Jim Long's Recipes

Rose Petal Cake Recipe

2012-01-14T10:36:00.001-06:00

The official Herb of the Year for 2012 is the Rose. For more information and recipes using roses, go my Herb of the Year blog: http://herboftheyear.blogspot.com

This is a revised version of my Rose Petal Cake from my How to Eat a Rose book. You're welcome to share the recipe, just give me credit, please.

Rose Petal Cake

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup milk
3 egg whites
1 tablespoon run or brandy (optional)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fragrant rose petals
1/2 cup sliced raw almonds
2 teaspoons food grade rose water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Then add the milk, egg whites and brandy or rum and mix well. Stir in the rose petals, almonds and rose water. Bake in 2 greased, floured 9 inch cake pans for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Rose Icing

2 cups whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon rose water
14 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Drop of red food coloring
Petals from 3 fragrant pink or red roes
Candies rose petals, optional

Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Slowly add the powdered sugar, rose water and vanilla and continue beating until fully whipped. Spread between the two layers of the cake, then cover the cake with the remaining icing. Sprinkle with rose petals and candied rose petals. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Here's an excellent source for food-grade (meaning edible) rose water. It's made in Fredericksbug, TX and you can order it by mail: urbanherbals.com

I offer this book to rose, herb and garden groups who want to sell it at a profit at their events and fundraisers. Call our office for wholesale prices. Minimum order is 6 books. Call the office: 417-779-5450 and Billie or Neva will be happy to take your order or answer any questions you have. Regular retail is $5.95.

You can see the book here, as well as on my YouTube video channel.

Rose Petal Cake

2012-01-09T17:08:00.000-06:00

Ok, this isn't what the cake actually looks like. We ate the cake before I could get a photo!

This is a revised version of my Rose Petal Cake in the How to Eat a Rose book. You're welcome to share the recipe, just give me credit, please.

Rose Petal Cake

Rose Icing

Crustless Quiche

2011-11-21T19:29:00.002-06:00

Fresh spinach, greens and green onions from the cold frame.

Last night I looked in the cold frame for some ideas for supper. What I really wanted was turkey and dressing. That's about my favorite meal of the year, a turkey big enough to have lots and lots of leftovers. Turkey pot pie. Turkey sandwiches. Turkey hash. And finally, turkey soup from the bones.

But... it's not Thanksgiving yet and I wasn't going to cook a turkey just for supper for the 3 of us. So, back to the cold frame search. I chose a colander full of spinach, I had some ham in the refrigerator, I'd make a quiche. Barbara and Josh both like quiche.

One of my medicines (Cyclosporine), which is one of the anti-rejection drugs I have to take in order to keep my kidney, has pushed me to the border of type 2 diabetes. What that means, if you don't know about such things, is to get extra exercise and eat little or no white foods. Why white, you may wonder? White foods include bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, sugar, pastries, and yes, pie crust. I can eat a small amount, but the less I eat, the better for my health and quitting the anti-rejection drugs isn't an option. So I decided to make a no-crust quiche. I've done it before but I never write the recipe down. Maybe if I put it here, I'll remember for next time.

I started with 6 cups of fresh spinach leaves and put them in a glass bowl in the microwave. I pushed the "vegetables" button and let the microwave wilt the greens. While the microwave was doing its work I chopped a heaping tablespoon of onions and about half that amount of chives. Green onions work just as well. When the spinach was wilted, I drained the liquid and set it aside.

In a bowl I beat 4 eggs and added 1 large can of evaporated milk. I added a tablespoon of cooking sherry and about 1/4 teaspoon of hot sauce. Next I grated 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and mixed it in.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F. I have a favorite clay, deep dish pie pan from Hess Pottery (you may remember my earlier postings about them at the Reeds Spring Farmers Market; they've had national publicity for their perfect-baking pie pans) and sprayed it heavily with olive oi. I put a layer of already cooked and coarsely chopped bacon - 3 slices in all. On top of that I spread the wilted spinach leaves. I poured in the egg/milk and cheddar mixture and added 1 cup of diced ham and stirred in around slightly.

Tom Hess' pie plates bake perfectly on the bottom of the plate better than any others I've found.

The quiche baked for about 40 minutes then I checked to see if it was done by inserting a knife blade in the center. It needed to cook another 5 minutes, then I let it set for about 10 minutes while I got a salad ready - also from the cold frame.

And there it is, no crust quiche, easy and out of the garden. Here's the list of ingredients in case you missed them in the text:

See, it really doesn't need a crust.

No-Crust Ham and Spinach Quiche

6 cups fresh spinach, wilted and drained (or you can substitute 1 1/2 cups frozen, thawed and drained)
4 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 slices cooked and cut up bacon
1 cup diced ham
1 tablespoon cooking sherry or brandy
1/4 teaspoon any brand hot sauce
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons green onions
Salt and pepper to taste

A pretty healthy dish. Spinach, onions and eggs, all came from right here on the farm.

Fish House Style Green Tomato Pickles

2011-10-31T08:24:00.002-05:00

This week I've been picking as much of the garden produce as I can before a killing frost comes. We've had 2 light frosts but even the basil plants haven't been hurt much. Yet. After a summer of drought and heat and low tomato and pepper production, those plants have gone into high gear, trying to catch up on production.

Adam, who I have written about here many times, left us with a fabulous fall garden. Too bad he didn't get to enjoy such lushness during the summer when he was farming the garden and selling at local farmers markets. (Adam left in mid September to work on a farm in Maryland for the winter; that farm sells at the DuPont Circle farmers market the year around).

Ten pints of fish house green tomato pickles.

I've spent the day today, putting up some of the excess produce. With all the green tomatoes, I wanted to use the smaller ones for fish house green tomato pickles. They're a favorite in the catfish restaurants in the South and it's a great way to use up some of the tomatoes. Josh plans on making green tomato mincemeat, too, for pies this winter.

Tomatoes ripening in the window.

The larger green tomatoes will simply stay on the kitchen windowsill where they will slowly ripen over the few weeks. (I've used the wrap-in-newspaper method, which is a hassle, also the put-in-the-basement method, also a hassle to check every couple of days; on the windowsill, where I see the tomatoes every day, is the easiest and simplest and works just fine. Some years we have the last of our summer's ripe tomatoes on Christmas Day. However on the windowsill, the tomatoes ripen a lot faster).

You can use green tomatoes in any recipe that calls for ripe tomatoes, too.

Here's the recipe in case you want to use up your green tomatoes:

Catfish-House Green Tomato Pickles

2 quarts quartered green tomatoes
2 cups chopped onion - about two onions
1/3 cup chopped hot peppers
1/3 cup chopped sweet red bell peppers
2 (scant) cups sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons salt
3 cups white vinegar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon yellow mustard seed

Combine ingredients in a large cooking pan and bring to a boil. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. Ladle into hot, sterile jars, wipe lip edge of jars, screw on hot, new jar rings and flats and lightly tighten. Place into a boiling water bath, with at least 1/2 inch of water above the jar lids. Bring to a boil and keep slowly boiling for 15 minutes (for pints). Remove and cool on a towel. Don't tinker with the lids, they will seal in a few minutes. Let cool overnight then label and store in the pantry. These are best after the flavors have matured, about 2 weeks or more.

