Cooking with Herbs - June 2014

We are really excited to be hosting Cooking with Herbs this month for June 2014, as you may know this is one of my favourite blog challenges and is probably the one I join in with most. 

Created by the lovely Karen across at Lavender and Lovage this challenge is all about cooking with herbs in their many forms. I really love herbs and have a beautiful raised herb garden surrounding my patio where I can easily get to from the kitchen to snip seasonal herbs and to add a final flourish to a dish.

I don't really have a favourite herb as they are all have their unique characteristics which make them invaluable in the kitchen, I am also fascinated with their medicinal properties as well.

Cooking with Herbs (which used to be known as Herbs on Saturday) is a Recipe Sharing Blog Challenge……a simple and easy way to share recipes throughout the month and also a chance to learn new ways to cook with herbs, as well as discover new blogs and blogger chums!

All you have to do to enter is add your ANY recipe that you have made throughout the week, or indeed the month, to the linky below, its really that simple.

Guidelines how to enter:

1. Post your recipe url to the Linky at the bottom of the appropriate month’s challenge, including your email and the title of your recipe or post.

2. Display the Cooking with Herbs badge (as shown above and below) to the relevant recipe post, with a link back to the monthly challenge post.

3. Add as many recipe links as you like, there is NO limit!

4. If you tweet your post, please mention #cookingwithherbs and @KarenBurnsBooth @LancashireFood in your tweet – we will retweet all that we see.

5. The recipe can be one of your own or one you’ve seen elsewhere. You are welcome to republish old recipes/posts but please add the information about this challenge as listed above with the Cooking with Herbs badge.

6. If using a recipe from another person, book, website, chef or blog, you must link back to the original recipe and not reproduce the recipe in full in your post. You must also use your OWN images for the recipe and not the original images, unless you have permission to do so, with appropriate links and any other information requested by the photo’s owner added to the image.

The challenge opens on the 4th June and the round up from last month will be on Lavender and Lovage shortly. 

Chive flower vinegar

At this time of year the garden is bountiful, full of promise and flowering its heart out. I have always had a passion for herbs considering them some of the most useful plants in the garden, as they combine culinary and medicinal uses with great texture and form and in the case of chives stunning flowers too.

Chives, spikey pinky purple flowers erupt from the top of the plant, they are attractive to insects and attractive to me. The flowerheads are a great addition to a salad, but to capture their lovely sweet spicy oniony essence for a little longer you need to make chive flower vinegar. This lovely light vinegar is ideal in salad dressings, with fish or just to ring the changes and its such a gorgeous colour.

All you need to do is collect enough chive flowers to lightly pack your chosen jar and then select your vinegar, white wine or champagne vinegar works well as it allows the lovely flower colour to be extracted to create a pinky hue to the condiment. You leave the flowers steeping until the vinegar is your desired hue and has the required level of chive flavour. You could also make this with wild garlic or garlic chives but the resultant vinegar wouldn't be such a beautiful colour.

I am also adding this to the lovely Lavender and Lovage's Cooking with Herbs challenge 

                                       

First Garden salad, hot smoked salmon and jersey royals and rabbit proof fence

Over the last few days we have been busy in the vegetable garden, sowing, planting and fencing (to keep pesky Peter Rabbit away from the vegetables, just hope it works), I noticed that finally we have enough rocket, sorrel , flat leaf parsley, early lettuce and salad burnet to have a green salad from the garden for lunch.

Supplemented by some left over jersey royal potatoes (which incidentally you can serve hot or cold, I like both ways ) and some hot smoked salmon (the best comes from DelishFish their honey roast is awesome), I quickly whipped up a light complementary dressing using about a tablespoon on EVOO ( extra virgin olive oil), a little lemon juice, a 1/2 tsp dijon mustard, a few drops of honey and some fresh or dried dill. Whisk it all up and taste for seasoning and balance. Oh and I snipped over some chives too.

There you have a great easy lunch, very healthy and tasty too ! 

