Abundant Herbs

We’re coming to the season where I think food needs to be fresh and light, and a key component of that kind of cooking is fresh herbs.

As with many of the other foods I have been writing about the main difficulty is in finding good supplies. My otherwise excellent local grocer has a good selection of fresh herbs, but they are all in chi-chi little packs and flown in from Israel.

The great thing with herbs is that, because you don’t need really vast amounts, it’s reasonably straightforward to grow most of what you might need. Many plants, like bay and rosemary, will be productive all year round. Others will miraculously re-appear each spring and a final special few you need to actively do something each year. But with very little ground available, or even a few decent sized pots, you can luxuriate in an abundance of seasonal herbs.

First, the stuff that’s always with you.

Put in a Bay tree. They can be expensive, so buy a small one and nurture it. Mine has been in 10 years now, and there is a lifetime’s supply of bay leaves on it. Fresh bay has a delightful herbaceous coffee and chocolate smell, and is in every way superior to dried. Potatoes roasted after being half-sliced and slivers of fresh bay inserted in the cuts are delicious.

Rosemary is another dependable garden herb. Good with roasts and other wintry stuff, in the summer it adds to a garrigue-y Mediterranean feel to marinades. If you have loads of it you can use the woodier sticks as the skewers for stuff for barbequing, imparting a lovely rosemary flavour. Sage and thyme too may make it through the winter intact, and if not will quickly re-appear in spring. Roasted vegetables tossed with these and maybe some garlic for the last 10 minutes or so are really lovely.

Next, the things you plant once, but which disappear in winter.

As winter first fades I have several weeks where I anxiously inspect the patches of ground where the marjoram, oregano, mint, sorrel and chives should be coming-up. Every year I confidently declare that all hope is lost, just in time for them to appear promptly the next week.

For most purposes marjoram and oregano are interchangeable, and having both isn’t necessary. My 2 x 1 foot patch of marjoram is amazingly productive. It thrives on vigorous cropping and comes back even faster. This week I cut the whole patch back and had such a huge volume of leaves I made pesto. Pesto is a great way of storing delicate herbs. In this case into the food processor went loads of marjoram (half filled the processor), a bit of parsley, a couple of fried finely chopped garlic cloves, some toasted pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil. This keeps well in the fridge with a covering of oil, and also freezes well. Delicious instant pasta sauce, also great as part of marinades, or tossed with stuff off the char grill or barbecue.

You need fresh mint for all sorts of obvious stuff, like tossing with butter and new potatoes, but also potentially for desserts like mint ice cream, where the mint is left to infuse in the custard. Great with a blackcurrant ripple through it. More on ice cream to follow…

Sorrel is a lovely herb, and hard to find fresh. It has a refreshing lemony tang. The young leaves are good as part of a green salad, but the older leaves cook down almost instantly and are fabulous quickly wilted before adding eggs for an omelette. Good for sauces too.

Chives have a lovely subtle flavour, and in abundant combination with mint and sorrel and a load of fresh spring vegetables make a really delicious spring vegetable soup – delicate, light and refreshing

Finally, the herbs that mostly need re-sowing each year.

I have great success with Rocket, which the slugs don’t seem to enjoy. Plant a variety labelled as ‘wild’ – the flavour is much better. A freshly-picked home-grown green salad is a simple joy.

Basil on the other hand appears to be slug opium and I struggle to grow it in the abundance I crave. Pots on windowsills are my only successes.

At the end of the season you can do some good work to see you through the winter. I know it’s all a bit country cottage, but if you cut abundant whole sprigs of sage, thyme and marjoram and hang them up in a dry place in the house they will dry and keep you in home-grown flavours through the winter.