Green Tomato Hot Sauce for Canning

2011-10-23T18:38:00.001-05:00

The hot sauce and the salsa are the same recipe, just processed differently.

I have a lot of green tomatoes, harvested in advance of the freeze that's coming. The larger ones are on the windowsill to slowly ripen over the next couple of months. Some are reserved for Josh's green tomato mincemeat, and some have been made into Fish House Green Tomato Pickles (for the recipe, go to my garden blog).

Green tomatoes with a few ripe cherry tomatoes.

Green tomatoes can be used in salsa recipes. They're more acidic (a good thing when you're canning) than ripe tomatoes, and they still have a tomatoey flavor. So the base of this recipe is green tomatoes, with a lot of hot peppers. I used a variety of peppers, including scorpion, yellow bhut jalokia, jalapeno, cayenne and seranno, plus some sweet New Mexico peppers. I divided the recipe in half, after cooking, and processed some into hot sauce and kept the rest for green tomato salsa. Here's the recipe.

I used a variety of hot pepper varieties in this recipe.

Green Tomato Hot Sauce and Salsa

2 1/2 pounds green tomatoes, quartered
2 yellow onions, cut up
Mixed hot peppers, seeded (if you wish), cut up to make about 1 cup or more
2 large red bell peppers or 1 large New Mexico sweet pepper
6 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Juice of 3 limes
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 sprigs Mexican oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried regular oregano)
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons dry, ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Combine ingredients in batches in the food processor, coarsely chopping.

Don't over-process the ingredients.

Pour the chopped ingredients into a cooking pan and bring to a simmer, cooking for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Hot jars, ready for filling. They'll go back into the pan for processing.

Ladle into hot, sterilized canning jars, attach hot, new jar rings and flats and tighten moderately. Lower into a hot water bath with at least 1/2 inch of water over the tops. Bring to a boil and begin timing. Let slowly boil for 15 minutes. Remove from hot water bath and cool on dry towels.

I divided this recipe in half when it was cooked and ready to can. I put half of the salsa into a blender and blended to a sauce and canned that. The remaining batch I canned as salsa. Both have the same flavor and heat, but I'll use them differently. Sauce goes on eggs, salsa goes on burritos and everything else.

Hot sauce and salsa, great way to use up green tomatoes.

How to Freeze Pesto

2011-10-19T10:54:00.002-05:00

Rows of sweet basil in our garden.

With predictions of frost in our area in the next week or so, friends have been thinking about ways to preserve basil. It doesn't have to actually frost, for basil to drop its leaves, just a very chilly night and the leaves start falling. I know my friends have been thinking, "pesto" because I've gotten 2 phone calls and an email, asking for a good pesto recipe. Here's my favorite and it can be frozen and kept for the winter months. Just fill ice cube trays with the fresh pesto, freeze, then pop out the pesto cubes into plastic bags and keep frozen until ready to use. And there's asimple trick to keeping frozen pesto tasting fresh (below).

Freezer Pesto

4 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons almonds or walnuts (you could use pine nuts, they're more expensive, but I like almonds better)
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put everything into the food processor and blend ingredients until smooth. Scrape the edges to make sure everything has been processed.
Pour the mixture into ice cube trays, filling each section. Freeze for 24 hours, then pop out the cubes into Zip-Lock bags and keep frozen.

Now the trick. When you are ready to use pesto, combine it with half Romano, half Parmesan cheese, freshly grated if possible. Since those cheeses don't freeze well, the flavor of your pesto will stay much fresher if you don't put the cheese in the pesto before freezing.

Rose and Basil Pesto
Roses and basil taste great together!

2 cups fresh basil
1 cup fragrant *rose petals
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup pine nuts (I prefer walnuts)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon food grade rose water
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (don't substitute bottled juice)
1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/4 cup Romano cheese, freshly grated
Salt, optional

Peel and coarsely chop garlic, then add rose petals, basil, nuts and olive oil in food processor. Pulse blend until everything is well pulverized.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well. This can be stored for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.

*If you aren't sure what roses you can use, visit my YouTube video for tips on using roses in food.

You'll find more of my videos at http://youtube/longcreekherbs/ as well.

You might also enjoy my book, How to Eat a Rose, available from my website.

Another suggestion about pesto. Collect the leaves from plants that aren't blooming, the flavor will be better. Lemon basil is tasty mixed with sweet basil or any of the varieties. Thai basil is the least interesting basil for pesto, but even that works if you've kept the flowers clipped off.

Sweet basil is one of the best flavored basils for pesto. Clip off and discard the flower stalks.

Lemon basil gives a fresh flavor to pesto, so use it in combination with other basils if you have it.

German Potato Salad, DayliliesGerm

2011-07-10T09:40:00.000-05:00

Barbara Young and her cucumber crop.

Josh and his mother, Barbara, made it back from Rhode Island yesterday. They'd driven my books and products to Pittsburgh, PA where I was speaking at the Herb Society of American conference. I flew home and they drove on to Rhode Island where the Young family had lived. Barbara hadn't been back to visit in nearly 10 years so it was fun for her to see relatives and friends. That's Barbara, below, with her Photoshop cucumber, obviously having more luck than we are here. Cucumber beetles wiped out several melons in just 2 days and are hard at work on the cucumbers. It's discouraging, as you can imagine. Nothing stops cucumber beetles (and no, don't suggest what someone last year did; we're organic, I'm not going to call an exterminator and spray the garden). Here's another of Barbara's giant Photoshopped vegetables.

Giant tomato, as created by Barbara's grandson, Christopher Young.

Heat is hovering in the upper 90s every day and we are getting serious about needing some rain. Constant watering, using drip irrigation and over-head, as well, keeps things alive but doesn't satisfy the plants like a soaking rain would. It's hard to believe we were inundated with rains and flooding less than 2 months ago and now we're getting desperate for moisture. Lady bugs are keeping up with aphids and other critters but they're no match for the bigger pests like the cucumber beetles, squash bugs and squash vine borers.

Lady bug on a native Solanum plant.

Here's a spotted cucumber beetle, in the photo below, taste-testing a winter squash leaf. Not even birds or chickens will eat these little yellow and black spotted critters.

Such a little bug, the same size as the lady bug, but one's helpful, and this one is a threat to crops.

The potatoes are nearly all dug, most have been sold at the farmers markets on Friday and Saturday night. We may try to plant a fall crop in a week or two. Friends told us they always plant their fall crop of potatoes in mid July so I think we'll give it a try.

Red potatoes, ready for market at a friend's house.

We had a very good crop of fingerling potatoes earlier (those aren't fingerlings, above, those are red potatoes). One favorite of the fingerlings is Anna Cheeka's Odette, one of the best for making German potato salad. Fingerling potatoes stay firm when cooked and aren't mealy, which means they don't break up into mashed potatoes when you make potato salad. Here's the recipe I like:

German Potato Salad

l pound fingerling potatoes, (or substitute German butterball or Yukon), skins left on
8-10 slices bacon
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 T. sugar

Put the potatoes in a steamer or double boiler and cook over salted water for about 30 minutes or until tender when forked. Let the potatoes cool, reserving 1 1/4 cups of the salted cooking water.

