round kind?
I think the cylindrical ones are just as easy – they certainly do well for me with minimum effort.
Oohh…that pasta sounds absolutely wonderful! This may be a silly question but…do you guys have pinon trees there? They are very happy here, but I never thought of them growing there before!
Yes we do, one of my most abiding memories of my grandfather is picking up the fallen pine nuts from trees in Queenscliffe – near when we used to holiday. That was in the days when very few Australians knew what they were and much less valued them.
Those broadbeans are gorgeus (actually the whole harvest is this week) and the pasta dish you made with them sounds absolutely scrumptious. I did not have good luck trying to grow a cylindrical beet – but then again I only had one attempt at it. I may have to give it a another whirl this coming growing season.
I find the cylindrical beet no different to most of the other varieties I grow – I’d recommend trying again as the shape is nice and convenient – especially for making rings.
Scrumptious looking broad beans, Liz! I’ve been contemplating the idea of growing enough to have as dried fave, but our season may not be long enough…
I did wonder about that too – having said that I don’t use dried fava enough to know whether I would use my own.
Great colours and textures Liz, love the photos.
Thanks Leanne!