Along with asparagus and strawberries, herbs are among the first things to arrive in the market here in Maryland. A lot of farmers have been getting a head start on their herbs by starting them under cover in hoop houses, so they are available now, ready to use, or to grow at home. And Chef JP agrees with me, this is a delightful way to add accents to your cooking.
All across Maryland, farmers are selling fresh herbs in pots, which can be transplanted, or as cut bunches which can be used right away or be hung out to dry.
One of the best ways of using herbs is to make a " bouquet garni". This is a collection of several herbs bundled together for use in cooking broths. This simplest
approach is to cut a small handful of the herbs you want to use, and just tie the stems together with string. You drop it right into the pot and let the bouquet garni flavor the broth. The impact is subtle but noticeable. It really can improve a stew, soup or sauce. Another approach is to use a piece of cheesecloth to bind up your loose herbs in a little pouch that is secured with string and dropped into the broth. And if you want to be very professional, you can buy little cloth bags, done up with a tie-string which can be cleaned and re-used.
There are absolutely no rules for putting together a bouquet garni, but
in many French-style kitchens a few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf are considered essential Add to that, as you will, basil, parsley, sage, rosemary and tarragon
and you've got a nice palate of flavors and aromas to work with.
Fresh cut herbs should be used fairly quickly, but you should remember that a fresh herb doesn't have as much apparent flavor as its dried counterpart. so you need more of it to make it work. If you buy a bunch of herbs and can't use it all up, then go ahead and dry out the left-overs.
There are several equally effective ways of drying herbs. The things to keep in mind are: avoid mold formation by avoiding humidity, and by tying up loose clusters of herbs that will allow air to circulate. Simply hanging your herbs upside down, out of direct sunlight, is perfectly easy to do. Allow about a week, and do not
bundle the herbs up in plastic bags while they are drying!
You also can place your herbs on a cookie sheet and pop them in the oven at its absolute lowest temperature for about an hour. (Leave the oven door ajar to allow moisture to escape.) Or you can dry them out in the microwave very quickly. But be careful not to over-cook the herbs or they will loose their oils.
A lot of herbs work very well in tandem with other herbs. Cooks are familiar with various blends of herbs, two of the most famous being Herbes de Provence and the closely related Fines Herbes.
Herbes de Provence is something of a catch-all marketing phrase, evoking quaint peasant kitchens and sun-baked herb gardens. The name is generic, and there are no "official" recipes. But certain herbs are bound to be included: savory, rosemary, thyme and basil are pretty much ubiquitous. All are dried, of course. Emeril Lagasse adds fennel, marjoram and oregano. Martha Stewart adds lavender, which is one of my favorite herbs. Many folks will add tarragon, while others play with the many different varieties of thyme that are available.
Fines Herbes is a far more specific mélange of herbs. The designation in a recipe of "aux fines herbes" (as in an omelet) is quite specific. The blend is meant to be delicate, and it is meant for fairly delicate dishes. Most cooks will add it fairly late in the cooking process to preserve its green color and tender aromas. The classic blend, as presented by Escoffier himself, is parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil. Because chervil is very difficult to find in the US, except in private gardens, (dried chervil is not particularly useful), basil is often substituted. The late great chef
Pierre Franey proposed this, and was quite happy with the result.
Finally, yours truly is going to be keeping an eagle eye open for one particular herb this season: sorrel. It has one of the freshest, most subtle and pleasant flavors I've ever encountered, and I am dying to make the famous sorrel soup, mainstay of great French restaurants.
When a neighbor offered me a bag of fresh picked sorrel, I jumped at the chance to look up a recipe to try. Here's a good recipe that I followed. And one note: it would be great to serve a light green sorrel soup, but unfortunately, when you heat the sorrel it turns a darker muddy green. Tastes good, but isn't as pretty.
Silver Palate Sorrel Soup
Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter 2 large yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped 10 cups tightly packed fresh sorrel leaves, washed and stems removed 4 cups chicken stock ¾ cup chopped fresh Italian(flat-leaf) parsley 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons grated nutmeg Pinch of cayenne pepper 1 cup sour cream, for garnish
Toss is snipped chives also for garnish
Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, covered, until tender and lightly colored, about 15 minutes.
2. Add the sorrel, cover, and cook until it is completely wilted, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the stock, parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 50 minutes.
4. Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
5. If serving the soup hot, return it to the soup pot. Heat the soup over low heat, stirring constantly, until steaming. Taste and correct the seasoning. If serving cold, transfer to a bowl, cool, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Taste and correct the seasoning before serving.
6. In either case, ladle into bowls and garnish with sour cream and chives before serving.
