Thursday, January 5, 2012

Herbs…Dinner’s Ready…

Oooh…Bertha got excited by the title…she…mistakenly…I might add…thought I was referring to sharing the kitchen with a couple of guys named Herb…
And while I admit that scenario could have been…spicy…it just isn’t the spicy I’m talking about…and identically named men brings up thoughts of Larry’s brothers…Darrell and Darrell…definitely not spicy…and I’m not sure what they would have added to the pot…but…I digress…
Growing up…we always had a large garden with fresh veggies…but…I’m almost embarrassed to say that my first remembrance of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme…was in a 60’s song…I loved the song…didn’t have a clue about the herbs…and now…I wonder if that was even what they were singing about…hmmm…
Okay…getting back on track…
Learning to cook…I remember the basics…besides salt and pepper…sage went in dressing…basil, oregano, and parsley in spaghetti sauce…and bay leaf in stew…all were purchased dried in a little yellow can…and kept for years…I may still have a few of them…okay…not really…it was a joke…geez…
I have no idea what precipitated the consciousness change leading to cooking with fresh…or good quality dried herbs…although it was probably from watching cooking shows…it happened slowly…one recipe at a time…Mama planted some oregano…I tasted it…started clipping it…dug up a piece to plant…
And before I could figure out how to spell bouillabaisse…and don’t laugh…it took me a while…even with spell check…my spelling attempt was so bad that all I got was ‘no suggestions’…I finally gave up and Googled…I love Google…but I digress…
I had an herb garden…with basil, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, lavender, oregano…and a few other friends thrown in…then I moved…
I dug up the tiny rosemary plant and two small lavenders…they moved with me…they are now huge…and are totally taking over my shrub bed…
Beyond that…I mostly have herb pots…lots of basil in the summer…cilantro is not my friend…can’t get it to grow…this year I had…dill…culantro…a little friendlier…with a similar flavor…thyme…mint…lemon balm…bee balm…catnip…oregano…some things I thought were edible…that turned out not to be…and yes…I found out before I ate them…
I’ll be the first to admit…I don’t know nearly enough about herbs…how to grow them…how to use them…but…I’m learning…I’ve bought books…but mostly…I rely on advice from my friend Bea…who has an organic herb farm…she always seems to know what to add to what…to make it a bit more special…and she saved me from the inedible sage
Case in point…I made my first attempt at French Onion Soup this week…yup…I haven’t been to the store in a while…starting to get creative…anyway…it was bland…she mentioned adding thyme and bay…now it is special
Bertha seems to have lost interest in my writing…and is heading to the kitchen for a bowl of that soup…she may not understand about herbs…but she does know what tastes good…
Jane

2 comments:

  1. Good Morning Jane, and thank you for the special mention...mostly, thank you for loving and embracing herbs!

    The education of growing, using, understanding, is a lifelong journey...so don't get comfortable with the "class is over" idea :)

    Enjoy the ride-I know you do~

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  2. Bea,

    I do enjoy the ride...with my herbs...with my cooking...and life in general...especially made better by having wonderful friends like you in my life...

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