Fry the bacon over medium heat until nearly crisp but still bendable. Remove bacon from pan and cut into 1 inch pieces. Leave bacon fat in the pan. (Bacon drippings, after all, are "America's olive oil!")

Reduce skillet heat to low and add the chopped onion, cooking until soft. Raise heat to medium, sift flour into the onions, stirring for about 5 minutes to make a roux. Let the flour and fat become well bound together and lightly brown in color.

Slowly add the vinegar to the roux, stirring steadily until the sauce thickens. Next, add the potato water, also slowly, stirring constantly until the sauce is thickened. Add the sugar, stirring until dissolved.

Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes and add the sauce, tossing with the bacon pieces. Mix gently. Best served immediately while still hot.

Summer here at Long Creek Herbs means daylilies and we have several colors. Here's one of the orange doubles...

And this white one was a new one last year.

And one more, for contrast.

Rose Butter-2

2011-07-10T09:35:00.002-05:00

Both pretty, and food!

There are lots of kinds of roses that are also wonderful seasoning and decorative herbs. How do you know which ones to eat? (Click this link to see my YouTube video on eating roses: http://www.youtube.com/longcreekherbs).

1-Don't eat roses from a florist shop. Those have been highly sprayed with insecticides. Additionally, they have little fragrance, and thus, no flavor.

2-Don't eat roses from your own garden if you are using systemic fertilizers - those include insecticides that are taken up by the rose bush with the fertilizer, and dispersed throughout the leaves and flowers.

Other than that, if the roses are un-sprayed, and have good fragrance, they will also have good flavor and are good to eat.

Roses are related to apples and several other fruits, all edible plants.

Rose butter, made with very fragrant dark pink roses. It's delicious on any good bread!

An easy way to start eating roses is by making rose butter.

Start with a pound of unsalted butter (don't substitute margarine, use real butter for this, your taste buds will thank you). Let it come to room temperature or soften it slightly in the microwave but do not let it melt.

Gather a heaping cup full of fragrant rose petals in the morning, after the dew has evaporated but before the heat of the day. Why? Because the rose oils are strongest then and the flavor will be the best.

Chop up the rose petals, or put them in a blender and gently pulse-blend until the petals are finely chopped.

Combine the finely chopped rose petals and the butter and mix well. Form the butter into a mound, add whole, fresh rose petals to the outside, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. The flavors will be best after about 24 hours or overnight.

Food grade rose water is available in many whole foods stores.

Note, if you are using red rose petals, most red rose varieties have little flavor or fragrance ('Mr. Lincoln', a hybrid tea, is an exception, it has pretty good fragrance and flavor. But if you want rose butter and your roses aren't the tastiest, add 2 teaspoons of food grade rose water as you are mixing the rose petals into the butter.

Banana Salsa

2011-06-12T13:13:00.001-05:00

If this is what you think of when you think, salsa, then you're in for a treat!

Every time I give a Sensational Salsas workshop, I ask the participants to vote on which of the 3 salsas I demonstrate are their favorite. Every time, and to everyone's surprise, the taste-tests reveal Banana Salsa to be the favorite.

White Grape-Mint Salsa is a cool, refreshing dip for chips in summer.

The three salsas I talk and about demonstrate are: White Grape and Mint Salsa, Canteloupe Salsa and Banana. Sometimes I include Peach-Mango Salsa if peaches are in season. Even then, Banana wins!

You can always use these salsas with your favorite chips, but I like to use them as toppings for grilled fish, as a dip for shrimp, or layered in a wrap with lettuce and grilled chicken. The Banana is so tasty we seldom get beyond using it with chips, but try it on grilled salmon, or as a relish side-dish with curried shrimp.

Here's the recipe. The ingredients may not't sound that appealing, but when you get them all together - yumm.

Serve Banana Salsa with your favorite chips, or as a relish with grilled fish.

Banana Salsa

2 not-fully-ripe bananas, cut in pieces
1/2 cup red bell pepper, cut in pieces
1/2 cup green bell pepper, cut in pieces
1/2 habanero pepper, seeds removed, cut in pieces
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, minced (don't substitute dried ginger)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 to 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Salt, optional

I use a hand-cranked, plastic food chopper ($3 at yard sales, $12 new at places like K-Mart) but you can also use a regular food processor. Either way, put the ingredients in the bowl of the chopper/processor and pulse chop until everything is blended but still coarsely chopped. Let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes for flavors to combine, or refrigerate for an hour or more, then return to room temperature before serving.

If you would like more of my salsa recipes, order my book, Sensational Salsas, from Apple to Zucchini here, on my website.

Banana Salsa can be made as hot or as mild as you wish. I like it hot!

Lavender Cookies

2011-04-23T16:43:00.001-05:00

Lavender flowers give wonderful flavor to cookies. Even people who say they don't like all that "herby stuff" like these. They're so easy to make, it only takes minutes. I use the food processor and unless you're a cookie purist, you'll never know that I used shortcuts and simple methods. Here's the recipe.

Jim's Lavender Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup additional sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 3 Tablespoons dry lavender flowers in the food processor and pulse blend until the flowers are well chopped. Set aside.

Cream the butter and 1 cup of flour in the food processor until the sugar is well dissolved. Add the remaining ingredients, including the sugar-lavender mixture and pulse blend just until the dough is mixed.

Roll each ball in the additional sugar, then place on an oiled cookie sheet and bake at 37

Roll out the dough in golf ball-sized balls in your hands, then roll that in the reserved sugar and place about 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown. Bake a minute longer if you like dryer cookies, or take out at the 8-9 min. mark for softer, chewier cookies.

Makes about 16 cookies.

How to Eat a Rose

2010-08-17T16:11:00.003-05:00

A few tips for eating roses:

Never use roses from a florist, they are heavily sprayed and fertilized, neither of which you want to eat. And, florist roses have little fragrance and even less flavor. Instead, choose roses you grow yourself. Use roses that are fragrant (pinks and yellows often have the most fragrance and flavor) and that have not been sprayed with insecticide. Any rose is edible, just choose the ones that are the most fragrant because those will have the best flavor, too.

Rose and Raspberry Salad Dressing

This is easy, quick and is a great dipping sauce for fruit slices, too.

1/2 cup raspberry yogurt
1/2 teaspoon food grade rose water
2 teaspoons milk or water 1 tablespoon finely chopped fragrant rose petals

Blend together well and serve over mixed salad greens like the traditional bitter/mild European mixes.

Rose Tea Sandwich

This works well for weddings, teas, even children's birthday or tea parties!

Slice angel food cake into 1/2 inch thick slices. Spread one slide of the slice with softened cream cheese (or you can use butter). Layer that with lots of rose petals, mixing colors if you have them. Add another slice of angle food cake spread with cream cheese or butter and make a sandwich. Cut the sandwich into smaller triangles and serve with rose tea.

Rose and Black Tea

(Use dried or fresh rose petals for this)

1 tea bag, black tea, like Liptons or Luzianne
1 heaping tablespoon fresh rose petals or 2 teaspoons dry

Pour 1 cup boiling water over the tea and roses. Cover with a saucer and let steep for 5 min- utes. Sweeten with honey if desired.

