Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Napa Kraut 酸白菜

Wash and cut napa into halves or quarters and air dry for couple hours to rid of all water.

Weight the vegetables and calculate 2% of the total weight for salt,
(1 tbsp of salt = 1/2 oz;  approx. 5 lb vegetable to 3 tbsp salt)

There are 7.5 lb of cabbage here, I use 4 - 4.5 tbsp of Kosher salt, 

it's alright to use a little more or less salt, don't stress over the math.

Gently rub salt into the vegetables until the leaves are wilted, pack them tightly into a clean jar,  put a weight on top to keep the vegetable submerge in its liquid and seal the jar, if there's not enough liquid to cover the vegetables, dissolve 1 tbsp of salt in 1 cup of water and pour into the container until the vegetables are covered.
I'm using a glass pickle jar here to show you the water seal, there's a channel for water around the mouth of the jar and a bowl is inverted to keep air out.  You can use any large size glass bottle for the pickle, but you have to keep an eye out for mold and be diligent about releasing gas forming inside the bottle as the vegetables ferment.

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Here are some old photos from my last post 4 years ago.

 

 The napas have been cleaned and air dried ready to go into the 2 gallon crock,
2 pieces of stones are used to weight down the vegetables.

Put a layer of cabbage at the bottom of the crock, sprinkle some salt on top and press down, repeat

until all the cabbages are salted and pressed into the crock, it may take a while to do this.

After couple hours of salting the vegetable shrunk and exuded more liquid, its volume reduced by approximately 1/3 and I was able to fit both pieces of stones into the crock, the liquid covering the stones were from the vegetables, I didn't have to add any salt water to cover the them.

Approximately 10 days to 2 weeks of fermentation the kraut is ready to eat. Napa kraut is much milder than regular sauerkraut, and you can use it the same way.  I use it for soups, stews, hot pots, dumplings, stir frys, etc etc.....

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 For Lacto-Fermented Mustard Greens

 (Sorry Thomas, this post is VERY late)

Use 3 - 3 1/2 tbsp of Kosher salt to 5 lb of thick stem mustard, air dry the greens until slightly wilted, gently rub salt into the mustard, press and put a weight on top to release moisture from the vegetable, then pack tightly into a clean container, there should be enough liquid to cover the vegetable, otherwise add salt water (1 tbsp salt + 1 cup water) to cover it.

This post is linked to The Gardener of Eden host of Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard, drop by Robin's place to see more preserving ideas and cooking recipes.

Creamy Napa Cabbage 奶油白菜

 Baked Napa Cabbage

Cut Napa into halves or quarters, cook in boiling broth until tender.

 

Put the cooked cabbage in a serving plate or casserole and pour white sauce over the vegetable.

White Sauce or Bechamel Sauce

(makes 2 cups) 

4   tbsp   butter (or oil)

 2   tbsp   flour

2   cups    warm milk (or 1/2 milk + 1/2 broth)

1   tsp   minced garlic

salt and white pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan melt butter, add garlic, salt, and pepper,

stir in flour, add warm milk and cook until the sauce thickens.

Pour sauce over cooked napa, garnish with shaved ham, serve hot.

 Cream Napa cabbage is a popular dish serve in Zhejian (浙江) region of China.

I made 2 substitutions for this dish:  1)  I use butter instead of oil for the white sauce.

2)  I use prosciutto to garnish instead of the traditional Chinese ham (similar to Virginia ham).

Note:  The sauce should be very smooth, I didn't do a good job of tending to the sauce

while working on other things, but you get the idea.

This one was baked at 400F. 

Harvest Monday - December 12, 2011

Three different varieties of Napa cabbage.

The once tightly wrapped cabbage heads are now unwrapping themselves
due to stress in subzero temps, I have to pick them before they bolt.
These cabbages will be pickled and make into Napa kraut.

Green onions survived.

These carrots came through, they were somewhat under the patio cover,
another pot of carrots is still covered with snow and the soil is frozen solid.


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Veggies Growing Under Tunnels

Beets

Green meat daikon.

Spinach, chard, kale, and some chrysanthemu greens.

Mini cabbage won't head up when temp dips below mid teens.

