plants that Native Americans traditionally grew together), tomatoes, chili peppers, sunflowers, and amaranths. I’ve planted and cooked from at least a dozen distinctive salad gardens—some in containers and many combined with edible flowers. My spice garden included the herbs which, when they go to seed, are considered spices (anise, coriander, cumin, dill, and fennel), along with a patch of unusual mustards for seed—brown, white, and black.
There has been an Italian wild greens garden, a salsa garden, a grain garden, and a rainbow vegetable garden featuring everything from blue potatoes to rainbow chard, red carrots, and purple artichokes.
Recipes from the Garden is a compilation of some of my favorite dishes; it’s my way to share the innumerable culinary adventures I’ve had through decades of cooking from my garden. Along the way I’ve had the privilege of meeting many cooks who garden and gardeners who cook—professionals and amateurs alike—who have been gracious enough to share their recipes.
This book is not meant to be an A to Z primer on vegetables and herbs. Instead, it is a collection of recipes that follows my meandering journey through a garden of eden that you, too, can enjoy—whether the ingredients come from your garden, a grocery store, or the local farmers’ market.
You’ll find here enticing recipes that are flavorful, packed with nutrition, and generally light on saturated fats and sodium. I have included a vast range of recipes from easy to complex, suitable for beginners and long-time cooks:
• Easy and quick recipes using familiar ingredients: Mint Whipped Cream, Tomato and Basil Salad, and Baked Beets
• Dishes that are amazingly nutritious, and filled with vitamins and antioxidants: Classic Minestrone Soup; Hearty Greens with Pears, Blue Cheese, and Chives; and Oriana’s Cabbage Salad
• Recipes sure to please: Crab and Asparagus Salad with Fancy Greens and Sorrel Dressing, Tortilla Soup, Pork Shoulder Sandwiches with Tomatillos
• Gifts from the garden: Rosemary Pesto, Basil in Parmesan, and Dried Tomatoes
• Edible flower recipes: Chive Blossom Butter, Lavender Sugar, and Flower Confetti Salad
• Old-fashioned classics with a modern twist: Baked Apples with Dried Cherries and Hazelnuts, Corn Pudding, and Rhubarb-strawberry Cobbler
• Show-off recipes for devoted garden cooks: Red Cherry Peppers Roasted and Stuffed with Mozzarella Cheese and Prosciutto, Deep-fried Squash Blossoms with Chili Cream, and Garden Celebration Salad
• Memorable desserts: Rose Petal Sorbet, Golden Chard Dessert Tart, and Carrot Pie
Even if you don’t have your own garden, you, too, can create most of the recipes in this book. With each passing day, more and more ingredients that were once considered exotic are becoming accessible. No doubt some of these recipes will bring out your adventurous spirit and tempt you to sample from our new global buffet. As you look through the recipes in this book, you will find yourself planning your next meal, as well as next season’s garden—from sorrel and Cinderella pumpkins to cherry peppers and nasturtiums, from melons to fava beans.
As Julia Child would say, “Bon appétit!”—and happy gardening.
Rosalind Creasy
Los Altos, California
herb blends, salad dressings, and more
fresh herb blends
The French are fond of herbs, and starting with a few French classics is a lovely way to begin this book. Bouquet garni and fines herbes are such versatile herb mixes, we’ve all probably used variations without calling them by their official titles.
Bouquet Garni
Bouquet garni is used to infuse a soup, stock, or sauce with complex flavors. Herbs are tied together with aromatic vegetables, added at the beginning of cooking, and removed at the end.
1 small leek, or large leek sliced lengthwise, white part only
1 carrot
2 celery ribs, with greens
1 sprig fresh lovage or 4 tablespoons celery leaves
3 sprigs fresh parsley
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Tie all the ingredients together with clean white string. Leave a tail on the string so you can secure it to the pot and remove it easily.
Fines Herbes
Fines herbes is a mixture of chopped herbs. You will see dried mixes labeled “fines herbes,” but the elusive flavors of the primary herbs—tarragon, parsley, and chervil—fade when dried. The traditional mixture calls for equal amounts of minced fresh parsley, tarragon, chervil, and chives or thyme. This mix is added at the last minute to soups, sauces, vinaigrettes, and savory egg dishes.
Gremolata
Here’s another traditional herb blend—this one from Italy. It adds a “wallop” of flavor when sprinkled over osso buco, roast lamb, baked chicken, and fish; when added to soups before serving; or when stirred into marinades and sauces.
1 large lemon
½ cup (15 g) chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 small garlic clove, minced
⅛ teaspoon salt
Dash of freshly ground black pepper
Grate the lemon peel. Place it in a small bowl, and mix in the parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper. It will keep for three days in the refrigerator. Makes ⅔ cup (20 g).
Salad greens can be grown in beds or containers, as shown here.
These are the workhorses of the herb garden: flat-leaf and curly parsley, sage, rosemary, and French and lemon thyme. Use them in butters, pasta sauces, salad dressings, soups, stuffings, meat stews, and in a marinade for roast meats.
Even a garden with only a few herb plants produces enough to share. Before a party, gather up little bouquets of fresh herbs, tie them with raffia, and give them to your host or hostess. Or dry herbs and give them as a bridal shower gift. For a festive presentation, put the dry herbs in a basket and add a great bottle of olive oil, a fancy vinegar, and your favorite salad dressing recipe.
salad herb blends
A basic green salad can be given many faces by changing the selection of fresh herbs. Here are a number of fresh herb salad blends.
Tangy Herb Blend
This blend is wonderful over a large salad of mixed lettuces and tomatoes with a basic vinaigrette.
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