Tip: Pick fresh roses in mid morning, after the dew has left but before the heat of the day and pull the petals off, placing them in plastic sandwich bags in the refrigerator; they will keep for up to a week without wilting.

How to Eat a Rose is available from my website: http://www.Longcreekherbs.com

Tiny Rose Cookies

Dainty little nibbles for tea time.

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons rose water
Tiny pinch of mace (less than 1/8 teaspoon)

Mix ingredients and blend thoroughly. Drop well apart like small marbles on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 370 degrees F. for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Makes approximately 30 little cookies.

More my recipes for eating roses can be found in my book, How to Eat a Rose, from my website: www.LongCreekHerbs.com. Visit my garden blog for weekly updates on the garden at: http://jimlongsgarden.blogspot.com.

Cucumber Soup with Dill

2010-07-06T12:33:00.003-05:00

I make this every summer and our family loves it. It's a great way to use up excess cucumbers.

Jim Long's Summer Cucumber Soup
Peel and slice 5 medium cucumbers, setting aside half the mixture.
Peel and slice 1 medium onion
2 teaspoons light vegetable oil

In a skillet, using the 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, saute half of the cucumbers and all of the onion until the onion is tender. Drain and let cool.

Put the cucumber/onion saute in a food processor and pulse blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl.
Place the remaining cucumbers in the food processor and to that add:
1 cup sour cream
4 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon freshly chopped dill
1 teaspoon any brand hot sauce (don't leave it out, it adds flavor, not heat)
Dash salt

Process until smooth, then add to the cooked cucumbers/onions. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving. Add freshly chopped dill and chopped cucumber as a topping on the bowls of soup. (I usually chill the bowls or cups, too).

Dill, Herb of the Year 2010

2009-12-02T14:12:00.005-06:00

To find lots more dill recipes and lots of information about the Herb of the Year, go to my Herb of the Year blog. And my books, Homemade Crackers Using Herbs and Great Dips Using Herbs both have several dill recipes for dips, crackers, etc.

Pickled Dill Green Beans

2 lbs. stemmed young and tender green beans

Pack the beans lengthwise in jars leaving 1/4 inch headroom and in each jar add:

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or a 1 inch piece of your favorite hot pepper
1 clove garlic
1 small head of dill or 1 1/2 Tablespoon dill seed

Mix together the following in a saucepan:

2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Bring to boil, pour over the bean-packed jars, leaving 1/4 inch headroom. Seal jars and process 15 minutes in boiling water bath.

Makes 4 pints.

Dill & Lemon Mayonnaise

1/2 cup light mayonnaise (like Hellmans)
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Optional: Dash salt & pepper to taste and 1 or 2 drops tobasco sauce

Directions:
In small bowl stir mayonnaise, dill, parsley and lemon juice and optional ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with grilled or roasted meats, poultry, seafood or as a delicious dip for vegetables. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Tips for seasoning with dill:
Dill seeds have a robust flavor, so use sparingly.
Dill leaves can be dried or frozen. Simply trim off some with scissors as needed.
Dill can be frozen in little zipper plastic bags for up to 6 months. Simply take out what you need and keep the rest frozen until later.
One tablespoon chopped fresh dill equals 1 teaspoon dried dill weed.
One half ounce fresh dill equals about one half cup of leaves.

To see more of what I grow in my garden, people and gardens I visit and more: http://jimlongsgarden.blogspot.com. Questions and comments always welcome by email through my website. Happy gardening!

Pumpkin Martini; Ginger Martini

2009-11-08T09:29:00.004-06:00

This is my adaptation of a recipe created by Felix Albano, The bar at Fifty Seven Fifty Seven, New York City.

Pumpkin Martini

3 ounces Infused Spiced Pumpkin Vodka
1 ounce Amaretto
Candied ginger on toothpick for garnish

Directions: Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice.
Stir gently and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Ginger Martini
I'm not a big fan of martinis, but I am a fan of ginger and this is a nicely snappy martini for any fall get together. I found this on the Food Network and made some slight changes to suit my own tastes.

You can find ginger syrup at specialty food stores but it's easy to make it yourself and it will keep in the refrigerator for about a week. Make the syrup yourself, it tastes better than the store-bought kind.

Ginger Martini

Ice
3 ounces vodka
1-2 tablespoons ginger syrup*
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
Twist of lemon or lime

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
Add the vodka, ginger syrup, and lime juice.
Cover and shake vigorously, or stir, until combined and chilled, about 30 seconds.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add twist and serve.
Servings: One ginger martini

*Ginger Syrup

1 lemon
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh ginger, peeled, about 8 ounces
1 cup sugar
2 cups water

Remove the outer peel of the lemon with a vegetable peeler, taking care not to include too much of the bitter white pith.
Finely chop the lemon peel and ginger in a food processor.
Transfer the lemon-ginger mixture to a medium saucepan, add the sugar and water and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture and cool.
Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Makes 2 cups.

Ginger syrup is good over vanilla ice cream. I use a tablespoon in a glass of ice and fill with water for a great iced ginger tea.

Slow Foods Dinner in August

2008-08-11T15:28:00.009-05:00

Our friends, David Mervis & Donna Musarra, invited us to cook for a fund raiser dinner for the Slow Foods Convivium in Fayetteville, AR. David & Donna's newly remodeled fabulous Victorian farmhouse includes an incredible kitchen and so I volunteered Josh, Adam and myself for the event. Having been one of the 5,000 participants in the first Slow Foods international conference in Turin, Italy in 2004, I have a strong interest in the movement toward eating locally grown produce and supporting area farmers.

Our goals for the evening included using locally grown food, from our own garden as well as items from the Fayetteville Farmer's Market. We wanted to demonstrate some of the food items while people watched and ate. And we wanted to use as few dishes as possible. It was enough work preparing and demonstrating 8 courses of food for 25 people, washing multiple courses of dishes would not have been fun.

My choice for "dishes" were freshly washed redbud leaves, basil leaves and canna leaves cut into napkin-sized portions. For serving the menu items, we used whole canna leaves with the exception of the cold cucumber soup and the dessert, which was Black Tea and Rose Sorbet served with Lavender cookie.

The menu list included the following:
Josh's freshly baked Swiss Bread Braids with Rose Butter (Josh churned butter in his grandmother's antique butter churn, while people watched and drank wine. He had a 3 pound block of freshly churned butter ready to serve).

After bread and butter, we served Dirty Cheese, a quick and tasty appetizer made of chopped fresh garlic chives, oregano, sweet marjoram and parsley. Cubes of farmer's cheese, tossed with the freshly chopped herbs and a teaspoon of olive oil, were displayed on a large canna leaf with toothpicks.

Next came Heirloom Tomatoes and Goat Cheese, with balsamic vinegar, served on red cabbage leaves.

Then The Great War Cucumber-Dill Soup, a recipe from my childhood that was a result of 2 neighbors who fought an entire summer over a mistakenly thrown yellow cucumber that thoughtlessly went flying over a neighbor's fence. With that we served a Parmesan Cracker from my Homemade Crackers Using Herbs book.

Next were Vietnamese Summer Rolls, served on heart-shaped redbud leaves, with an Achocha and Cucumber Dipping Sauce.

