Christmas harvests

There is not much for me to harvest from the garden just now, but I do try hard to ensure that there is always something available.

On Christmas Eve I harvested a batch of Parsnips, which were duly roasted and served with our turkey on Christmas Day. It was much easier digging them up than it was doing the same task last year. In December 2010 we had a very cold spell and the soil was frozen hard. This year I was able to pull up the parsnips easily by hand, without even having to use the garden fork.

In the basket with the parsnips here is a bunch of leaves from the Hamburg Parsley. Jane used these in the stuffing for the turkey.

Apart from a few salad greens, my only other harvest during the week was this rather pathetic red cabbage.

It had been growing at a snail's pace for months, and I didn't think it would get significantly bigger. Just in case you are under any illusions about HOW small it was, let me show it to you placed next to a Walnut!

See? Small!

This year I only found room to plant three red cabbages. One was OK (harvested 13th Oct), then there was the one I've just described, but the third one (next photo) has steadfastly refused to produce any heart at all and will probably be discarded soon.

Raggedy old leaves and no discernible heart at all.

This variety is "Marner Langerrot", and I'm not impressed with it. Last year it was also disappointing, if not quite so poor. Next year I will be trying a different variety.

Anyway, even a small Red Cabbage gives you an opportunity for an interesting and colourful salad. Here it is shredded (raw) and combined with grated raw carrots and some toasted Pecan nuts. This salad scores well on colour, texture and taste. We served it as an accompaniment to Turkey and Leek risotto, with a dressing made with Walnut oil and Cassis (blackcurrant) vinegar.

In close-up the colour contrasts are even more striking!