Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

I couldn't imagine cooking without herbs, and although I'm not keen on gardening, I've managed to grow quite a few herbs in my garden: chives, bay, mint, sage, thyme and rosemary.  I'm especially proud of my bay tree which was given to me by my Mum a few years ago, at the time it was about 18 inches tall, and now it looks like this:

I often prune it and give friends a bouquet of bay leaves, if they'd like some. The chives and sage are in pots, the thyme grows on the rockery; and the rosemary bush is on the left of the bay tree in the above picture.  It's my second rosemary bush, I tried to move the original one and it died, but this one is doing well. The mint does go a bit mad - it came from a friend who gave us some of their home grown potatoes and some mint to cook with them. I didn't use all of it, and put the rest in a glass of water on the window sill. It grew some roots, so I planted it and now we've got a massive patch.  I've also got basil on my kitchen windowsill, which gets used and replaced every few weeks, and other herbs (flat leaf parsley, dill, tarragon, coriander) I buy in bunches and keep in green bags in the fridge (see my "waste not want not" post to learn more about green bags). Mum also has a lot of curly parsley in her garden, she dries it in the microwave and crumbles it for me. Dried herbs often don't have as much flavour as fresh but the microwave drying seems to retain the green colour and more of the flavour too.  Some of the bunched herbs can also be frozen either as they are, or in cubes of ice, or even better as herb butters.

Can you spot my cat in her favourite spot between the rosemary bush and the bay tree?

Sage and chives.

Thyme on the rockery.

A friend has offered me some more herbs to grow, so I might soon add some others to my collection.

So, what can you do with herbs? The possibilities are endless, and some herbs have a particular affinity for certain foods - like dill with fish and rosemary with lamb.  It would be a very long post if I rambled on about all the uses of herbs in cooking - and I'm always discovering new things but here some of my favourites:

Add to risotto - at the end to retain the flavour.  Use when making stock - tie up with string to make a "bouquet garni". Even just the stalks of parsley are good for stock. Use in dips, I made a lovely fresh dip with mint, yoghurt and radishes once.  Use in bread, dumplings and stuffings - our Easter Sunday roast turkey was stuffed with sage, walnut and apple stuffing. Talking of roasts, make holes in a lamb joint and stick sprigs of rosemary in with garlic and/or anchovy fillets, or use a rub made with finely chopped rosemary and paprika.

Bay is great with potatoes, lemon and onions, baked with whole mackerel on top, add dill too if you have some.  If you're cooking a whole salmon, stuff it with lemon slices, herbs and a splash of white wine. Also bay goes well in a lasagne, in either or both of the sauces.

Herbs and eggs are a good combo, I've used thyme in cheese souffIes and a variety of herbs in Iranian spinach tortilla - very fresh tasting! Some parsley and dill really makes a warm mackerel salad with new potatoes and steamed green vegetables. I've made a smoked trout pate recently too, accompanied by beetroot and dill relish.  Added to breadcrumbs, herbs will liven up the coating for a chicken or  pork schnitzel, and a herb crust for fish can be enhanced by adding some Indian spices. Basil is great with most pasta dishes and made into a basil and cream sauce for ravioli, or a basil, white wine and lemon dipping sauce for asparagus. 

One of my favourite pasta dishes uses chopped fresh rosemary with dried oregano, fennel seeds, garlic, harissa paste, red wine, chilli, tinned tomatoes, prawns and chorizo - added to linguine with parsley scattered over..  It smells amazing!

You can use herbs in sweet dishes too.  Nigel Slater does a gorgeous white chocolate and cardamom mousse using bay infused milk - this has become a family favourite; and I've made a milk chocolate mousse with rosemary infused milk - though the flavour was a bit delicate and next time I'll try infusing it overnight. Another Nigel favourite is lemon and thyme cake, and I've made a raspberry and thyme custard tart.  I can't find my own photo so here is one from delicious. magazine but mine did look exactly like the picture!

I also love just infusing some fresh mint leaves in boiling water to make a mint tea, very good for the digestion!

Next I want to try some of the more unusual herbs, so if anybody is growing some please let me know if you have some spare...

More soon, thank you for reading :-)

Caroline.