I'd made Curried Cracker bowls by rolling out the cracker dough and putting over the outside of large cupcake tins and baking until crisp. In those we served Adam's mixture of basils with a bit of baby lettuces, some begonia flowers and rose petals, and a few red currant tomatoes, drizzled over with a Red Raspberry Vinegar I'd made earlier in the day. Since time was running short (we cooked and ate for 4 hours) we topped the salad with locally grown Bison Meatballs, on skewers with shiitake mushroom and tiny, baby potatoes with a tomato preserve sauce over.

The next course was Cucumber Sandwiches. They were made by slicing baby cucumbers in half lengthwise, hollowing out slightly and stuffing with a mixture of cream cheese, chopped French marigold blossoms, basil and pecans, with a basil leaf sticking out the end. These were served on canna leaves which Adam (you can see the B.A. in Art coming to life, he just can't help himself) had arranged skillfully.

The favorite course of the evening was the Baby Summer Squash, stuffed with Cajun Bread Stuffing, topped with fresh Crawdads from Table Rock Lake, with a white wine sauce over that. Adam had worked for weeks catching and cleaning crawdads for the meal and we had enough left over that he made a curried crawdads and rice for dinner the next evening.

The evening ended with Black Tea and Rose Sorbet (from my book, Sensational Sorbets), served with a Lavender Cookie on the side.

For beverages we had lots of local organic wines that were donated for the event, and cold-pressed mint tea for those who wanted something other than wine. All in all it was a delightful evening and there were 2 comments that stand out in my mind:
1-"This is the most basil I've eaten in 5 years," said one guest, and,
2-"We paid $50 a person and I think you should have charged $100 a person, it's so good!"

Recipes:

Cucumber Sandwiches

8 baby cucumbers, sliced lengthwise
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
4 French marigolds, yellow parts cut off and chopped,
green bases discarded
6 basil leaves, lemon or Thai if available, chopped
4 tablespoons coarsley chopped pecans

Combine cream cheese and marigolds and pecans. Pat dry the insides of the cucumbers, then generously spread the mixture on one half of the cucumber. Put on the top and insert a fresh basil leaf.

Stuffed Baby Squash with Crawdad

(You can substitute shrimp for crayfish tail)

12 - 15 2 inch size baby patty pan squashes, or substitute zucchini (slice crosswise into 2 inch thick slices)
4 cups dried bread cubes
1-2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
12-15 crawdad tails or shrimp
(about) 6 tablespoons butter

With paring knife, cut out the center of each squash or squash slice so that you have a funnel shape (don't cut all the way through the bottom). Save the interior of the squash that you've removed, and chop it in the food processor with:
1 green onion or small shallot

Saute the shredded squash innards and green onion in the butter until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the bread cubes and chicken broth and mix until the bread cubes are soft. Add water if needed until the bread cubes and squash is slightly mushy. Set aside.

In a steamer or pan, bring 3 cups of water to a boil and place the baby squashes inside. Cover and let steam for about 3 minutes. Check with a fork. You want the squashes to be just barely tender but not soft. Remove from pan and cool.

Stuff each baby squash with the stuffing, piling it up on top and firming it into the center of the squash. Top with a crayfish tail or shrimp and bake for 6-8 minutes or until the stuffing is firm and beginning to brown slightly.

Serve with the following sauce:

1/4 cup butter
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon flour, dissolved in chicken broth.
1/4 cup chicken broth

Melt butter in skillet add white wine and heat, then adding the heavy cream and continue simmering. Dissolve the flour in the chicken broth and add that to the simmering sauce. Continue stirring until thickened. If it gets thick too fast, add a bit of water.

Serve a tiny spoonful over each stuffed squash.

No-Knead Bread with Herbs

2008-05-20T12:58:00.004-05:00

This is adapted from Mark Bittman's NY Times bread recipe. It's so easy and makes an outstanding, dense, European-style bread.

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal as needed.

*Herbs: choose any, or a combination of: rosemary, parsley, sage, marjoram, oregano, garlic chives or regular chives. Chop fine until you have about 1 tablespoon.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least about 18 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Have ready 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped *herbs and scatter over the dough surface. Sprinkle dough with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound, very tasty loaf of herbal bread.

Lemon Balm Cake from Nature's Garden

2008-04-21T10:01:00.004-05:00

Lots of people asked for the recipe for my cake that appeared in the Spring issue of Nature's Garden magazine. Here's the recipe and I hope you enjoy it.

Lemon Balm Rose Cream Cake

Herbs used:
3 tablespoons freshly-chopped Lemon Balm leaves
2 leaves Lemongrass (the leaf, not the bulb), snipped fine with scissors....it’s important to snip with scissors, not expect the food processor to do it)

Recipe:
1 package Duncan Hines or any brand Lemon Supreme cake mix

Combine the liquid ingredients called for on the box...usually 1 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup oil. Put that liquid in a blender with:
3 tablespoons freshly-chopped Lemon Balm leaves and
2 leaves Lemongrass which have been snipped up with scissors first. Pulse-blend until the herbs are fairly well pulverized. Add that to:
The dry cake mix and eggs, beating well and pour into two oiled, floured round 9 inch cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Cool.

With a cake slicer, slice each cake in half, making 4 thin layers.

Filling:
1 large package instant vanilla pudding
1 large (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened to room temp.
3 cups milk
1 tablespoon Rose syrup if available, or:
1 tablespoon dry strawberry Jello powder
In food processor, pulse blend ingredients, then stir in by hand, one small carton Cool Whip.
Fold together well and refrigerate for several hours.

Spread about 1/2 inch layer between the first and second layers of cake. Place the second cake on that, and cover the next layer with the filling.

Put a layer of fresh edible rose petals over that, add the third layer, repeat with filling and roses, then place the fourth layer on top.
Cover it with filling and dot liberally with fresh strawberries or blueberries and fresh rose petals or pansies. Chill for 2 hours before serving.

For information about which roses to eat and which ones have the best flavors, look for my book, How to Eat a Rose on my website, under "Books."

Fresh bread with herbs

2008-01-06T15:31:00.000-06:00

This bread is so easy a 6 year old can make it! Just add a couple of teaspooons of your favorite herbs to Mark Bittman's NY Times no-knead bread recipe (see the video here). I am not a very good bread baker - it takes a warm kitchen for good bread baking. But this recipe has only 3 ingredients and is virtually foolproof and I make great bread from this recipe. Time, not you, does the work. Go here for the recipe. The bread is so good, you will eat the whole loaf in a day! I like to add a combination of rosemary, marjoram and a touch of garlic. Or sometimes a bit of thyme with the other herbs, too. Here's what my golden marjoram looks like in January, when it turns a rainbow of color. See more plants in their winter colors at my garden blog.

Easy Vegetable Dip

2007-12-15T16:39:00.000-06:00

Good recipes are born out of necessity. Sometimes, at least. My Easy Dips book is filled with lots of easy dip recipes. And I could go next door to the office and look in my book. (One of the reasons I write books is so I will know where to find my recipes when I put them together). But I was in a hurry and company was coming and I needed a dip, fast. I went to the pantry to see what I had. Here's what I found and I was really pleased with the results. I don't use those instant soup mixes for dips, but this time it was handy.

