Paz

Orange Caper Gremolata

2008 © The Perfect Pantry – All Rights Reserved

While Paz has been recovering from surgery, she’s been dreaming about a garden in her window.

In the city, it’s a challenge to maintain any type of garden. The wind, heat, car exhaust, and even the noise test the resilience of the most hardy plants – and often test the patience of the gardener, too. But if your apartment has a sunny window sill, you can grow some of the same herbs I plant in my garden, indoors in pots, or outside in a window box.

Chives

2008 © The Perfect Pantry – All Rights Reserved

There are a few secrets to successful window sill gardening. Most important, choose herbs that don’t grow too wide or tall. Don’t overwater if your herbs are growing indoors; on the other hand, herbs growing in a box outside your window need frequent water, to compensate for evaporation from the wind. Most herbs benefit from frequent snipping, but never cut more than one-third of the foliage at a time.

Thyme

2008 © The Perfect Pantry – All Rights Reserved

Chives, basil, parsley, rosemary and thyme are good choices. They’re easy to grow, and a small amount added to a recipe will have a big flavor impact. Paz can grow her favorite cilantro, too. Don’t forget about mint; invasive by nature, mint can only invade as far as the confines of your window box or flower pot, and no farther. You can try interesting varieties, like chocolate or pineapple mint. Nasturtiums, which you can start from seed, add color to your window garden, and to your salads.

Parsley

2008 © The Perfect Pantry – All Rights Reserved

In my herb garden, flat-leaf parsley is definitely the star of the show this year. I started with nine plants, purchased from our local organic gardening center, and set in the ground in late May. After a slow first month, the parsley really took off. Now I’m harvesting every day, trying to keep up with the late-season growth spurt.

Paz, I know you’ll enjoy growing herbs (and maybe a few tomatoes and lettuce, too?) on your sunny window sill. Here are two of my favorite recipes for parsley, so be sure to plant some in your “herb garden”.

Orange-caper gremolata
A wonderful topping for salmon or halibut, and great on grilled steak, too. (Shown in the top photo.)

The Perfect Pantry

1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley (start with a small bunch or handful)
1 clove garlic, minced
The zest of 1 small orange (grated on a fine grater or Microplane)
1/2 tsp capers, drained, roughly chopped
Coarse sea salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix to yield a rough paste. Can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days in a container with an air-tight lid.

Parsley-walnut pesto
A zestier alternative to basil pesto, this sauce pairs especially well with buckwheat noodles. Makes enough for 6 servings of pasta.

The Perfect Pantry

1 large clove of garlic
1/4 cup walnut pieces
2 cups parsley leaves
1 tsp lemon juice
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor, chop garlic and walnuts to a fine grind. Add the parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and chop until the parsley is minced. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil, a bit at a time, until desired consistency is reached. (You might not end up using the whole 1/2 cup of oil; it’s up to you.) Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

My number one favorite fruit is a mango (Cherries come next, then guavas…).  Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska recently featured a Mango and Feta Salad  on her blog.  What an excellent salad for the summer.  The mango and basil taste cool and sweet, while the feta cheese lends a salty taste.  It’s a winning combination and so easy to throw together.  I’ve made this salad several times now.  I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it.  Thanks, Laurie!

Paz

Mango and Feta Salad

Serves 1 as a meal and 2 as a side salad

Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska

1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

1/4 cup crumbled feta

1 tsp minced basil

1 Tbsp. best quality olive oil

Sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Lightly toss the mango, feta, basil, and olive oil together.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Serve immediately.

It’s August!  Have you made your herb salt, yet? 

Some time ago, I made some herb salt (with rosemary and thyme).  I loved it!  I used it on almost everything.  It was easy to make and I loved the fragrance, texture and color of the salt.  Here’s the recipe again.

Paz

Herb Salt

Lucullian Delights

Fresh herbs, whatever you like, you can make it with different ones or just one.

Coarse salt

- Take a bunch of fresh herbs and remove the woody parts if there are any.  Put them in a blender together with a fistful of coarse salt.

- Turn the blender on and let it run until it has become like fine salt.  Add more herbs if you want.

- Put it in a jar and use it.  Often.

I’ve never been much of a chowder fan, although recently I saw an enticing clam chowder recipe that made me interested in trying it.

Then, the other day, I stopped by Saltshaker and found another recipe that immediately caught my attention: Crab and Corn Chowder. I’d never heard of this before. I like corn and crabmeat, so, those two ingredients were the deal breaker for me.               I made a mental note to try the recipe sometime in the near future, preferably on a very cold day.

However, the next morning with unseasonably warm weather, I woke up with the recipe in mind and like a person hypnotized, found my way to the store to buy the ingredients needed to prepare it – corn, potatoes, red bell pepper, crabmeat and herbs. Oh, so many wonderful  herbs!       By the way I would have used this recipe for my Weekend Herb Blogging post but I was too late.

The herbs involved a mix of cilantro (coriander), basil, tarragon and parsley. How exciting for me (cilantro being one of my favorites!)!

I returned home and started preparing the ingredients to cook. First, I boiled the corn and then made a corn stock. Yes, that’s right.   Corn stock.   Me. Actually, it was quite easy – boil the corncob and use the results in the recipe.

Call me weird, I’ve become excited about the idea of making stock out of different food products. Initially, I only knew of chicken, beef, and later fish stock. Then from  Stephen, I learned about lamb and red shrimp broth and some of its uses.    Really cool!       So, now I can add corn stock to my list. That’s okay, you can laugh at me.

My cooking momentum was interrupted when I had to walk the dogs and then found out I forgot to buy half and half milk. I had to run back to the store. I almost used canned evaporated milk but didn’t have enough. It’s probably better that I didn’t use the can milk since I’m sure it may have altered the taste of my first time chowder. Can anyone tell me if there’s a difference?

The meal is not hard to make and once I returned from the store, I continued cooking. My favorite part of preparing the meal was chopping the aromatic herbs to add to the chowder. As their combined scents wafted up, making me happy, I started to do my happy dance (See #9 of my  culinary  confessions.).

Soon, my crab and corn chowder was ready and I served it with crusty bread as the recipe suggested. Everything tasted fresh and delicious, from the potatoes to the crab to the vegetables. The mixed herbs especially gave it that added special flavor.

I’m glad I didn’t wait a day longer to try this crab and corn chowder.

Paz

The corn kernels removed from the cob

Making my corn stock

Most of the ingredients together in a pot

Cilantro, basil, tarragon and parsley ready to be chopped

The finished product

Ed. Note: I’m submitting this post for Weekend Herb Blogging #19. The herbs for this week are cilantro, basil, tarragon, and parsley, pictured above. Thanks, Kalyn!

*One can blog about herbs, plants, vegetables, or flowers for Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB). To see the list of other interesting WHB posts, go to Kalyn’s Kitchen, Sunday.