                                             

This post fits perfectly with the brief for Herbs on Saturday a great blog campaign run by the lovely Karen at Lavender and Lovage and this month hosted by Anneli at Delicieux

 

Leek, Potato and thyme Soup

This is my standby soup recipe, deliciously warming and comforting and a great anecdote to when you need the equivalent of a hug in a bowl. Outside its been bashing down with rain and even when it stops raining its raining leaves as autumn is well and truly well under way. Leeks are fairly easy to grow in the garden and even if your yield is disappointing you normally can rescue enough leeks for soup.

Ingredients

• 3 large potatoes - peeled and chopped in to chunky cubes
• 3 leeks, cleaned and chopped into rings
• Vegetable stock about 500ml
• Thyme - dried or fresh
• Salt and Pepper
• Butter

Method

• Melt the butter in a large saucepan
• Add the leeks and chopped potato and cook gently until slightly softened
• Add the thyme and enough vegetable stock to cover
• Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook until the vegetables are tender
• Now liquidise half the soup ( I use a stick blender), by doing it this way you still retain texture
• Add more water / stock if too thick and bring back to a simmer
• Taste and season
• Delicious served with homemade bread

I am entering this into the Simple and Seasonal challenge hosted this month by franglaiskitchen for Fabulicious Food

And also in Herbs on Saturday October hosted over at Lavender and Lovage 

Autumnal blackberry and lavender cobbler

The weather is definitely turning cooler plus our ever reliable blackberry plant "Loch Ness" in the garden has once again produced a bumper crop of blackberries, so this recipe was created. I love the subtle flavour lavender adds to blackberries a spicy edge and no hint of old ladies handbag. Cobblers for those not in the know are very popular over the pond in America and are a topping for a sweet dessert made out of a soft scone mixture.

This dish fragrances the house whilst it baking creating that loving fug of a homely dessert, cobblers are never the most beautiful dessert but they more than make up for it in flavour stakes, this is a great combination. Perfect served hot with custard or cream, or cold on its own or with yoghurt or creme fraiche. Why not join in the baking fun by plundering your local hedgerows !

Ingredients

• Approx 1lb ( 500g) Blackberries
• 1/2 tsp dried lavender flowers (make sure its an edible variety)
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour

Mix all this is one large bowl and then place in your baking dish.

• 6 oz self raising flour
• 3 oz butter - soft
• 125ml plain yoghurt
• 3oz caster sugar

Mix all this together (preferably in a mixer or food processor) until you a smooth soft sticky mixture, place dollops of this on top of your blackberries , alternatively add a little more flour and use as scone dough and cut cute shapes using a biscuit cutter.

Bake for approx 40 minutes until the cobbler is well risen and golden and blackberry cooked.

I am using this post as my contribution to Simple and in Season this month hosted by Feedingboys

and also for Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage

This post is also being linked up to the Great British Blackberry Recipe Round up created by Lavender and Lovage and Farmers Girl Kitchen.

                                                     

Herb roasted pork tenderloin with roasted summer vegetables

I recently attended a Pampered Chef party hosted by fellow cake clubber and food blogger Kate Ab and I secummed to the temptation of their legendary stoneware, no its not cheap but given the evangelical way my friend Jo preaches about her stoneware I bought a medium pan.
So far I have been impressed with it non stick features and ease of cleaning and its definitely growing on me. This recipe is a favourite in the Lancashire Food household and uses that undervalued cut of pork - tenderloin and was supplemented with lots of vegetables from the garden.

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin - trimmed
• Zest of lemon
• Fresh Rosemary- finely chopped
• Fresh thyme - finely chopped
• Sea Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Courgettes - chunky chopped
• Olive oil
• Red pepper - chunky chopped
• Red onion - peeled and cut in to chunks
• 2 garlic cloves - roughly chopped

Method

• Preheat the oven to about 170C
• Rub the tenderloin with a little olive oil and roll in the lemon zest, rosemary, thyme and salt and pepper
• Place the tenderloin on the cool stoneware pan
• Place in the oven 
• Meanwhile toss the onion, garlic, courgette and red pepper in olive oil until coated
• Once the tenderloin has been cooking for approx 15 minutes , surround the pork with the vegetables
• Continue roasting until the pork is cooked and the vegetables are slightly charred
• Remove from oven, allow the pork to rest for a few minutes before carving

As this recipe features a great herb combination I will be including into Herbs on Saturday hosted by Lavendar and Lovage

Courgette, Pea and lovage Soup

Another quick and easy summery soup where the ingredients are readily available in the garden right now, this is even simpler than the garden soup I posted recently. Other than the onions and garlic which have been a disappointment this year the produce is from the garden. Mr Lancashire Food would live on soup if I let him. This recipe features the lovely versatile herb of lovage one of the favourites in the Lancashire Food herb garden.

