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Posts tagged ‘herbs’

Dec 1

28 Comments

Spreenkle #7

Keeping our herbs fresh longer.

It’s been a long time since we had a little trivia from in and around spree’s kitchen. So here’s one for you (and there’s a stack of others in the wings.)

Basil hates the cold. There’s no softening the truth of it. Turns all black and soon slimy if put in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator. If it can’t be in the sun, basil likes being out on your counter, in the warmth of your kitchen. Give the stems a fresh cut, put them in a glass of tepid water, cover them with a plastic bag or cloche and they’ll last for days and days. They may be so happy they’ll put down roots.

Spreenkle#7-1

If you won’t be able to use your basil up before it starts to wither, you can puree it with olive oil, spoon into ice-cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, spill them into a zipping freezer bag where they’ll be happy for ages.

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On the other hand, Cilantro (aka fresh coriander) doesn’t seem to mind the cold of the fridge. But it does still prefer its stems in water. Give the stems a fresh trim, place them in a glass of water, cover them loosely with a plastic bag and place on a shelf in your fridge. They’ll be happy for a good week. (Possibly more.) Parsley (when asked) prefers the same treatment as cilantro.  If you can’t decide what to do with all that parsley within the week – try turning it into salsa verde! So easy to make, and it’ll freshen up just about anything you drizzle it on. Sage will be happy in a refrigerated & covered glass of water too. Best to change their water every couple days.

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Oct 28

ButtermilkBiscuitsHerbs-1-3
12 Comments

buttermilk biscuits – with a difference

If you’ve been following along, you may recall that one damp gray day it became necessary for me to bring indoors bushels of lemon verbena, listing badly in the rain. You may remember too that – as a happy consequence of this most deliciously fragrant herb having come indoors – our house now smelled like a commercial for the cleanest house on the block (which, no doubt, it wasn’t unless all my neighbors were having particularly messy days.) Anyway, I digress.

That day rather than clean the house, I opted instead to churn up some lemon verbena ice-cream, an impressively easy choice to make. I also dried a pint-jar full and with the rest, I made a lemon verbena sugar to store in the freezer for inspirations that might come later. I had plenty of this citrusy sugar to share and so I did.

Mike, our wonderful son-in-law and certainly one of the biggest foodies in the family – (and that’s not without considerable competition) – decided to incorporate some in his biscuits. What a great idea! And so the next time I made biscuits, I did the same. And they were wonderful! And then, not content to leave it at that, I had to try a different addition from the herb garden. And we loved those too, and so I share:  buttermilk biscuits – with fresh sage and orange zest. There will be a footnote on the lemon verbena variety but, because you can’t find that herb in your grocery store and will instead have to wait until next year when you plant your own, those biscuits won’t be the headliner here. (Don’t worry, I won’t let you forget to plan for it next summer.)

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Did you know there was such a thing as biscuit flour? I didn’t. It’s simply a flour milled from 100% soft winter wheat. But you can approximate it using equal parts of all-purpose flour and the lighter, softer cake or pastry flour. If you have cake flour by all means use it. If you don’t, not to worry. Just use the all-purpose flour but know that your biscuits won’t be quite as flaky and light as they might otherwise be. 

To top these you may want to try incorporating a drizzle of honey and a bit of orange zest into some softened butter — allow the whole of it to melt down the sides and be caught by your tongue, just in the nick of time!

Buttermilk Biscuits with Fresh Sage & Orange Zest

  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cups cake or white pastry flour
  • 4 teaspoons sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1¼ teaspoons salt
  • ¼teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 cup cold buttermilk
  • 3 large sage leaves, roughly chopped
  • the zest of one large orange

Preheat the oven to 425°F. If you have a cast-iron skillet, put it in the oven to bring it to the same temperature. If you don’t have one, use a cooking sheet instead. (The case for biscuits made in a cast-iron skillet is that the bottoms & tops will be lightly browned and crispy, but the sides, because they’re packed closely together, will be soft and tender.)

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Oct 11

DelicataSquash-3
5 Comments

delicata squash with rosemary, sage & apple cider glaze

Tonight’s dinner a simple oven-roasted chicken.  (There’s very little in fact that’s simpler than that. I love the leftovers it leaves us too, and I already have a plan for those Thursday.) With tonight’s chicken, a green salad of arugula,  sliced apples, blue cheese and toasted walnuts. Finally, the post of the day, delicata squash cooked in a skillet with cider and winter herbs. Active prep time for a dinner like this… minutes.

But first, I simply have to show you something. The other day I went to the store with my dear friend Carolyn and she pointed out an apple I’d never tried, not even seen before. Pink pearl. Now how can a person resist an apple (or, for that matter, almost any food) with a name like pink pearl? Being a curious eater, I couldn’t. On the outside, this apple wore the sweetest golden sunrise color, tinged with soft petal pink. It shone, almost iridescent, like the pearl from which it got its name.

But cut into it,

which almost hurts to do,

it’s so very beautiful,

and that’s when it hits you!

Surprise!

You weren’t expecting this, were you!? Oh, me neither!

And that leaves us  wondering, can the taste possibly measure up? It does! Tart-sweet, snappy and fairly squirting juice! What an apple! What an apple!

That’s the beauty that’s going into tonight’s salad. I’ll snap a picture when she’s done, and you’ll find it at the bottom of the post.

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Delicata Squash with Rosemary, Sage and Apple Cider Glaze

(serves 6)

  • 2 medium delicata squash (about 2 pounds) or other firm winter squash
  • 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
  • ¼ cup very coarsely chopped fresh sage
  • 1 Tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1½ cups fresh unfiltered apple cider or juice
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly-ground black pepper

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Jun 23

Roasted chicken on the grill
3 Comments

Roasted Whole Chicken on the Grill

This dinner all started with kumquats – even though, in the end, it had absolutely nothing to do with kumquats. Now that I think longer about it, this dinner actually started with going out to lunch and trying to avoid a parking ticket.

