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Jasmine Sambac -- Grand Duke of Tuscany (虎頭茉莉花)

Harvest Monday - June 27, 2011

Ichiban Eggplants, Italian Round Squashes, Hungarian Spice Paprika, Alma Sweet Peppers,

Sungold and Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes, Celtuce, Napa Cabbage.

Crimson Flower Fava Beans

Seeds shared by Michelle, thank you.

Left:  Shandong garlic (northeastern China)
Right:  Xian garlic (southwestern China)
Center:  Spanish Rojas garlic scapes, the bulbs are not quit ready for harvest at this time.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions head over there to see what other gardeners harvested this week.

Fava Bean and Squash Salad

In this salad:  cooked fava beans, summer squash, and apple.

Fresh herbs:  pepper, cilantro, shallots, and garlic.

Seasoning:  evoo, fruity wine vinegar, lime juice, salt, and pepper.

Grilled Fava Beans

Grilled Fava Beans Seasoned with Himalayan Pink Salt.

Harvest Monday - June 20, 2011

Napa Cabbage and Celtuce (aka Celery Lettuce, Asparagus Lettuce)

Peppers, Fava Beans, Ichiban Eggplants, Summer Squashes, and Beet.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions drop by there to see more garden harvests by other gardeners.

Celtuce 萵筍

 Celtuce grows like lettuce with the same culture requirements.

 After a while the stem starts to elongate and the lower leaves are removed.

As daytime temp warms up the stem grows taller.

Thinning for taste test, the tender leaves can be eaten.

I decided to use the most tender top leaves for my salad.

 After trimming and peeling they are ready for salad or stir fry.

 For salad -- salt the celtuce for about 3-5 minutes and rinse thoroughly with water.

Now the vegetable is ready for salad dressing. 

In this salad -- celtuce, squash blossom, sansho pepper leaves (crushed and minced).

Dressing -- Dijon mustard, wasabi, Moscatel wine vinegar, lime juice, honey, salt and pepper. 

(Sorry, I did not measured the dressing ingredients.)

Spring Vegetable Salad

Odds and ends from the frig:  Japanese turnip, radish, carrots, snow peas, and yellow squash.

This salad is inspired by and adapted from Deborah Madison's "Local Flavors" cookbook.

This salad is dressed with Asian style vinaigrette: 
Sesame oil, rice vinegar, light soy sauce, fresh grind pepper, and a pinch of sugar.

Briefly blanch vegetables in boiling salt water, drain and let cool.

Dressing:  olive oil, sea salt, fresh grind pepper, and some good wine vinegar such as chardonay or moscatel (or your favorite vinaigrette).  

Harvest Monday - June 13, 2011

Beets, Chinese mushroom kale (gai lan), eggplants, basil, fava beans, and squashes.

I have to pick the baby squashes because there's no male flower to pollinate them.

Some folks ask how I take my harvest pictures, do I use props special light setup etc.

The answer:  A kitty helper, a utility table next to a window, and natural light from the window.

I like to use a flat basket for the produce because it's easier to take pictures when they are together.

Fava beans finally set pods last week.

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Celtuce and carrot seedlings.

Celtuce is a lettuce grown for its stem, the lower leaves are removed as it grows, 

the leaves are not salad quality, but some people use them for soups or stir frys,

but the stem is sweet and tender good for salad, stir fry, and pickle.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions head over there to see more garden harvests by other gardeners.

Smokey Sky

Hollyhock

If this picture is taken on a normal day you can see mountains and blue sky in the background, but the last ten days were not so normal for us here in north central New Mexico, the background of this photo shows how thick the smoke was from the Wallow Fire in Arizona -- smokey white sky and invisible mountains.



 

Beets with Grilled Shrimp and Bacon Salad

Ingredients -- lettuce, roasted red and yellow beets, grilled shrimp, and bacon.

Dressing -- raspberry and walnut vinaigrette.

Harvest Monday - June 6, 2011

Japanese Turnips, Red and Yellow Beets.

Chinese Mushroom Kale (Gai Lan) and Mix Lettuces.

Chinese Mushroom Kale (Gai Lan)

 Check out the size of the stems as compare to size D battery and quarter coin.

This particular variety of Chinese kale is bred for its tender stem and flower tip, the leaves are coarse and not meant for eating.  I stir fried the stems with scallion oil and minced garlic briefly, finished the dish with a dash of sesame oil and oyster sauce.  Wow, it was the most tender and sweet Gai Lan I've ever had in a long time.  The dish was so good I had to harvest more for a second serving the next day (sorry didn't take picture), this is a keeper, I'll have to find out where to buy the seeds in the states, the packet I'm growing from now is a gift from a Thai friend.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions head over there to see more harvests from other gardeners.

Pickled Asian Greens - Xue Li Hon 雪裡紅

Some readers ask what I do with all the Asian greens I harvested and how to preserve them.  There are numbers of ways to preserve the greens depending on intended use, sometimes I preserve them by salting or pickling, sometimes lacto-ferment as in kraut or kimchi, sometimes the greens are blanched and sundry etc. etc.

Reader Ikea wants to know how to make xue li hon (雪裡紅).  Traditionally xue li hon is made from mustard greens, but there's no restriction that says one cannot use any other greens to make the pickle.  We gardeners sometimes have so many mustard and brassica greens in the refrigerator and couldn't possibly consume all of them before they are spoiled, why not put up some of the excess produce for later use, pickling would be an easy way to preserve them, here's what I have in the refrigerator:

Misome and Mibuna

Turnip Greens and Mibuna

In a large bowl sprinkle salt over greens and rub in gently.

The greens look like this after salting, put them into a clean jar and keep refrigerated until use.

Or the whole plant can be pickled and refrigerate for later use.
(Pickled greens can be stored at room temperature, but it's more involved, let's not go there now.)

*      *      *      *      *

There are number of ways to use pickled greens, my favorite is to stir fry the pickled vegetable with thinly sliced pork, baked tofu, bamboo shoots, and chili pepper.  Here's how to prepare the dish:

First - soak pickled greens in water to allow salt to leach out, 

change water couple times and taste for saltiness.

The dish -- baked tofu, bamboo shoot, pickled greens, and chili peppers. 

I skipped the meat and substitute baked tofu because I didn't want to mess with it.

(Traditionally the dish is made with -- pickled greens, pork, and bamboo shoots.)

Baked tofu -- very dense (semi hard cheese density), 

it can be julienne to toothpick size without falling apart.

Stir fry each vegetable separately and then toss them together, (do not add salt, it's already salty),

finish off with a dash of sesame oil before plating.  Add marinaded pork if you like 

but make sure the meat is cooked before mixing in with all other vegetables.
This is a salty dish, best serve with noodle soup or rice.