The Magic of Kitchen Herbs
This time of year, those of us who garden or would like to garden next year, are inexorably drawn to all the glossy garden and seed catalogues that have accumulated since January 1. The possibility and choices of what to grow next summer and the potential wonderful and colorful vegetable and salad servings for our table are so irresistible, that it would take a small truck farm if we were to have all that is appealing. It seems that each year we encounter new or newly discovered heirloom varieties of vegetables and the garden herb assortment seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, invoking and complementing the modern expanding kitchen repertoire.
While perusing my collection of garden catalogs, I also found buried under the papers on my desk a booklet, which was recently forwarded to me by my sister in law and which had been on my mother in law’s shelf lo those many years ago. The booklet is simply entitled “Colonial Kitchen Herbs” and was compiled some 40 years ago by Ferne Shelton as ‘garden and kitchen secrets from early America’.
Well, we are quite mistaken if we think that Early American kitchen fare was inevitably plain. The herbal traditions developed by monks in the Middle Ages and published in England even before Shakespeare’s time migrated to the New World and flourished in frontier gardens and kitchens. Herbs were grown and stored dried for winter to be added to meats, soups, vegetables and used for not only flavoring vinegars, but also often as folk remedies. Most of those are used today. Herb teas were used as restoratives for everything from colds to hysteria, indigestion, constipation, rheumatism and numerous other ailments. Today’s herbal tea industry seems to have re-discovered many of the ingredients of yesteryear.
Stews were and still are favorite winter meals that require slow cooking and have the added benefit of improved flavor for multiple meals upon reheating. A simple way to add multiple herbal flavors to such dishes is by adding a “Herb Bouquet” (herbs tied in a cheese cloth bag), which is removed at the end of the cooking period. For beef such a “Boquet” could include: 6 peppercorns, bay leaf, 1tsp. each of sweet marjoram, thyme and parsley leaves; or basil and summer savory with peppercorns and celery leaves. Each will give a slightly different flavor to the finished meal. We tend to think of sage as paired with poultry, but poultry can be also seasoned with sweet marjoram, summer savory and even a light touch of rosemary for a unique flavor.
It is interesting to contemplate the delicious variations we can introduce in our meals with just a handful of spices on our shelf. Soups benefit from combinations of parsley, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, celery, bay leaf and savory. For each dish the goal is to add flavor and not overpower the meal with any one herb. Adding some chervil or sage to a fish batter will give it an interesting new flavor. And any broiled or lightly fried fish will take on a delightfully new characteristic with a dollop of reduced fat sour cream in which you have stirred in some dill and or chives.
Individual vegetable dishes or salads take better to some herbs than others. We naturally pair tomatoes with basil or oregano, but chives and thyme are equally compatible and thinly sliced fennel gives a tomato salad a whole new dimension. I will usually add dry mustard and minced onion to chicken, potato, tuna, egg and cabbage salads; however a lively and interesting addition can be ¼ or ½ tsp. celery seed.
Some more exotic additions to my spice shelf are roasted cumin and turmeric, which pair so well in chili and other meat and bean dishes. A real taste treat is smoked paprika compatible with eggs, meat and even sautéed cabbage. Unfortunately these can not be grown in our gardens and like cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and nutmeg have to be imported from warmer climates. However, most kitchen herbs can be grown in pots and in our own Northern gardens. Their flavor magic is welcome not only in our winter menus, but is worth planning for in next summer’s kitchen herb border.
(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)
