Robbins Farm Garden

A Cooperative Learning Project

cabbage

Using Up Many Vegetables at Once

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I made this for dinner last night, and it was yummy.  I managed to use up my red cabbage and beets, plus onions, carrots, and garlic from the garden, and thyme and dill from my backyard herb garden.  This is from the newish Cooks Illustrated Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.

Beet and Wheat Berry Soup with Dill Cream

Serves 6

Soup

2/3 cup wheat berries (not the quick cooking or precooked kind), rinsed

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, chopped fine

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

8 cups vegetable broth

3 cups water

1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage

1 pound beets, trimmed, peeled, and shredded

1 small carrot, peeled and shredded

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Dill Cream

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup minced fresh dill

1/2 teaspoon salt

1.  For the Soup:  Toast wheat berries in dutch oven over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant and beginning to darken, about 5 minutes; transfer to bowl.

2.  Heat oil in now-empty pot over medium heat until shimmering.  Stir in onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in tomato paste and cayenne and cook until darkened slightly, about 2 minutes.

3.  Stir in broth and water, scraping up any browned bits.  Stir in toasted wheat berries, cabbage, beets, carrot, bay leaf and 3/4 teaspoon pepper, and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until wheat berries are tender but still chewy and vegetables are tender, 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours.

4.  For the Dill Cream:  Meanwhile, combine all ingredients in bowl.

5.  Off heat, discard bay leaf, and stir in vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.  Top individual portions with dill cream and serve.

Season’s first seedlings emerge

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With only a foot of the over 8 feet of snow that fell this year still with us, the seeds we planted indoors on March 7th have begun to sprout. (Reasons to be cheerful, parts 1 and 2.)

The broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbages are solidly up. The leeks, lettuce, spinach and onions are beginning to sprout and we await signs of life from the celery.

The photo shows green and red cabbage in the foreground, broccoli and Brussels sprouts in the middle, and leeks and onions in the background.

2014 Brassicas (end of season notes)

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Broccoli: early crop good (though oddly colored), late crop did well (especially in Potato bed) though seedlings weakened in hot weather – spray seedlings daily in heat, transplant @ July 19th for best yield
Brussels Sprouts: start extra seedlings, spray @ first signs of aphids, plant farther apart (3 rows: 3,4,3 plants per row)
Cabbage: generally excellent – replace Red Express with Mammoth Red Rock in spring, repeat fall varieties, transplant @ July 19th for best yield
Cauliflower: best yet, grew fall crop only, orange variety smaller & prone to aphids – transplant @ July 19th for best yield

Today’s Harvest – July 26, 2014

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First cukes, all of the spring broccoli, an amazing harvest of gorgeous carrots, and the last of the 2014 garlic. Lots of onions, more potatoes, okra and cabbages and the usual abundance of greens. The bush beans and summer squash have slowed down from their early surge but will probably bounce back after a short break.

The Babies are Almost Ready to Leave the House

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Some of the seedlings that I'm fostering under lights are almost ready to go outside into the garden. Seen here are several different kinds of lettuce, leeks, spinach, red and green cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.  The cabbage and Brussels sprouts are a bit slower and will probably need another week under the lights.