Grow Your Own: herbs

If you have a sunny windowsill, tender herbs are really easy to grow.  You can find pretty cheap kits (posts, seeds, compost) in garden centres and places like Wilkos. o just buy the seeds, some compost and reuse containers with drainage holes.

You can also grow them from cuttings:





If you have a garden, you are lucky enough to be able to grow woodier herbs like rosemary and bay.. Beware, they get huge so you need to cut them regularly.  Rosemary needs lots of sun but bay copes well with some shade.

Mint is super easy to grow outside. There are loads of varieties and it's great to have your own mint tea. Do make sure that you grow it in a container though as it has a habit of taking over everything - mint sends of little runners that burrow down and then pop up all over the place.  It took me 2 years to tame a rogue mint plant in my garden!

If you feel like getting adventurous with your herb growing, I totally recommend Herbal Haven as a supplier - they are online as well as at various London Farmers' Markets. it's quite fun to go to see them and get advice about where to plant/how to care for herbs you've never heard of before!!

Vitamin Wheat

This is fast, adaptable and good for using bits of veg up. Quantities here are for 2-3 meals.

2 mugs of bulgar wheat or couscous (or cooked rice)
1 small onion
1-2 cloves of garlic, sliced
A handful of chopped dried fruit (optional but things like cranberries, apricots, sultanas...)
About 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 apple, chopped
A slosh of cider (or water)

Other things you can add:
1 courgette, diced
1 pepper, diced
2 sticks of celery, chopped
3 handfuls Quorn chunks
a bit of cubed feta
Chickpeas

Dressing:
a glug of olive oil
juice of a lemon
handful of chopped parsley
half tsp cinnamon
half tsp cumin
half tsp sumac (optional)
half tsp advieh (optional)
chopped mint (optional)

Put the bulgar or couscous in a bowl and pour over boiling water until it is about a cm over the grains and cover with a plate for about 5-10 mins. If you are using dried fruit, add this too. Or cook the rice.

Meanwhile, cook the onions in a little oil until translucent. Add the quern here if using.

Add the garlic and other veg, a slosh of cider, and cook for about 10 mins or until they have softened and the veg (and quorn) has gone goldenish.

Tip it all into a big bowl with the grains and (add the feta now if using) and add the dressing stuff.  Stir it all up and cover for 5 mins then serve.

You can leave leftovers to go cold and have it for lunch the next day.

Chicken Livers, Lebanese style

This is potentially one of my favourite things in the universe.

Half a pack of chicken livers (200g)
1-2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
About a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
A glug of pomegranate molasses
A sprig of mint leaves, chopped
Potentially, lavash or pitta to serve.

First, rinse the livers, pat dry and trim any manky white bobbly bits off, cutting the livers in half if needs be (they should all be roughly the same size).

Heat a tiny bit of oil in a frying pan until pretty hot then add the livers, with a little space between. Leave them to their own devices for about 3 mins. Sprinkle some cinnamon (about half) over them and add the garlic then turn the livers.  They should have a slight crust around the edges. Add a glug of pomegranate molasses (enough to coat the livers), the rest of the cinnamon and cook for c. 3 mins. The livers should be cooked but still a little pink inside.

Put them on a plate and sprinkle the mint over.

Amazeballs.

Leftover fresh herbs?

When you've bought a big bunch of various herbs for something but perhaps not used them all and they're looking a bit sad in the fridge, you can easily whizz them up for a salsa verde or bung them in a stock, depending on what you are planning to cook or what you have just cooked. Or just preserve them for later use.

Salsa Verde

This is an ideal sauce to spoon on top of fish or have as a side for a BBQ. It will keep for a day or two in the fridge and if you have any leftover, you can use it in place of pesto for a super speedy and cheap pasta dish.

Handfuls of various fresh herbs ie coriander, parsley, mint, dill...

A splash of vinegar (cider, white wine, red wine...)

A glug of olive oil

A few anchovies (if you have them- you can use leftover anchovies to make bag a caude or stick them in other sauces etc)

A few capers (if you have them)

Salt and pepper to taste

Just whizz them all up in a food processor or mini chopper and keep tasting until you like it. It should be fresh and a little tart and salty.

Stock

Stock is easy to make and you can freeze it for later uses. It tastes so much better than those dry stock cubes and is an excellent way to use up odds  and ends to transform a soup or casserole on a rainy day when you have very little money left.

Leftover herb stalks/leaves

Veg peelings/old carrot ends, celery ends etc (any veg you have lurking about except potatoes really)

About 5-10 peppercorns

A couple of whole garlic cloves

An onion cut into wedges (no need to peel)

Any bones from recent meat OR fish heads/tails - you can keep this veggie or make it from a chicken carcass or for future fish sauces with fish heads, making it a perfect way to use every bit of your previous meal.

 You can also chuck in allspice berries, a chilli, a cinnamon stick etc; you can tweak it however you like depending on your taste and what you have in the cupboard!

Put the whole lot in a big pan and cover with water. Bring it to the boil and then turn down the heat and let it simmer for about an hour, loosely covered.

Strain it into a jug to decant into freezer bags or plastic pots to freeze when cool.  Be careful to strain it into a jug rather than down the sink by accident, as I have done so many times!

Frozen

If you buy a big bunch of herbs it's cheaper and then you can freeze what you don't use first time for future use. This only really works with tender herb such as mint, parsley, coriander, tarragon...

Just wash, chop and put in a freezer bag.  It's a good idea to label it as all herbs look pretty much the same when frozen.

Dried

Dried herbs taste different to fresh or frozen but are really useful in cooked dishes. This is a good way not to waste anything and is cheaper than buying them already dried. Especially if you grew them yourself in the first place!

Rinse then pat dry a bunch of the same herb with the stalks on.  Tie a piece of string around the bottom of the stalks and then hang up somewhere warmish and dry until they are completely dry and crispy.  Either leave them where they dangle or store them in airtight containers to lengthen their life.

Tabbouleh

This is a classic salad that is also ideal for taking in a little box for lunch.

1 mug bulgar wheat (or cous cous if you don't have any)

A bunch of chopped parsley

A bunch of chopped mint

Half a cucumber, diced

2-3 tomatoes, diced ( squeeze out the seeds if you don't want the slushiness)

A squeeze of lemon juice

A drizzle of olive oil

Make the bulgur/cous cous according to the packet but it usually involves putting in a bowl, covering in boiling water to a cm above the grains, covering and leaving for about 5 mins or until all the water is absorbed and the grains are plump. Allow to cool.

Mix in all the other ingredients and chill. 

You can tart it up with avocado, nuts, radishes etc if you have them lurking and fancy it.