I’m so excited and proud to officially announce the harvest of my baby bok choy.
This is happening at a time of the year (May 28) when it’s unheard of for me to be harvesting any crop. Usually, I’m scrambling trying to get things in the ground before Memorial Day. And since I live in Zone 5a (but treat it like I live in Zone 4 because you never know when the weather won’t cooperate) we only have so many growing days between the last frost of spring and the first frost of fall.
I truly feel like a real homesteader/farmer/gardener. I’ve been embracing more cold weather crops, getting them started early (like in March) as all the publications talk about and it’s paying off. It’s such a feeling of empowerment (to me) of taking something from a tiny seed and watching it grow to maturity. I never had children of my own so my plants and my pets have always been my children.
Bok Choy is part of the Chinese cabbage family and it’s a brassica – it’s in the same family as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts. It’s a cold weather crop that can tolerate cooler temperatures and ideally should be harvested before the real hot weather shows up as discussed above. I love it because it’s such a simple versatile veggie to prepare and can be eaten by itself or is a great addition to other dishes such as the one I’m going to share. It can be steamed, stir-fried, or braised by itself. It’s also PACKED with nutrition which is another reason I like it. It’s high in fiber which is great for digestive health. And it’s tasty.
One of my favorite recipes is a simple one that can be eaten breakfast, lunch, or dinner and I usually make a large skillet full of it so I have leftovers for the next day. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and yeast-free if you’re sensitive to any of those products. So here’s my process from start to finish (or farm to table to coin a phrase):
I take a sharp knife into the garden and cut the head of the bok choy at the base so I have the entire head harvested. Today I cut 2 heads off and put them in a grocery bag:
The inside of the leaves are very sandy and need to be washed. I put them in a large metal bowl and fill the bowl with water from the outside spigot. I swish the heads around and then dump the water on the ground. I repeat the process as many times as it takes to get all the sand off, usually 3 times. From there, it goes into the house and into the kitchen ready to use in my recipe.
This recipe is one that I made up. So the measurements for all the ingredients are not precise but are estimated and can be altered as you prefer.
The ingredients I’ve gathered for this preparation are:
- 3 small sweet potatoes
- 2 heads of bok choy
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 2 heads of garlic (I was out of garlic for this go around so I used 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use Himalayan Pink Salt for everything)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- coconut aminos
- coconut oil
Dice up the sweet potatoes, onions, and bok choy into small pieces. Wash off any remaining garden residue at this point on the bok choy. Keep all ingredients separate at this point.
Take a large nonstick skillet or wok and put about 3 heaping tablespoons or more of coconut oil in the pan and let it melt. Add the sweet potatoes and coat with the oil, then add the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Coat spices well with the sweet potatoes. Cook for about 1 minute. Add the onion and sauté for about 15 minutes, letting the potatoes get brown and the onions get caramelized.
Add the chopped-up bok choy and continue to sauté another 5 minutes or so until the bok choy gets tender.
Once it’s all brown and tender, take the coconut animos and pour about 3-4 teaspoons worth of liquid from the shaker bottle. I never measure it, I just shake it until I think it’s enough.
And there you have it. I had turkey meatloaf with the potato and bok choy recipe. It made for a very hearty and satisfying meal.
I’ll have the leftovers with scrambled eggs tomorrow for breakfast.
I hope you enjoyed reading about Cooking What You Grow | My Favorite Bok Choy Recipe. I plan on writing about how I use what I grow and sharing it with you regularly.
Do you have a favorite recipe from something that you’re growing in your garden? If so please share it in the comments. Or if you have a favorite recipe of any kind please feel free to share here.
Thanks for checking out this post. More later.