Pulling up beetroot, dirt and all .....

Pulling up baby beetroot straight from the kitchen garden during the summer, these beets are as fresh as vegetables get. Each one is plucked directly from the soil with a quick yank.  They need to be washed and trimmed up, of course.  And yes, the preparation does take a little longer when you grow your own - there is grit, dirt and sand that needs to be washed off.  It makes me feel a little sheepish now, thinking back on all the times I have picked through vegetables at the supermarket, selecting only the "cleanest" vegetables with no traces of dirt on them, and somehow associating this with "freshness".  

The red veined leaves come away with a gentle twist, and are put aside.  These leaves are fresh as can be, not like the wilted, blackened ones that store bought beets often come with.  The best leaves are selected and reserved, for later use - they are a little like spinach and can be stir-fried together with the Swiss Chard that is growing in the garden.

Beetroot in the garden tends to be pretty trouble free - and unlike parsnips or carrots which grow underground, these globes grow above the ground so you can watch them eagerly as they get larger and you will always know when they are the right size for picking.

Tip:  Twisting the leaves off beetroot helps to prevent it from "bleeding".

Growing young and tender baby Beetroot through the summer...

A few beetroot seeds carefully sprinkled into the ground, some water to help them along, oh, and time, of course, time and a little patience - that's all you need for these lovely little beets to work their magic and emerge from the ground.  With time, their roots will start to swell, and before you know it, these baby beets will be ready for picking.

In the summer, these young and tender baby beets are tossed in olive oil, thrown into a pan and roasted for about 40 minutes. How sweet and delicious they are!  The baby leaves can be picked and used in salads, and the larger leaves, can be cooked as you would, any other green vegetable like spinach or chard.

Tip:  Sow little but often, and harvest when the roots are about the size of golf balls (while they are still young and tender).

Our delicious Winter Harvest.. after a long absence!


After having been away for six long months, I finally returned to our lovely garden and vegetable patch in the UK.  With such neglect, I was expecting to come back to total destruction, to a barren wasteland, but it was to my surprise that not only were there vegetables to harvest, but some seemed to even be thriving. 

Beetroot with Wasabi Mayonnaise Recipe

 

Our home-grown beetroot usually gets roasted "Jamie Oliver" style, with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  However, for a change, I really wanted to try a beetroot and horseradish recipe.  But since I don't normally have horseradish in my pantry, I decided to use wasabi instead.  And actually, the mustard flavours really complemented the sweetness of the beetroot! 

July - Eating our way through a month of colourful harvest!

July was a gorgeous month and despite the volatility of the weather, there was a steady supply of fruit and vegetables in the garden.  After all the greens from June, we received a much needed burst of colour with the arrival of purple beetroots and yellow courgettes (zucchinis).  

The flavours from these two vegetables is unsurpassed; homegrown courgettes are lovely and sweet and we mostly grill (griddle) them, but they can also be eaten thinly sliced and raw, carpaccio style, in a salad.  Beetroots are also bursting with flavour and taste amazing roasted Jamie Oliver style with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and tossed together with rocket.

We are also eating a lot of mixed lettuce varieties (Cocarde, Red Salad bowl) which we are growing in recycled containers and even from hanging baskets. 

And my favourite lettuce, the Lamb's Lettuce finally grew to a decent size, ready to be harvested.  Lamb's Lettuce tossed together with crunchy snow peas, grilled courgettes and red peppers makes a really tasty salad.  (Red peppers pictured are not from our garden)

The rocket we grew back in April started to flower and the leaves have now become rather peppery but we use them anyway, in moderation of course.

(Clockwise L-R) Cavolo Nero, Kale, Snow Peas (Mangetout), Chillis, French Beans

To fulfill our vegetable needs for South East Asian and Chinese cooking, we are continuing to use our leafy greens, Cavolo nero and Kale, both which substitute for Chinese vegetables like Kai Lan. I pick the young leaves of Cavolo Nero about three times a week.  I love having them sauteed with garlic, but it also gets thrown into Tom Yum soup, fried rice or noodles. The tougher kale leaves get thrown into stewed meat dishes.

Cavolo Nero, French Beans, Prawns and cod in Tom Yum soup with homemade rice noodles

Early July, our Snow pea (mange tout) plants were still providing lots of pods, but towards the end of the month, they were struck by powdery mildew.  Luckily we have French beans as a replacement and these can be eaten raw in salads or stir fried with garlic.  But my favourite way to eat them is by shallow (almost deep) frying them Chinese style, which makes them go wrinkly and become very sweet.
 

 
July was also prime berry season and we picked lots of raspberries and redcurrants.  During the hot summer season, it was necessary to water the berry canes frequently to ensure the fruit plumped up.

Cherry Tree

Our cherry tree also provided a generous supply of crimson fruit with little maintenance.  It was a little hard work twisting all those cherries off the tree though! See the full article here.

During the last week of July, we also had our very first cucumber and lots of chillis! We are growing 'mini' cucumbers (similar to Lebanese cucumbers in Australia) which are harvested young and do not have the bitterness that some of the larger varieties do.  Cucumbers are widely used in South East Asian cuisine, and we are having them tossed in garlicky vinaigrettes in Chinese Cucumber salad and Thai Beef Salad.  Our chillis are the variety 'Apache' and I am harvesting them green.

Some vegetables that did not go as planned include the Greyhound cabbage and the Chinese cabbage, both whom found themselves caught up in a battle between humans and caterpillars (the humans are losing), and the Ruby Pak Choi which has been riddled with holes following an attack by a swarm of ravenous flea beetles.  The Pak Choi grows better in cooler temperatures and the heat made it turn into a purpley green tie-dyed disaster. 

This month, what ended up on our dinner plates depended on what was ready to be harvested in the garden.  A little random, a little unpredictable, but what a wonderful way to live life!!