As part of thinning the beds and weeding, I've been harvesting choy sum greens and rapini to eat with spicy soba noodle ramen. These were seeded September 16th, so they are fairly large now and starting to form their little heads.
Choy sum is a tasty and juicy mild green with just a hint of the heat normally associated with mustards. But cima de rapa has a more assertive flavor that has a bit of bitterness, which tastes delicious with a dash of an acid like vinegar. But in ramen I usually add a squeeze of lime for the acid.
After tilling the garden, a bunch of squash plants came up. I got to harvest a nice amount of late season summer squash. There's definitely some frankensquash that look like one of their parents was a vining winter squash. And the greens are all putting on lots of growth with all the rain and moderate weather we've been having.
There were actually 3 different greens harvested on Sunday. On the left is choy sum with it's flowering heads, which is just sliced and sautéed with nuoc mam and pepper. In the middle is mizuna, to keep the plants going I just pick individual leaves. The real surprise was the mibuna on the right whose leaves grew to be a lot larger than I was expecting.
The summer squash were sautéed in olive oil with a little salt and Penzey's Mural of Flavor spice and herb mix. The choy sum and summer squash were served with meatballs and rice, along with roasted sweet potatoes that were mixed with olive oil and mild chili powder.
Harvested:
1.024 pounds of summer squash
4.128 pounds of greens
Please join fellow vegetable gardeners at Our Happy Acre's for
Harvest Monday. A wonderful tradition where we share what's growing in our gardens.
10 comments:
Growth has slowed down considerably here but it means we can be on top of the weeds.
Hi Sue,
It's been nice taking it easy in the garden, fall/winter is such sedate pace compared to the hubbub of summer. Our carrot seedlings have gained some size so they don't need as much weeding, but I do wonder if they'll make any roots since they were planted so late.
Your greens are so healthy and vibrant looking, they look wonderful! What a nice bonus to have productive volunteer summer squash.
I always have trouble getting the timing right on choy sum. It usually bolts on me before making many leaves. Yours is lovely. I think any squash this late in the season is wonderful, even Frankensquash!
Hi Michelle,
I was really surprised that the summer squash produced anything. They were picked young because I couldn't trust that they were actually pollinated.
Hi Dave,
We got a couple of hot days that made some of the choy sum bolt in October, but since the weather has cooled consistently they're definitely gaining size. I might try parboiling the thick stems next time and then stir fry them with garlic, maybe serve them with nouc cham sauce.
I have to echo Michelle's comment that your greens are so vibrant. That was my immediate thought when I saw your pics.
And yummy, summer squash, meatballs and rice would be pretty nice right now but my current selection is more around potatoes, winter squash and carrots. :)
Hi Susie,
The different greens have been nice to have, and there's tons more to be had. I've been holding off on the winter squash to cure them, but most of them have changed color so they must be ready to eat.
Those greens look amazing! No slugs, I suppose?? Lucky you! I do miss rapini - so far it hasn't been the most successful crop, but I've yet to try it in the fall.
Hi Margaret,
I've only found one slug so far, but there's been a couple of little green caterpillars, probably from all the cabbage moths that were flying around.
Rapini would probably bolt too quickly in our warm springs. But I'm hoping our fall planting will last through the winter.
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