A few little essentials I couldn’t live without and herbs are so pretty I surround my outdoor table with herbs in just about every pretty container I can get my hands on and not only are they great to have at hand for cooking but also make for happy bees.
Basil perfect for lush tomato pasta sauces, essential for pesto, tasty addition to soup especially the stalks finely chopped and no tomato salad would be complete without freshly torn basil adorning the fatly sliced red discs.
Chamomile this is a pretty feathery herb, its flowers can be dried and used in tea, I’m never that patient but what I do like is chopped chamomile sprinkled onto freshly boiled and dripping with butter new potatoes….
Marjoram this is a lovely delicate taste and nearly always finds its way into my pizza sauces and is also lovely mixed into olive oil and smothered on fish prior to oven cooking
Rosemary a whimsical kitchen favourite, beautiful roasted with potatoes, gorgeous finely chopped and added to a risotto especially a mushroom and red wine based one. But most of all rosemary is very finely chopped, mixed with finely chopped garlic and lemon zest and dished up as gremolata sprinkled liberally onto slow cooked stews.
Lavender this has to be one of my all time favourite plants, I have loads of lavenders, I adore the smell when it rains or I brush past it as I walk, I love the way it keeps the bees happy. But most of all I love the flowers dried and pounded using pestle and mortar and mixed into whipped double cream lavishly sandwiched with lemon curd in the centre of a victoria sponge cake.
The lavender in whipped cream with lemon curd sounds delicious. I might just have to try that – something bit different to lavender biscuits.
@Garden Mum – it truly is delicious! But then I’ve never made lavender biscuits!
ooooh, love those ideas. I love herbs. Have potted all of mine recently. A kitchen isn’t complete without them.