This time of year I make many of my recipes with fresh herbs because they are so abundantly available. These two recipes are quick and easy and give you a chance to use what is in season. Even if you don't have an herb garden all of these herbs can be easily gotten at the market.
Herbed Cheese Spread 2 tablespoons fresh thyme - chopped fine 2 tablespoons fresh sweet marjoram - chopped fine 4 tablespoons green onions - sliced fine 8 ounce package cream cheese at room temperature In a small bowl add the herbs, green onions and cream cheese. Mix together until well blended. Cover the top of the bowl with aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Serve this delicious spread with an assortment of crackers and breadsticks.
Chive Dip
This dip is a wonderful accompaniment to fresh raw vegetables such as carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and radishes. 1 cup plain yogurt 1 cup sour cream 1/4 cup fresh chives or garlic chives - snipped with scissors 1 tablespoon fresh sage - minced 2 cloves garlic - minced 1 ½ teaspoons garlic salt In a medium sized mixing bowl mix add all ingredients and...
I thought that was a great excuse to write about making herbal vinegars.They can only be done with fresh ingredients and this is the perfect time of year to use fresh herbs and make something that you can use now or save for winter when you want a fresh taste.Herbal Vinegar is the simplest and best way to capture the flavor of fresh herbs.
Create herbal vinegar by harvesting and washing a fist full of fresh herbs.Choose your favorite, but Basils, especially colored basil, thyme, lemon herbs and chives all make great tasting vinegar.Lay the herbs out to air dry after washing.Once they are dry place them in a glass jar and bruise them with the handle of a wooden spoon.Cover them with distilled white or white wine vinegar that you have warmed in the microwave on high for about 2 minutes.Seal the jar with a non-reactive (plastic) lid and let sit for at least two weeks shaking daily.
Strain and rebottle the herbs and use to make your favorite marinade or dressing.
My favorite culinary herbs -- Greek oregano, thyme, dwarf lavender, winter savory, common sage, tarragon, and exotic mints -- have as many uses in the garden as they have in the kitchen. These are mounding plants that have gree or gray-green foliage and grow between 6 inches and 2 feet tall. All of them fit nicely among annual flowers, perennials, vegetables and even evergreens.
Here are some attractive mates to these and other herbs:
Annuals: alyssum, dwarf nasturtiums, calendulas, zinnias, and marigolds.
Perennials: coreopsis, purple coneflowers, and all sorts of dianthus, geraniums, and yarrow.
Vegetables: peppers, eggplants, and bulbing fennel.
Evergreens: low shrubs, such as germander, and dwarf forms of boxwood, myrtle, and barberry.
Maybe you don't want an entire herb garden but the flavor and look of herbs appeals to you.... Then here are some tips you can use for incorporating herbs into a floral landscape.
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Mounding Habit
Herbs with small green-to-gray-green leaves and a mounding habit-namely, Greek oregano, sweet marjoram, French thyme, creeping winter savory, common sage, tarragon, and spearmint-work well as background plants that complement brighter colored flowers.
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Color and Texture plants
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Herbs with unusual colors and forms-such as common chives, with its tubular, grasslike foliage and lavender flowers, and Chinese chives, which has straplike leaves and white flowers-make showy accent plants. I'm especially partial to one of their relatives: society garlic, which has straplike leaves and bears tall spikes of lavender flowers from May through October. This plant is bulletproof in my Los Altos, California, garden (USDA Zone 9), and its flowers taste great in salads. I also gravitate toward the ornamental sages 'Icterina,' 'Tricolor,' and 'Purpurascens', which make lovely stand-alone plants .
Not all perennial herbs are good in containers.Some grow too large or too vigorously for the confining space.Others do well in a pot or window box.
When choosing perennials for the container, try dwarf varieties or hybrids which generally have all the flavor and scent of the original cultivar, but often have a more decorative leaf and generally a smaller growing habit.
Here are a few of my most favorite:
Tricolor Sage -- a smaller version of sage with a variegated leaf of gold and green with a red stem that has smaller leaves and a less woody stem.Nice in a large window box or as a focal point in a round pot.If you are planting it in a container 12 to 18 inches in diameter, you must plant it alone as it will have a large root system that will choke out other plants if the pot is too small.They are shorter, growing only 8 to 10 inches the first year.
Prostrate Rosemary – Usually the genus name is Rosmariius Irene, long arms with flexible stems and a habit that causes it to fall over...