Maybe it’s just me…but sometimes I like to figure out exactly how I came to be where I am from where I’d just been. It’s often an odd, circuitous path to trace –  kind of like that “six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon” thing, if you know what I mean. Have you ever taken a long road trip with someone and after some lively conversation, there’s a period of prolonged but comfortable silence?  You think what you’re doing is watching the road or taking in all this amazing scenery, when actually, for some mysterious span of time, you’ve not been where you are at all, and suddenly out of your mouth comes something completely random and seemingly related to nothing. Do you ever then try to figure out (or even explain) how you came to be thinking that particular disjointed nonsensical thought? Well, this night’s dinner happened something like that.

Kumquats - having nothing to do with dinner

My husband and I have kind of a “custom” of going out to lunch on Saturdays. We’ll run a few errands and then pass the ball back and forth until one of us finally makes up our mind about where we’d like to eat, and then we sit across from one another talking about the week, news, politics…or sometimes something even more scintillating (if you can imagine!) We love our Saturdays together. Last week, we were following our usual practice and decided on a great little spot for lunch. We started to park in the lot across from the restaurant but realized it was designated for patrons of a grocery store. We parked there anyway –  but felt quite legal about it because we’d just drop into the market first, and then walk across the street for lunch. We had no real reason to be grocery shopping, other than ticket avoidance, but there we were.

The produce aisles always seduce me first, but for my husband, it’s the wine section. So we went our separate ways to meet up later. Weren’t kumquats all done for the season? I thought so, and had said my sad goodbyes – but no! There they were, and they were huge! – well, the biggest I’d ever seen.  I was downright delighted to see them and filled a small bag. My heart soon returned to its normal rhythm, but a little further down the aisle, the cutest little potatoes fanned out, in reds and yellows and purples! And they were smaller than the kumquats! Who ever heard of such a thing? I hadn’t, so I got handfuls of potatoes, simply because they were smaller than kumquats. And then, there was asparagus – now that’s gorgeous! That’ll be so good with those potatoes! I’ll do them together, with lemon and salt on the grill! Ah yes, the grill. Hmmm, I’ve never tried roasting a whole chicken on the grill before. I wonder if I can do that successfully? I think I’m just going to need to find that out!  And that is how I came to be here:

(You are so incredibly patient with me! Are you like this with everyone?)

Roasted Whole Chicken on the Grill

What I love about roasting a whole chicken: It’s far less expensive than buying the individual parts. It’s so straightforward and simple and after the first little bit, largely hands-off. It can be done in so many different and delicious ways…influences of French, Moroccan, Mediterranean, Spanish. Stuffed or not. Surrounded by vegetables of all different types. Sauce or not.  You can cook two at once with almost no additional labor. There’s (almost) always leftovers to turn into another meal. Then there’s the remnants that become a great stock for soups. And my husband loves it. So what’s not to like?

Cooking something on the grill for more than an hour at 400°F+ can only be done successfully using an indirect method. (In other words no coals or gas flames directly beneath the chicken.) So if you know how to cook on your grill using an indirect method, this will be easy! (If you don’t know how, just check the instructions from your grill’s manufacturer, or on line.)

Ingredients

  • 1 whole  chicken (preferably free-range, organic, humanely raised)
  • 2 lemons, 1 cut in half, the other juiced for basting
  • fresh herbs of your choice (rosemary, oregano, marjoram, parsley, sage, etc.)
  • whole garlic cloves, 2 or 3 or more, crushed but not minced
  • olive oil
  • salt & pepper

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Jun 21

Focaccia
1 Comment

Focaccia with Olive Oil and Rosemary

Focaccia, that sometimes wildly aromatic flat bread from Italy, can be made using many different herbs or flavorings. At the bottom of this recipe I’ll list several options that change it up quite a bit. If you have a stand mixer, this is an incredibly easy bread to make…and if you don’t, it’s only slightly more time-consuming. (Many food processors are large enough to accommodate it too.)

If your focaccia is around long enough to start to turn stale, you can slice it down the middle, fill it with the sandwich ingredients of your choice, including a good cheese (being sure to add some pesto to prove you’re part Italian) and make a grilled panini of it. Or turn it into croutons for your salad or for scattering on your soupa! If you haven’t made homemade bread before, this is a delicious (and pretty much fool-proof) place to start.

Focaccia with Olive Oil and Rosemary

  • 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1-1/2 cups warm water (115° to 115° F)
  • 1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra for greasing
  • 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 to 4-1/2 cups bread flour, plus extra as needed
  • Coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top
  • 1- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary (or more to suit your taste)

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of sugar over 1/2 cup of the water and stir to dissolve. Allow to stand at room temperature until the mixture is foamy (about 10 minutes.) Add the remaining water and sugar, 1/4 cup of the olive oil, the 1-1/2 tsp. salt and 1 cup of the flour. Beat on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add another cup of flour, and beat on medium-low for 2 minutes. Change to the dough hook attachment, and add the remaining flour, only 1/2 cup at a time, allowing each to incorporate before adding the next. You’re looking for a soft and, what is often described as, a “shaggy” dough to form that will start to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading on low speed, adding flour 1 Tablespoon at a time until the dough is only slightly sticky and nearly as soft as a baby’s bottom. (About 6 or 7 minutes probably.) Cover the bowl with a moist clean towel or plastic wrap and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

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