Fresh Herbs From The Garden

Nothing says summer more than fresh herbs from your garden. And, nothing adds to the color, flavor and presentation impact of a dish like fresh herbs. It doesn’t matter if you are cooking for two or appetizers for twenty, make sure you add fresh herbs to your dish.

I always have a supply of herbs on hand. Summertime is great as many herbs are perennials that come back year after year and are plentiful.

(Maya garding the garden with fennel, sage and oregano in the background)

We even keep a few herbs growing in the windowsill through the winter. Whenever we entertain, I keep jarfuls of 2 or 3 herbs next to my prep area for use and a mixture of chopped herbs in a container as part of my mise en place.

(herbs on the windowsill)

I do have a confession to make, I haven’t always been a fresh herb fan. As a child I remember begging my mother not to ruin my plate of soup with parsley. My sister tells the story of taking her daughter Emily to a special restaurants and having her insist to the waiter that she didn’t want any green stuff on her food. I am proud to say that even the picky Emily recently sent me a picture of her grilled pizza creation with green stuff – fresh basil. Yeah Emily!

Some of the major herbs consist of:

Basil – There are numerous kinds of basil including spicy and sweet basil. Basil adds a unique flavor and character to many dishes. It’s usually mixed with tomatoes and other vegetables in French food. It also adds zest to pasta dishes and other delicacies.

French Tarragon – This smells like anise. It’s widely used in French seafood dishes. It blends well with the rich taste of fish, shrimp and other seafood, while adding a distinct and memorable flavor that makes the dish even more enticing.

Thyme – Thyme comes in many flavors and is a very versatile herb. It can add zesty flavor to a wide variety of stews, meats, soups, seafood, dressings, sauces and more. It can also be used in marinating meats and seafood so that when you cook them, it brings out the natural flavor of the dish while infusing its own distinct taste.

Sage – Sage has been around since the Roman times and is unique in that it’s one of the few herbs whose flavor gets stronger as it dries further. Its subtle but tasty flavor is great for salad dressings, soups and sauces. It’s best to add sage at the final stage of cooking.

Mint – Fresh mint adds that cool and refreshing flavor to any dish. Even water is made even better if you add some mint leaves.

Chives– Chives are an important herb in the French kitchen and they have the most delicate onion flavor which make it a wonderful seasoning for many dishes.

Fennel – Fennel is a beautiful tall and graceful perennial herb with fine feathery green leaves and bright yellow flowers. It looks very much like dill but the flavor is a sweet anise which is very different.

Parsley – All varieties of parsley are hardy biennials but mostly treated as annuals. Of course no herb garden would be complete without its parsley! The two most popular ones are the curly leaf parsley and the French or the flat leaf parsley which undoubtedly has the better flavor.

Oregano– Oregano is a culinary herb, used for the flavor of its leaves, which can be more flavorful when dried than fresh. Oregano’s most prominent modern use is as the staple herb of Italian-American cuisine. Its popularity in the U.S. began when soldiers returning from World War II brought back with them a taste for the “pizza herb”, which had probably been eaten in southern Italy for centuries.^[13] There, it is most frequently used with roasted, fried, or grilled vegetables, meat, and fish. Oregano combines well with spicy foods popular in southern Italy. It is less commonly used in the north of the country, as marjoram generally is preferred.

No matter what you are making. No matter what you are cooking for. Fresh herbs will make it better!

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Forget Paris

I don’t care what Billy Crystal’s movie said, one could never forget Paris. It has to be one of the culinary capitals of the world. The cover picture is a great example of the fact that you don’t need a fancy dining room to have a great time with friends over food and drink. . All you need is a few friends, some food, a bottle of wine, a park bench and voila!

We had a great group in this picture (from left to right) Steve Williams, Lucien Vendome, Paul Kenny, Susan Kenny, Jody Driver and Charlie Thelluson (Taking the picture). We were in Paris for a trade show and after the show we visited a nearby street market on a Saturday afternoon. The food options were unbelievable. Fresh Baguettes, cheeses from Aix en Provence, the sweetest grapes I have ever had, radishes, pates, jambon and rotisserie chicken with potatoes cooked in the drippings from the chicken. What an amazing meal.

Paris is truly one of my favorites cities in the world. People always say to me: How can you love Paris? The people are so rude”. I explain that I am from New York where rude is an art form. In Paris it doesn’t take very much for a Parisian to step out and be very nice.

A great example of this happened a few days before our trade show. We were trying to coordinate getting some cheesecakes made with a local baker and needed to connect via telephone. The good news was that there were phone booths everywhere. The bad news was that to use them you needed a special token that could only be bought at the post office or the tobacco shop. It was a Sunday and both were closed. Lucien got exasperated with a clerk at the supermarket as she was telling us we were out of luck. Up stepped a young teenager that was happy to practice her English and offered us her tokens. The day was saved. A friend was made and she wouldn’t accept any reimbursement no matter how hard Lucien tried.

It doesn’t take very much to have a great time socializing with friends over food and wine . And, I will certainly never forget Paris

If you enjoyed this blog and similar stories/wine group/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Van Gogh Remembered – Best Of

Problems with blog distribution and other distractions have kept me from posting much over the last year. I am working on a new distribution app and will be republishing some of my more popular blogs to get the new app launched. Hoping you enjoy what Yogi Bera would call: “It feels like deja vu all over again”

How about Vincent Van Gogh’s favorite farmer’s market as a theme for a wine group gathering. A few of the sub plots to the theme might include:

Great french wine
Farmer’s market ingredients for apps
Music from Don McLean’s “Vincent playing in the background
Van Gogh inspired decorations

Vincent Van Gogh lived in St Remy de Provence. We went to St Remy to see the setting that inspired so many of our favorite paintings. While there, we happened on a farmer’s market that was truly inspirational. (Click on the following slide show)

https://impromptufridaynights.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Vincent-4.m4v

Walking through the countryside where Vincent found inspiration for so many of his paintings, you can still see the same settings. The tour does a good job of setting the backgrounds of today, to the paintings of the late 19thcentury. You can see the field that Vincent painted and the cafe that inspired Cafe Terrace at Night.

Move into the village of St Remy on the farmer’s market day and you can see all kinds beauty. I once got into trouble with my friend, chef Lucien Vendome, by saying he was an artist. We were waiting on our flight in Sao Paulo Brazil. He argued that calling him an artist was a misnomer. Van Gogh painted paintings that would be enjoyed for centuries. Chefs cook food. The food may be pretty to look at, but people eat it and it is gone. Our discussion went on for a while as our flight got delayed. The compromise was that great chefs are somewhere between artisans and artists. All I can say is that the beauty of the ingredients being sold that day in St Remy could make any cook look good.

The irony of this story is that Van Gogh was not a food person. He suffered from stomach troubles and was quoted as saying: “Perhaps you will not understand, but it is true that when I receive the money, my greatest appetite is not for food …” but the appetite for painting is even stronger.” So here he was in St Remy surrounded by fabulous ingredients, which he did not enjoy. This may also explain the reason he lived in St. Remy was as a patient at the local insane asylum. Fortunately, his doctors encouraged him to paint as therapy for his troubles.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.