2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise (Helmanns)
1 package Knorr instant vegetable soup mix
1 cup frozen peas, not thawed
1 cup frozen corn
1 teaspoon chopped fresh celery leaves or fresh parsley
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

Put everything in the food processor and process until the peas and corn are moderately chopped. Scrape dip into a bowl and refrigerate for an hour before serving. It's delicious with celery and cucumber slices, chips, etc.

And if you would like something really special to serve with the dip, check out my Easy Homemade Crackers Using Herbs. "Really?" you ask. "People actually MAKE homemade crackers???"

You bet. Crackers are easier to make than cookies, they will impress your guests, and most important, you get to make healthy crackers you don't have to feel guilty about eating! Wheat-free, or whole grain, they are all in my book.

Poultry Seasoning, you can make

2007-11-18T17:03:00.001-06:00

You can buy the seasoning from the store, or you can make it from your own herbs. Use this in holiday cooking, for turkey, chicken, pheasant or other foul. The recipe is from my book, Great Herb Mixes You Can Make, which you can find on my website.

Poultry Seasoning
(all herbs should be dried)
2 tablespoons sage
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon rosemary

Pulverize well in food processor. Use 2 teaspoons per average-sized chicken (2-3 pounds). Add 2-3 teaspoons for making chicken or turkey stock, and add to taste for cornbread stuffing.

Mint Chutney

2006-11-12T16:57:00.000-06:00

Pudina Chutney - Mint Dip (Northern India)
Chutneys are often served as a side dish, like we would serve a relish, to accompany meats or vegetable dishes. Chutneys are also eaten by dipping with torn chapati bread, or toasted pita bread pieces, and this also goes well with tandori chicken, or any kind of baked, barbecued or broiled chicken wings. This recipe comes from my good friend, Puneet Sharma, who grew up in New Delhi, India and currently lives in Washington, D.C. Find more recipes in my book, Easy Dips Using Herbs.

2 cups plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh coriander
3 green chilies or jalapenos, seeded
1/2 teaspoon *roasted cumin seeds
2 cups chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Dash salt
Pinch of black pepper or cayenne, optional

SIDEBAR:
*To roast cumin seed, place them in a medium-hot skillet and shake or stir until they give up their pleasant aroma, about 1 minute. Cool, then grind in blender or food processor.

Combine ingredients in food processor and process to a smooth consistency. Makes about 3 cups. Serve with Buffalo chicken wings!

Won Ton Dipping Sauce

2006-11-12T16:53:00.000-06:00

Another dip recipe from my book, Easy Dips Using Herbs. This came from my Chinese chef friend, Eddie Chong, from Malaysia. He taught me to make this outstanding sauce at the same time he taught me how to make won tons when he visited recently. The dip is traditional for serving with won tons, and makes a great party food or one course of a bigger meal.

1 large onion, cut in chunks
4-6 medium-to-hot, fresh red peppers, such as seranno or jalapeno, seeds removed
4 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Combine onion, peppers and garlic in food processor and chop to a medium-fine consistency. Heat oil in skillet on low heat and add the vegetables from the food processor. Stir, continuing to cook on low heat until the oil takes on the color of the peppers. You’ll notice as you stir that the peppers will change colors, darkening a bit and the fragrance will be less onion, and more of a tasty-smelling blend. In a bowl, pour the vinegar, soy sauce and brown sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar. Taste the mixture, it should be salty, slightly sweet and a bit sour. If too sour, add some more sugar. Mix, then add the mixture from the skillet. Serve warm or at room temperature with freshly steamed or fried won tons. Makes about 2 1/4 cups.

Baked Crab Dip

2006-11-12T16:44:00.000-06:00

This dip recipe is from my new book, Easy Dips Using Herbs which contains 155 delicious dip recipes.

Crab Dip, Baked
Serve this while hot with your favorite crackers or toasted bread pieces.

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 6 1/4-ounce can crab meat, drained, flaked
2 tablespoons onion, grated
1 tablespoon half and half, or milk
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Dash salt and black pepper
Few drops hot sauce
1 green onion, sliced

Combine everything except green onion and mix together. Place in an ovenproof serving dish and bake at 350 degrees F. for 15-18 minutes. Remove from oven and top with sliced green onion and serve. Makes about 1 3/4 cups.

Southwestern Chocolate Cake

2006-08-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

This is my version of a quick cake from my childhood. Use a mild oregano or marjoram instead of the hot, biting oreganos.

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, finely chopped or 1 teaspoon dried, crushed
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vinegar (cider or white)
2/3 cups cooking oil
2 cups cold water

Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix thoroughly.

Pour into ungreased 9 x 12 baking pan and bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Ice with your favorite chocolate icing.

Lemonade Oregano Sorbet

2006-08-17T22:27:00.000-05:00

The combination of oregano with fruit juices makes a great dessert or a palate cleanser between courses in a meal. This is both sweet and “herby” with a refreshing taste. Use a hand-cranked sorbet mixer or a small ice cream freezer. If all of your ingredients are chilled in advance, it takes only about 15 minutes to make this dessert.

1 small can frozen lemonade concentrate (about 4-6 ounces)
3 cups water
Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
1/4 cup sugar
2 sprigs (about 2 teaspoons) oregano or marjoram leaves

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until leaves are pulverized. Chill until ready to freeze. Pour into freezer and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

Serve in chilled dishes with a sprig of fresh oregano on the side.

Orange Oregano Sorbet

2006-08-17T22:21:00.000-05:00

This is a simple and quick dessert if you have a Donvier sorbet maker, or any small electric ice cream freezer. Make sure everything is well chilled before you begin the freezing process and it will freeze quickly. (For more sorbet recipes, see my book, Fabulous Herb and Flower Sorbets, available on my website: www.Longcreekherbs.com).

3 1/2 cups fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons honey or sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
Juice of 1/2 freshly-squeezed lemon
2 tablespoons fresh mild oregano or sweet marjoram leaves
1 tablespoon vodka (optional; adding it makes a smoother, less firm sorbet but it’s not necessary)

Combine all ingredients in blender and process until the leaves are well pulverized. Pour into bowl of ice cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

Skillet Corn Bread with Oregano and Roasted Pepper

2006-08-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

Even if you’re not a big fan of corn bread, you will possibly like this one (and for corn bread lovers, this one is excellent). It’s moist, best fresh from the oven but also good reheated. Serve it with soup or salad, or as a bread with a main course.

1 medium poblano chile pepper or similar roasting pepper
2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

Char poblano chile over open flame on barbecue grill or in oven under broiler until completely blackened on all sides. Place pepper in paper bag to steam, 15 minutes. Peel, seed, and finely chop chile.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and black pepper in large bowl to blend. Whisk eggs and milk in medium bowl to blend. Mix in poblano chile and oregano. Combine egg mixture and dry ingredients, mixing lightly.

Melt butter in 10-inch-diameter heavy skillet over medium heat, swirling to coat bottom and sides of skillet until butter is sizzling. Immediately spread batter evenly in skillet and put in oven.

Bake until corn bread is golden brown around edges and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Cut bread into wedges and serve warm from skillet.

