Thursday brought a green onion harvest which in turn ended up in Thursday's dinner. The green onions went into Champ mashed potatoes. Also on the plate is boiled beets from the garden and a naturally raised pork chop. The sauce is made with Peeler Hard Cider which was used to deglaze the pan drippings and stiffened with a bit of corn starch.
Here is Saturday's harvest, a bunch of Merlot & Australian Yellowleaf lettuce and two fat radishes. They were combined with a hot house cucumber for a salad. Served along side reheated pizza from Friday night, how special is that!
Sunday I picked the remaining Florence fennel that were growing in the patch. Next week is supposed to bring some pretty chilly weather so I thought I should pick them before it was to late. They did pretty well as a fall crop, about half were a decent size and they certainly are tasty. The one there in my hand was the biggest specimen. I'm not sure but I think Florence fennel does not grow as big as your typical supermarket fennel? 
The bigger fennel bulbs all had thick roots like a carrot. I was wondering if they are edible, any ideas?
For Sunday's dinner I made the dish above which contains half of the fennel harvest. The recipe I used was called 'Baked Rigatoni with Italian Sausage and Fennel' and it can be found at the following link. It was really good, the only thing I changed was I omitted the basil (not a fan) and added 1 cup of milk.
Now you are making me hungry. The fennel looks really good. Our weather is going to turn cold sometime this week too. I've got to get out and clean up the garden before it freezes solid.
ReplyDeleteGreat looking harvest Dan! I love the rich color of that merlot lettuce and your fennel looks nice and big. I've only had fennel raw or roasted in the oven. That pasta dish looks tasty though.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful veggies! I didn't get around to starting lettuce until late and it's still too small to harvest so I'm envious... Florence fennel is the same as the store bought stuff, although there are different varieties that produce different shaped bulbs. Have you tried starting them in the spring, that's when we're supposed to plant it here. I've not hear of eating their roots, it seems like they would be rather tough, but perhaps they could be used to flavor stock? I bet that pasta was really good, fennel and sausage is one of my favorite combos.
ReplyDeleteYour fennel is really lovely. I made the most of my crop and ate the roots as well. They're delicious. They reminded me of parsnip.
ReplyDeleteNice harvest !
I have never grown fennel and rarely had an opportunity to enjoy it - such an intrigueing looking plant! The harvests and meals look great.
ReplyDeleteHi Dan,
ReplyDeleteGreat variety in your harvest and in your diet. All you need to do know is raise livestock and you'll be all set!
Daphne - I've been out squirreling away as well, I am hoping to get all the clean up done tomorrow afternoon. Nothing worse then cleaning up after it has already snowed.
ReplyDeleteThomas - This was my first time tasting fennel, it is really good. I will look forward to growing more next spring.
Michelle - This variety was the italian herb type one, I should look for some hybrid seed next spring. I started my lettuce mid Aug, if I leave it any longer it does grow due to the fall shade. Pesky trees & hedge! :-)
Miss M - Great minds think alike, although I didn't have to courage to eat the roots. I will next time though.
KitsapFG - This was my first time growing and tasting fennel. It is really good and quite mild as well. They do not take up much room either, all these grew in a 1'x2' area.
Tony - I have not started any social network pages yet, its time consuming enough just to run the blog.
Sally - I need bee's to, you can't forget them :-) If I only had acreage... maybe some day soon I will. I do try to eat well, I would say 2/3 of my diet is healthy home cooked food and the rest is burgers & pizza.
You like allrecipes.com as well, huh? I go there to try some recipes for baking. That fennel looks interesting. It's not "bulby" like normal fennel. Was it meant to grow like that?
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