Can't believe Piracicaba broccoli is putting out shoots in this weather.

Broccoli and cauliflower

This Napa wants to bolt, its head was tightly wrapped before the subzero temps,
the leaves are unwrapping due to cold stress.  Learn something new this time,
certain variety of Napa cabbage does not like extreme cold or hot weather.

This is a different strain of Napa cabbage, it looks a bit better than the previous variety,
I'm leaving it alone for now, curious to see how it fares in coming weeks.

Drop by Daphne's Dandelions host of Harvest Monday
to see what other gardeners are harvesting this time of year.

Brussels Sprouts Salad

Brusells sprouts (blanch 1 minute and shred), toasted pine nuts, and fried bean vermicelli.

Asian vinaigrette:  salad oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lemon juice, and honey.

Japchae - Korean Style Vegetable Beef Vermicelli

 

Japchae

Ingredients:

Sweet potato starch noodles

Flank steak - sliced, marinade in salt, pepper, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. 

Dried shitake mushrooms - rehydrated and sliced

Onion - sliced

Vegetables from the garden:  carrots, spinach, napa cabbage

Seasoning:  sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper

Method:

1.  Soak and soften  noodles in cold water 5-10 minutes, at the meantime bring a pot of water to boil.

2.  Drop noodles into boiling water and cook until the noodles are translucent color, remove from heat and drain, rinse the noodles in cold water to stop the cooking.

3.  Pour some toasted sesame oil over the cooked noodles and mix thoroughly to prevent them from sticking together.

4.  Heat some oil in a frying pan on high, saute marinaded beef quickly, remove meat from pan when there's no longer red color, set aside.

5.  Saute the mushrooms with a bit of soy sauce and broth until cook through.

6.  Stir fry and season each vegetable separately and set aside.

Putting the dish together:

1.  Reheat the noodles in a non-stick frying pan - season with some salt and few drops of soy sauce for color. 

2.  Add cooked beef and vegetables, toss and mix thoroughly, garnished with toasted sesame seeds.

 

Radish Kimchi

White Radish Kimchi

Any variety of these radishes can be used for kimchi, but the white daikon is traditionally use,

and it is often seen in restaurants and other food service establishments.

 I usually make a small amount of kimchi say 3-4 cups at a time

because we like fresh tasting pickles.  Here I have approximately 3 cups of diced daikon

mix with some salt to cure for about 30 minutes.

When salting is done rinse daikon with water to remove excess salt and drain.

In a mixing bowl combine:

the drained radish

2 tbsp coarse Korean chile powder

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

1 stalk green onion

1/2 tsp sugar

 1 tbsp minced salted baby shrimp* (some use fish sauce, fresh squid or oyster)

4-6 tbsp rice porridge (optional, some people like it)

2-3 tbsp water (if the vegetable is too dry)

 Note:  I don't use additional salt for this recipe because the radish and baby shrimp have

enough salt in them to season the kimchi, taste the vegetable first before you add more salt.

* (I also rinse the salted shrimp to get rid of excess salt)

 Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly and pack into a clean jar,

leave it at room temperature for at least 2 hours or overnight to develop flavor.

 This is a very mild kimchi despite large amount of Korean chile powder, but if you use homemade or other kind of chile powder you'll have to adjust the amount given in the recipe to suit your taste.

(I have not tried to use any other chile powder to make kimchi other than the Korean variety.)

Drop by The Gardener of Eden host of Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

for more preserving and cooking recipes.

Harvest Monday - December 5, 2011

Spinach, Piracicaba broccoli, lettuce, pea sprouts, carrots, green onions.

This is the last harvest of pea sprouts, our first significant snow of the year has arrived,

all veggies are undercover except carrots and green onions,
I'm testing to see if they can holdup in the winter without protection.

Winterbor Kale and Mini Napa Cabbage

Japanese turnips, I left them in the ground too long, lesson learned.
I'll salt cure these turnips to be used as flavoring agent for soups and stews.

Kale and chard, I harvested most of leaves before the snow.

Hope the carrots and green onions in those containers survive,
all other greens are on hold pattern under the tunnels.

Drop by Daphne's Dandelions host of Harvest Monday 

for more garden harvest from around the globe.