In My San Diego Garden and Kitchen
A friend quotes his Italian grandmother who said that a little celery makes everything taste better. I agree and especially the celery that grows in my garden. Almost daily I head to the garden for some to add to a salad or entree or just to eat at lunch. Sometimes I’ll cut a stalk and eat it as I wander about the garden.
Celery is a heavy feeder, requires rich, light soil, abundant moisture and prefers the cooler winter temperatures. This winter has been perfect for growing celery in my garden. Days and nights have been cool with only a few exceptions. Ventura is, and Venice was a prime celery growing region in SoCal. What do they have in common with Point Loma? Fog and cool temperatures.
The celery harvest in Ventura, California. Watercolor by Gerry Segismundo.
I’ve done many blogposts on growing celery including Growing Celery in the Winter Garden, Cut and Come Again Celery and Homemade Celery Salt.
This is the seventh of eight Romanescos. I’ve gifted four of them to foodies I know, certain they would create something delectable. This one weighed almost three pounds after I removed the stem.
Here’s the overture to a dinner side salad—’Sea of Red’ lettuce, celery and Romanesco.
‘Golden Sweet’ snow peas would be added next. This was a day’s harvest but the two month run is coming to an end. Now it’s time to allow the vines to set seed which I’ll save for next year’s crop.
Trader Joe’s calls it Cruciferous Crunch. Is it coleslaw or a chop salad? No matter. I’ll call mine cruciferous crunch. My version used what’s at hand which was stems of broccoli, Romanesco and cauliflower, some flowerlets of the vegetables, lacinato kale and scallions. I could have added celery too.
My cruciferous crunch was just what I was hoping for. A few additions (including homemade celery salt and lime juice) and EVOO which I forgot to include in the photo made a delish lunch along with toasted pita quarters. I might try chunks of goat cheese atop next time for a creamy contrast. I shared a pint of the prepped cruciferous crunch with a foodie friend. I wonder what she’ll add to the raw vegetable mix.
I keep my neighbor in arugula and mustard greens and she gives me her sourdough bread. This trade was olive-walnut. She’s masterful—a culinary engineer and artist always seeking perfection.
‘Blush’ leucadendron provides a cheery bouquet for the dining room when little else in the perennial border is flowering.
You may enjoy seeing what other garden bloggers harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.
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