Grilled Yellow Squash with Oregano

2006-08-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

This is a simple, quick side dish. I like to pick the yellow squash when they are about 1 day old, for grilling.

About 6-8 very small yellow squash, cut in half lengthwise
5 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
2 teaspoons dried (or 1 tablespoon freshly chopped ) oregano
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

Mix everything except the squash together, then brush on the squash and grill on medium heat grill, turning often, until squash is tender. Brush on more of the oil mixture during grilling. Serve hot.

Serves 3-4 people.

Green Beans with Tomatoes and Oregano

2006-08-17T22:17:00.000-05:00

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup diced mild onion
2 garlic cloves minced
3 cups fresh green beans trimmed, and cut into 1" lengths
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tomato, diced
1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped fine
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the green beans and broth, cover and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the diced tomato, cover and steam for 1-2 minutes, then add the oregano, parsley, salt and pepper and steam for another minute. Serves 4-6.

Oregano Pesto Potatoes

2006-08-17T22:16:00.000-05:00

2 cups torn-up fresh greens (mustard greens, spinach or similar)
2 cups fresh parsley flat Italian or regular standard
1/2 cup fresh oregano
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons sliced, toasted almonds or soy nuts
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
About 8 medium sized potatoes, peeled and quartered

Combine everything except potatoes in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse blend to chop the greens, then with food processor on, slowly add oil through food chute; process until well blended into a pesto. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425F. Place potatoes on a baking pan and bake for 20 minutes or until tender, turning as needed. Remove potatoes to a large bowl; add 1/3 cup pesto and roll potatoes to coat. Return potatoes to oven for 5 minutes before serving.

Remaining pesto will store in the refrigerator for up to a week, or can be frozen and used as needed. Or, use it for Pesto Bread:

Slice French bread in thick slices. Brush each slice with melted butter, then spread pesto on the bread and toast until lightly browned.

Corn and Tomato Salad with Fresh Oregano

2006-08-17T22:15:00.000-05:00

1 lb. package frozen corn, thawed (or drained, canned corn)
12 Roma tomatoes or about 4 regular tomatoes, diced
1 yellow sweet pepper, diced
1 green sweet pepper, diced
1 medium red onion, diced fine
1 jalapeno or seranno chili, seed removed if desired, diced fine
2 garlic cloves, minced fine
Juice of 2 fresh limes
1/2 cup light vegetable oil
2 tablespoons fresh oregano or marjoram, chopped fine

Salt and pepper, to taste Combine lime juice, oil, salt and pepper, garlic, oregano and chili pepper and whisk to combine.

In a bowl, mix the corn, tomatoes, sweet yellow and green peppers and onion then pour the lime/oil liquid over and toss to evenly distribute the flavors.

Chill for at least an hour (or even overnight) before serving.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

2006-08-17T22:13:00.000-05:00

8 to 10 cloves garlic
2 pounds potatoes, washed, peeled and quartered
1/3 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon freshly minced oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

To roast garlic, wrap unpeeled garlic cloves in foil. Bake in a 400 degree F. oven for 25 to 35 minutes or until cloves feel soft when pressed. When cool enough to handle, squeeze garlic paste from peels, discarding peels.

In a covered kettle cook potatoes in boiling water for 20 to 25 minutes or until tender. Drain; return to kettle.

Add roasted garlic to potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Add sour cream, butter, milk, oregano, salt and pepper. Beat until light and fluffy.

Serves 6.

Grilled Chicken with Oregano

2006-08-17T22:12:00.000-05:00

This is an Americanized version of a delicious Mexican dish. This calls for Mexican oregano, which is a sharper, more biting flavor than milder oreganos. Use what you have on hand.

4 chicken breasts, skin on
2 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons chopped onion
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons dried oregano (Mexican, if available, crumbled)
10 Additional garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons additional chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt

Arrange the chicken breasts in a skillet in one layer. Add the 2 garlic cloves, the onion and 1 cup of chicken broth. Cook, covered over medium heat, turning the pieces once, until the broth has completely reduced and the chicken is tender, about 25 minutes.

Crush the oregano and the 10 cloves of minced garlic in a mortar and pestle (or put it in a blender and pulse blend briefly) with salt and 2 tablespoons water or chicken broth. With your hands, spread this paste over the chicken pieces, turning them so they are evenly covered. Return chicken to the pan and cover, leaving for an hour (without heat).

Heat a barbecue grill to low heat and brown the chicken lightly on both sides, brushing with a bit of melted butter or oil as it grills and turning often.

Note: if made in advance and transported chilled, in an ice chest, this works great over a campfire grill.

Fresh Ginger Tea

2006-08-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

I first experienced fresh ginger tea in Bali, Indonesia. I had been trekking in the jungles of West Papua, New Guinea with a friend in 1999. It was hot, muggy, humid and my friend ordered a glass of this tea for me in a restaurant. It was the most refreshing, cooling drink. Now I enjoy it every summer at home.

Herbs used:
1 cup Fresh ginger root, peeled, sliced in thick slices

1 lemon, sliced

1 cup sugar

Recipe:

Bring 6 cups of water to boil. Add 1 cup sliced ginger root, remove from heat, and cover.

Let stand for half an hour, then add a sliced-up lemon and 1 cup sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar.

Add 2-3 more cups water then pour into ice-filled glasses. This makes a deliciously refreshing summer beverage and is cooling to the system.

Oregano Dip with Vegetables

2006-08-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

2 cups plain nonfat yogurt
1 cup real mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram (or your favorite oregano)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine the ingredients in a food processor, pulse blending briefly. Chill.

To serve: arrange carrot and celery sticks, endive leaves, jicama wedges, radishes and other favorite fresh vegetables, around a bowl of the dip and watch your guests make it disappear!

Makes 3 cups.

Crab Salad with Orange and Oregano on Toast

2006-08-17T20:50:00.000-05:00

About 12 oz. flaked crab meat (precooked, canned or frozen)

1 fresh orange, peeled, sections cut in small pieces, drained
1 tablespoon sweet pepper, chopped fine
2 tablespoons scallion, chopped
Juice of 1 fresh lemon
1 tablespoon rice vinegar or white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/3 cup olive oil
Dash freshly ground black pepper

Combine crab, orange and remaining ingredients and toss well. Chill.

Serve on warm crackers, or on small bread pieces that have been brushed with butter and toasted.

Cool and put small dollop of crab salad on each piece, top with tiny sprig of parsley or an edible flower (dianthus, garden pea blossom, etc.)

Stuffed Mushrooms

2006-08-17T20:49:00.000-05:00

Serve these steaming hot to your guests with your favorite wine.

8-12 oz. large, fresh mushrooms
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon parsley flakes or 1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dry oregano or 1-2 teaspoons freshly chopped oregano leaves

Wash and dry the mushrooms. Remove and chop the stems.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the mushroom stems, celery and onion. Sauté until the onion is translucent, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the bread crumbs, Worcestershire Sauce and seasonings.

Mound the stuffing onto the mushroom caps.

Arrange caps on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until thoroughly heated.

Serves 5-7.

