Samuel/anyone - picture of herbs

[exurb]

A while ago Samuel Wilson asked me to post a picture of my indoor herb garden (spice managemen thread). Here it is finally, along with some closeups of golden sage, silver thyme, trailing rosemary, and showing it as a garnish with my celery root ravioli.

[lavendarJ]

exurb

your herbs are beautiful. I think I am going to try to do one inside. Where is your garden located? I might also see if I can use a spot in my dad's garden

[berrienoire]

* gasp * ...how heavenly! I aspire :cool:

[exurb]

forgot to tell you what's shoved into that herb box: chives, french thyme, silver thyme, tarragon, 3 kinds of rosemary, golden sage, greek oregano, marjoram, etc.

This keeps me supplied all winter, it thrives on being cut back because it just makes the plants branch out and get bushyer.

[Nini]

exurb- is your planter box in a north, south, east, or west window?

[SamuelWilson]

Thanks for uploading the picture, it looks very good. The 2 herbs that I am using the most now are oregano and cilantro. I didn't see you mention cilantro. Have you grown any of that?

[exurb]

lavendar, I am in Canada, maybe you can see the pissy miserable cold weather outside the window. Where are you? Many herbs are perennials, if you know what zone you're in, you can check to see what will overwinter where you are.

Nini, it's in a South window this year, however last year it was in a West and it was fine there too.

Samuel, I do grow cilantro, it grows a little differently from the herbs in the box, so I grow it in other pots. The normal cilantro you're used to seeing at the store is the sort of herb that doesn't really grow back after a cutting, so if you want that type, IMO you should only grow it from seeds never buy a potted plant because you won't get much out of it, or just keep buying it already grown if you use it in very large quantities, like a cup at a time or something. It's super easy to seed a big patch outside, I do that in the warm weather outdoors. It bolts to seed after a certain amount of time... the seeds are the same as coriander, and man are they good in the coffee grinder, more flavor than any other coriander I've been able to buy, and they're easy to collect because they're the size of peppercorns (then you've got more seeds to keep planting too). I also grow a neat plant indoors called Mexican Cilantro that is a different looking plant with a sort of cilantro taste, it doesn't bolt to seed so you can always use it as cilantro.

The oregano is in the box, it is one of those herbs that you can keep cutting back and it keeps growing, it sort of branches in multiple directions after a cut. I really like this one, it's greek oregano which is they wild type found in Greece, it overwinters for me outside and spreads too, I dry it for all my dried oregano.

Most herbs pretty much grow like weeds, they're pretty easy.

Samuel with the cilantro, if you're using a lot, I would say just keep buying it at the store if you don't want to grow it outside, but oregano could be a handy one to grow. If you can be bothered to plant a little outdoor herb patch for some of your dried herbs (or fresh), I think you'll really notice a difference in taste, plus it would adhere to your concerns with everything being raw. I think they hold their flavor much better when you just cut them and dry them on the branch then the crushed up spices on the market.

Basil I grow in separate pots from seed so I can have multiple plants, when you pinch off a piece, it also nicely branches out and bushes up the plant. We also seed lots outside in good weather, we dry it and freeze it in pesto.

I love having these herbs inside because I don't have to shop for them, if I want to make a recipe they're right there, they're always amazingly fresh, they're organic, and they're free!

berrienoire and everyone, thanks for the compliments.

[CAdreamer]

A cautionary note about growing mint....put it in a separate pot, away from everything else. No matter where you grow it in the ground, it will take over the entire garden in no time. It puts out runners underground, and it is fast growing, hardy, and tenacious. I had a 4' x 20' herb garden in a raised bed outside. The herbs were wonderful and thrived. By the next year, I was furiously pulling out the mint...of course, to no avail.

[girl007]

I'm in awe...................... WOW!
Pure JOY!

[Lady Green Jeans]

exurb,

Your herb garden is awsome. Could just reach in there and sniff and pick! Very inspiring, too.

I almost said-forget the herbs, tell us about the great looking ravioli. They look awsome. Can you share how you made them, if Alissa's book or other. Great presentation.

[exurb]

thanks "bond girl" and Lady Green Jeans.


forget the herbs, tell us about the great looking ravioli. They look awsome. Can you share how you made them, if Alissa's book or other


Jeans, unfortunately I rarely keep track of what I put in stuff now when I uncook. However, what I can tell you, is I love ravioli made with celery root, IMO it has a more refined flavor than turnip, hard to explain, sort of blends in more as "ravioli" too. I peel the celery root, slice it very thin on a mandoline-type slicer, and I immediately dip it in water with some lemon juice in it, in case it goes brown (I actually don't know if it will go brown, so I do it anyway, maybe that step is unneccessary, I dunno) Then for cheese, I like to make it from pine nut, I soak the pine nuts a little (not necessary), put them in the food processor with some water, some herbs like basil, fresh marjoram if you've got it, some raw sea salt, some lemon juice, I use pink pepper but you could use other, and a tiny bit of the white part of a green onion (not enough to taste like onion, but to make it taste a little more like ravioli filling). You can also put nutritional yeast in if you use that for a more cheesy flavor. but I just put lemon juice and a LITTLE bit of the lemon rind. You'll have to use enough salt IMO to get near a ricotta taste, and you'll need to taste and adjust flavorings. For the sauce, you could use Alissa's (or the filling too) I just sort of wing it, the key is to put sundried tomatoes along with fresh tomatoes, then herbs, etc. A recipe I like is Renee Loux Underkoffler's in her book (which I have loaned to my mum, so I don't have it here). I remember hers uses a bit of apple cider vinegar, a bit of something sweet I think honey, and a bit of Olive oil, to richen the flavor, in addition to the dried and fresh tomatoes and herbs, etc. Hope that helps, you could just do Alissas but try switching the turnip to celery root. For herbs in the marinara, I put chives, basil, oregano, marjoram, and thyme, sometimes a tiny bit of rosemary. If you want to make it even better, you could marinate and wilt the celery root slices in the dehydrator, I might do that if for company so it's more like a noodle, for me I just like it fresh tasting.