Ingredients

• Peas, shelled - about 1 soup bowl full, you could use frozen peas 
• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• 1  clove garlic crushed
• 3 or 4 medium sized courgettes ( inc flowers if you can), finely chopped
• lovage , small handful , chopped
• Vegetable stock 
• Olive oil or butter - knob or 1 tbsp ish

Method 

• Melt your butter or  pour oil in large saucepan
• Add your chopped onions and garlic and sweat off until softened without colouring
• Add the courgettes and cook until slightly softened
• Add the peas
• Add the vegetable stock until it just covering the vegetables
• Simmer until all the vegetable are tender
• Allow to cool
• Blend until smooth
• Reheat and serve with suitable garnish

I am entering this recipe in Herbs on Saturday blog challenge hosted by Lavender and Lovage 

Grilled Halloumi and herb salad

I know halloumi isn't made in Lancashire but hey I am allowed to try other classic dishes from other countries. I wanted a cheese that would stand up the robust flavours of a herb salad. I love the way in southern Europe they aren't afraid to use herbs as a salad ingredient, which impart a lovely herbal background to the salad. Absolutely delicious and a salad that will transport to the Mediterranean in moments.

Ingredients

• Halloumi, sprinkled with smoked paprika
• Cucumber - chunky chopped
• Tomatoes - chunky chopped
• Mixed salad leaves - torn into large pieces
• Rocket - torn
• Flat leaf parsley - torn , small handful
• Mint - 10  leaves , each torn into 3 pieces
• Olives - black or green, whatever you have
•  Extra virgin Olive oil or  cold pressed rapeseed oil - 2 or 2 tbsp
• 1 clove of garlic crushed
• Honey - 1tsp
• Lemon juice - 1tbsp

Method

• Assemble your salad in a large bowl
• Mix the oil, lemon juice, honey and crushed garlic in a separate small bowl, this is your salad dressing
• Now grill the halloumi until golden on both sides
• Tosh your salad with the dressing, place on your serving plate
• Top the salad with the halloumi slices

This salad would also be lovely served with lasagne or moussaka.

I am also using this post as my entry for Herbs on Saturday challenge hosted by Lavender & Lovage and this month by guest hosted by Bangers and Mash 

Herbs on Saturday Blog challenge - Mint syrup

If your like me, once apon a time long long ago you were given a cutting of peppermint by a friend (I use this term loosely given mints behavior in the garden) you have a forest of the stuff which you have to battle with a machete every season. You just wish that more recipes that use it, Mint does have a some redeming features in the  kitchen as a herb, with the obvious lamb, boiled with the first new potatoes and its also fab in cold salads and used to garnish desserts and in pimms. But, it just grows to well and you can't use it all, I also make a fab strawberry and mint ice cream (thats another post) and loads of mint sauce but I just can't keep up with it.

As someone who always makes elderflower cordial every year , I have had an inkling for sometime to make a similar mint version. I spied in the River cottage perserves book, a recipe so I thought I would give it a go with some tweaks. Essentially you macerate fresh young leaves with sugar, salt and lemon juice (this less for its flavour and more to stop your mint going a sludgy brown), this is left overnight and then made into a sugar syrup with boiling water and then strained and bottled.

The resultant syrup can be used to make a refreshing cooling drink with ice and sparkling water (and very nice it is too). You can also use the syrup in your baking or to make desserts and added to teas or sorbets.

Just a pity it doesn't use more mint though .......

I am submitting this post to @KarenBurnsBooth #herbsonsaturday campaign, come join the fun.  

I am also entering this for the @BotanicalBaker #Summertimesipping campaign as well