Thursday 17 November 2016

The Beauty of Vegs.


We're having reasonably sunny days at the moment, with quite cool mornings. The leaves on the Tomato plants have already been nipped by frost, and it's time to bring in anything that is at all tender.


I've already harvested and preserved, the huge amount of Green Peppers, Chillies, and Aubergines that were still clinging on to their plants.


We are eating lots of Red Kale (top picture) at the moment. A big plateful with a Pork chop or a Salmon steak is perfect for a simple supper. You can almost feel the vitamins at work as you eat. Wonderful veg'.


Our PSB plants are very big this year, this one above even has purple ribs to the leaves; I don't know why. One has already started to flower, the rest will probably flower in March.


Through the Winter we shall eat Swiss Chard, Cavolo Nero, two types of Kale, and of course all our preserves. 


I've now frozen all our Peppers; The long thin ones in the foreground are 'Long des Landes'. They're the one's you find in all Spanish Tapas bars, having been fried in olive oil and allowed to cool. Really delicious.


And as for these chaps, there aren't too many left now, and I think we'll manage to eat them without too much difficulty.

The end of the growing year is here. Time to reflect, benefit from all our harvests, and start to plan for 2017.




26 comments:

  1. That is nice looking Red Russian at the top.... we've just had the first of ours alongside some slow-cooked rib of beef.
    Our tenderstem Brocolli is still producing... but our Black Tuscan has only just reached the point of harvest.
    Tonight we have more of the beef and baked potatoes...
    we are off out to a Beaujolly Nouvux evening...
    so a "sponge" will be required!!
    But, oui, the Winter foodstuffs are now to be eaten....
    I feel a macheroni cheese is called for this weekend...
    I will get the cheddar from our local shop...
    real Wykes cheddar from Avon!!
    In a village in France?
    She says she's going through blocks of the stuff....
    and not just to "les Anglais"!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think we've eaten baked potatoes (monalisas) for the past week or so. I wrap them in foil, and stick them in the ash tray under the wood burner. In less than an hour they're done. Monalisa is probably the best variety for this. Our Cavolo Nero has done particularly well this year, and seems extra-tender. Lovely stuff.

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  2. How wonderful to have it all in your garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the best bit of all. Just a few metres from the kitchen.

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  3. Fabulous harvest, I'm so envious. All I can manage is a wigwam of runner beans and a couple of courgetttes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I made a video yesterday of the whole patch, but I couldn't get the wretched thing to upload either to YouTube or Blogger.

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  4. It all looks delicious Cro ..... you seem to have everything down to a fine art ..... it actually looks like fine art !!!!! Do you ever paint still life or isn't that your style ? XXXX

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have done in the past; maybe I should again.

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  5. Wow!

    The advantage of eating such wonderful vegetables full of life energy cannot be overstated.

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  6. Ever thought of a small greenhouse so you could keep growing salads through the winter. I have on in Somerset and as a result had great toms and chillis, I like the look of your thin green peppers for next year. I am trying overwintering red and white onions this year, they keep the plot busy. Also trying to grow potatoes for Christmas in the greenhouse, not sure if they are going to work or not.

    Charles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those thin green peppers (long des Landes) are wonderful. Fried in olive oil with a small sprinkling of coarse sea salt, then allowed to cool, they are absolutely delicious.

      I once tried planting potatoes in September in a bucket. They were supposed to be ready for Christmas, but weren't.

      We don't really have greenhouses here. We grow summer stuff in summer then just go without in winter.

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  7. Your beautiful tribute to the charms and benefits of winter vegetable has completely convinced me to to buy some kale during my next farmers market visit. If I cook it with potatoes and butter and ...bacon, I will enjoy the meal. And the leftovers, too.

    From there my explorations of possible pairings will expand as the cold weather settles in.

    Thank you again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I prefer all the winter leafy veg's to all others. Kale is probably my favourite.

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  8. I'm looking forward to eating some good winter greens, like fresh cabbage and collards and turnip greens. They're always best after a frost or two, which we haven't had yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We had a tiny frost here, but only enough to kill off the tomato plants.

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  9. I really envy you the huge quantities of fresh veg all year. I am a great soup maker during the winter months - last week it was Boston bean soup with tomatoes, onions and pancetta. Tomorrow I intend to throw all the remaining root veg in the cold drawer in the fridge into a pan and make a large batch of root veg soup. Early in the week we had cocka-leekie. Nothing is as warming on the cold wet days we are having.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Compost Soup', that's the best. Recently I've been making potato and tomato soup with paprika; a Rick Stein recipe.

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  10. Your kale always looks amazing!! How do you keep it free from white butterflies or don't you have them in France. Even if I cover mine the jolly things still manage to get in somehow

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I cross my fingers. I do check under the leaves occasionally, and if I find signs that they've been around I just remove the offending leaf. I certainly would never use any preventative.

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  11. How fortunate that you still have veggies to brag about.

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  12. That first photo is outstanding. In the small thumbnail it almost looks like snow on the plant. The colors of red, green on the dark table with light spots. just beautiful.

    cheers, parsnip

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When cooked the water retains the beautiful colour, and the leaves themselves turn green. I keep the water for stock.

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