On Saturday I gathered my first few leaves of arugula sylvetta from some plants that had overwintered in the garden. Last year my first harvest came in April, and it was from some incredibly hardy overwintered Tuscan kale that put out a few small new leaves before going to seed. As usual, the chives are up an' at 'em early as well. I decided that pizza night would put this tiny harvest to best use.In the interest of my resolution to keep better harvest records this year, I duly weighed that harvest. My baking scale of course couldn't handle such trivial quantities, so I had to get out the tiny metric scale. I'd harvested a whopping 5 grams each of arugula and chives. I felt pretty silly about this. But there it is, nonetheless, on my side bar: my first harvest tally of the year.
We added other things from our garden to the thin crust pizzas we made. Each one had a different combination of last year's smoked cherry tomatoes, pesto made from our homegrown purple basil and garlic, the freshly harvested arugula and chives, cheese, and some of the local pastured bacon I bartered for recently. The pesto and the smoked cherry tomatoes had both been frozen. I like to make these tiny pizzas because they cook in about four minutes on a baking stone, and we can try lots of different toppings. Except for the chives, this one pretty much has it all:
It's best to add the arugula when the pizza comes out of the oven, and just let wilt a bit. Some of the cherry tomatoes were still juicy enough to squirt warm tomato juice on our faces when we bit into them. Ooops! Is that too much like food porn for a family blog?
I'm looking forward to when more of our harvest ingredients are from this year. Have any of you northern folks managed to have a harvest meal yet? Do tell!
12 comments:
mmmmmmmmm....pizza.....looks yummy! I'm so into new pizza ideas lately!
No harvesting in Quebec yet, we still have a few feet of snow that hasn't melted, boo hoo. But I did make a nice pizza the other day with Gorgonzola, mozzerella and butternut squash!
Here in northern IL we have lots of watercress. I`m waiting for mthe first dandelions
That does look yummy. I really enjoyed your post about meat rabbits. Thanks for sharing what you learned!
I just found your blog but now I can't remember how I got here! It's wonderful. :) You have so many interesting topics!
Today in Minnesota it's snowing heavily. Looks like December all over again! The best part about snow this time of the year is that it doesn't stick around too long. Thank goodness!
Your pizza looks wonderful and makes me think we should have that for dinner today!
i just finished the last little bit of the pizza i made for lunch. there's something so affirming and satisfying about putting together your own meals from foods that you have harvested, stored and made
Mmm that looks wonderful!!!
I'm so excited, my chives just started poking up through the dirt!! It's wont be long before I start my first garden, and fresh wonderful pizzas on the grill. :) You have me so excited!!!
We are lucky in the Northwest, coastal areas where we can grow lettuces, arugula, chives, kale all winter long. Arugula will self seed and reward you with lots of pleasant surprises, excellent on pizza. Great sharing with you.
I've used thinnings from lettuce, kale and arugula in my salads. Does that count? :-)
Those mini-pizzas look lovely. Something similar may become tomorrow's dinner!
Kate, this post brought a huge smile to my face...it sounds just like something I'd do; weigh tiny amounts of my first harvest. There's nothing quite like that first harvest, no matter how small, we just usually fight over who gets it!
Thanks for all the lovely comments, everyone! I love hearing about what others have in their garden - watercress, dandelions, winter lettuce....mmmm! Safira, of course salads count! Blaithin, I'm trying not to feel ridiculous about measuring these tiny harvests. I keep telling myself that this will be a baseline to improve against next year so long as we get the cold frames built this year.
i love your blog! i am just stating one of my own....octoberfarm....! i have turned my very formal backyard into a raised bed garden this year. i am planning on eating as much as i can from it and giving the rest to friends. i live right in the city so this should be fun! your pizzas look yummy. how do you make your smoked cherry tomatoes? joyce
Thanks, Joyce. I have edited this post to make the reference to the smoked cherry tomatoes a link. I posted about them last summer when I had a cherry tomato glut. Have a look at that post and let me know if you have any further questions.
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