In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
Last week was cauliflower week. The purple ‘Graffiti’ cauliflower came first and surprising to me, the white cauliflower was right behind. Romanesco is slower but heads are formed and enlarging.
The salad above highlights what I harvested last week. Five different kinds of lettuce keep us in salads and there’s plenty to share with neighbors. Celery and radishes are favorite additions. Broccoli didn’t fit the salad’s color scheme but we had it for dinner several nights.
Days are mostly sunny and bright but nights are cool which the winter vegetables prefer. Our low-lying, part-sun garden, two blocks from the ocean was 35 degrees overnight though the surrounding neighborhood was in the 40’s per Weather Underground. The lettuce has not bolted but persistent temperatures in the 70’s will shorten the season.
As I delighted in the purple cauliflower, the heads of white ‘Amzaing’ escaped my notice and began to spread slightly. The heads were somewhat smaller this year. Perhaps it was the variety or more likely my plant spacing. The seed-grown plants were extremely robust and my usual 12-inch spacing should have been 15-18 inches.
With such lush growth on my cauliflower plants, I hesitated to toss all the leaves in the compost bin. I selected some medium-sized ones and made Crispy Roasted Cauliflower Leaves. Think something like kale chips but these are best consumed warm straight from the oven which I did for lunch one day. I lathered the leaves in EVOO and used a heavy hand with the freshly ground pepper and my favorite sea salt.
The ‘Red Streaks’ mustard self sows with abandon and is at home in the front yard with my perennials—a striking addition. I let the plants flower sometimes since the hover flies find the tiny blossoms compelling. I also have a neighbor who will take any mustard I cut.
The culinary adventure of the week was a delicious roasted purple cauliflower and purple sweet potato soup, my riff on this recipe. If my purple carrots were ready to harvest, I would have included them.
A gardening friend gave me an extra purple sweet potato plant which I grew last summer in a large pot. It produced one pound of squirrelly sweet potatoes which were a perfect fit for my purple soup. When I sent a photo of the soup to my sister, she said “I might hsve to eat it blindfolded!.”
I’ve included a photo of the soup from the recipe link. (My photo was horrible in the artificial light). I made garlicky sourdough croutons to top the soup and subbed flat-leaf parsley for the dill, which I would have preferred.
Arugula never disappoints in the winter garden. My mustard-loving neighbor also takes any surplus arugula.
Flowers are sparse in the street-side garden. It’s the season when 100 feet of the dry laid stone wall built by my husband takes center stage as it should. We all need to pause now and again.
If you usually post in Harvest Monday, leave a comment for me with your blog link. I’d love to see what you are gathering in while our host, Dave takes a winter break.
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