Lemon Balm-Blueberry Cake

2006-08-17T20:31:00.000-05:00

Herbs used:

3 tablespoons freshly-chopped Lemon Balm leaves
2 leaves Lemongrass (the leaf, not the bulb), snipped fine with scissors....it’s important to snip with scissors, not expect the food processor to do it adequately)

Recipe:

1 package Duncan Hines or any brand Lemon Supreme cake mix

Combine the liquid ingredients called for on the box...usually 1 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup oil. Put that liquid in a blender with:
3 tablespoons freshly-chopped Lemon Balm leaves and
2 leaves Lemongrass which have been snipped up with scissors. Pulse-blend until the herbs are fairly well pulverized. Add that to:
The dry cake mix and eggs, beating well and pour into two oiled, floured round 9 inch cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Cool.

With cake slicer, slice each cake in half, making 4 small layers.

Filling:
1 large package instant vanilla pudding
1 large (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened to room temp.
3 cups milk

In food processor, pulse blend ingredients, then stir in by hand, one small carton Cool Whip.

Fold together well and refrigerate for several hours.

Spread about 1/2 inch layer between the first and second layers of cake. Place the second cake on that, and cover the next layer with the filling.

Put a layer of fresh blueberries over that, add the third layer, repeat with filling and berries, then place the fourth layer on top.

Cover it with filling and dot liberally with fresh blueberries.

Pineapple-Verbena Sorbet

2006-08-17T20:30:00.000-05:00

Herbs used:

Lemon Verbena leaves

Recipe:
1 can frozen pineapple juice concentrate, thawed but still cold
3 leaves fresh Lemon Verbena, partially cut up
2 cans cold water

In blender, place the Lemon Verbena leaves, pineapple juice concentrate and 1 can of cold water.

Blend well until the leaves are completely pulverized.

Add the remaining can of water and pour the mixture into a hand-cranked or electric sorbet mixer. Freeze until firm.

Serve in previously-frozen bowls (I freeze the spoons, as well, the sorbet stays firmer that way.)

Sweet ‘n Sour Sauce

2006-08-17T20:09:00.000-05:00

Recipe:

1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/8 cup corn syrup or mild honey
juice from one can 6 oz. can chunk pineapple (add the pineapple after the sauce is made)
1/4 cup water, in which you have mixed 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Bring the ingredients to a boil, mix in the cornstarch after it’s mixed with the water, stirring until the sauce thickens.

Add the pineapple chunk and pour over servings of the vegetables and tofu.

Sweet ‘n Sour Tofu

2006-08-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

Herbs used:
Garlic
Ginger

Recipe:

Drain one container of tofu. Cut into cubes, about 1 inch square. Toss in flour but not worrying about coating all sides.
Heat about 1/2 inch oil in a skillet and brown the tofu about 2 minutes, turning once. Drain and keep warn.

In a wok, heat about 3 tablespoons mustard (or favorite) oil to almost smoking. Add the following, in the order listed:

2 cups shredded cabbage
1/2 large onion, sliced
Stir quickly and add:
1 inch piece fresh ginger, chopped
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 cucumber, cut in chunks (not peeled)
2 small zucchini squash, cut in pieces
1 large carrot, sliced

Stir quickly and add 1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce.

Put the lid on to steam the vegetables for about 1 minute. Then stir well again, adding 1 sweet bell pepper, cut in pieces, along with a hot pepper such as Scotch bonnet, jalapeno (seeds removed) or similar if desired.

Add the warm toasted tofu and toss together.

Serve over rice and pour sauce over.

Mexican-Mint Chicken Salad

2006-08-17T20:06:00.000-05:00

Herbs used:

6 leaves cut up, fresh Mexican mint marigold (or substitute 2 teaspoons freshly-chopped French tarragon)
4 leaves (about 2 teaspoons chopped) Garlic chives
1 bunch Chives, or about 4 tablespoons, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, stem removed and discarded

Chicken Salad Recipe:

4 large fresh or frozen chicken breasts
2 cups diced fresh jimaca if available, or 1 sm. can diced water chestnuts
2 cups canned pineapple chunks
1 tart apple (such as Granny Smith)
6 leaves Mexican Mint Marigold, chopped
4 leaves Garlic Chives, chopped or snipped
4 tablespoons Chives or 3-4 whole green onions, green and white both, chopped
2 cups Hellman’s real mayonnaise
Salt to taste

Simmer the chicken breasts until tender. Cool and dice.

Add remaining ingredients and mix gently.

Refrigerate a few hours before serving.

Stuffed Tomatoes with Marigold Blossoms

2006-08-17T20:05:00.000-05:00

Herbs used:

Sweet Basil
French marigold blossoms (petals only: snip off with scissors, leaving the green base behind)

Recipe:

12 Roma or cherry tomatoes, cut in half, seeds scooped out
1 small (4 oz.) package cream cheese, room temp.
1 sprig (about 4 inches long) Sweet Basil, stem removed
1/2 cup pecan halves
Petals from 2 French marigolds

In small food processor, put the pecans, marigold petals and basil and pulse-process until the material is chopped fine.

Put in small bowl and combine with the cream cheese, then stuff each tomato half, rounding up like with deviled eggs.

Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 24 hours before serving.

Herbed Cheese

2006-08-17T20:00:00.000-05:00

Herbs used:
1 sprig (about 8-10 inches long) Greek or Sicilian oregano, leaves removed, stem discarded
3 leaves Garlic Chives, coarsely cut up
1 4-inch sprig Sweet Marjoram
2 4-sprigs Thyme (remove the stem and discard it)

Recipe:

1 round of skim milk or similar cheese
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts (or sub. 3 Ritz crackers if allergic to nuts)

Place the coarsely cut-up Garlic Chives, Marjoram and Thyme into a small food processor with the nuts (or crackers) and pulse-blend until the mixture is well chopped.

Pour some of the herb mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and place the cheese on top.

Pour the remaining mixture on top of cheese, pull the plastic wrap up and over and wrap tightly. Refrigerate over-night to let the herb flavors blend into the cheese.

Serve at room temperature with a cheese knife and good crackers.

Mango-Peach Salsa

2006-08-17T19:50:00.000-05:00

Herbs used:
Chives
Cilantro
Garlic

Recipe:

2 ripe peaches, peeled, seeded
1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded
1 bunch fresh Chives (about 2 tablespoons chopped) or 2 green onions, all parts used
1/2 garlic clove, minced fine
Juice of 1/2 fresh lime
1 whole jalapeno, chopped, including seed
2 tablespoons freshly-chopped Cilantro

Chop in hand-cranked food processor ($10 from K-Mart) or chop by hand.

Mix well and divide in half. Leave one half as is and refrigerate.

To the other half, add 1/2 cup sour cream, mix and refrigerate (this gives two distinctly different salsas, the one with sour cream being a bit milder).

Green Grape Salsa

2006-08-17T19:39:00.000-05:00

Herbs used:
Chives
Mint (any kind)

Recipe:

4 cups white seedless grapes
1 bunch fresh chives (about 2 tablespoons, or 2 chopped-up green onions, top and white parts)
juice of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons freshly-chopped mint
1 whole jalapeno including seeds

Put in hand-cranked food processor, or chop by hand.

Mix well and refrigerate at least an hour before serving.