Herbs, Herbs, Herbs : The Herbal Life

HERBAL NINTENDO

Flee the kiss of thyme

Spaning rosemary

Lives tangled

Heralded by golden

Trumpets of honeysuckle

Circled by laurel

Masked by lavender

Shh! be careful not

To trample the sleeping

Wormwood knows all

--Yvonne Mason

Melantha Donahue of Malibu and Yvonne Mason of Manhattan Beach have been picking herbs from their gardens and throwing them into the kitchen pot for years.

Donahue is a vegan (meaning that she eats no animal products at all), and she needs the herbs to heighten the flavors in her cooking. She doesn’t skimp. “I adore oregano,” she says, “and the more the merrier. Besides avoiding all animal fat, I try to use very little oil in my cooking, but since I like everything to be very tasty I throw in lots of fresh herbs.” And, she adds, plenty of garlic as well.

Rosemary thrives on the ocean air around her beach home, vigorous plants staking out patches of the sunny hillside. Fronds of peppermint and spearmint spring up between the shady stream and the rocks around her garden pond. The cold of winter is not kind to some of the herbs--the basil doesn’t like it much--and a big high tide just washed away her watercress patch. Donahue doesn’t seem worried. “They’ll grow back,” she says.

Donahue finds that oregano and Italian parsley “seem to work better in pots.” When the weather gets warmer, Donahue will start to replenish the other herbs such as chives and arugula. In her kitchen sill, you’ll find radish, alfalfa, fennel and mung bean sprouts growing in jars, and all of them find their way into her salads.

Donahue has no set rules for cooking with herbs. “I like to encourage people to go with what they think or taste,” she says. “I like to add them early in the cooking process, and then add a little bit, maybe freshly chopped parsley, in the end.”

She has a high regard for dried herbs too, which she buys in big bunches. “They give a different taste,” she notes.

Donahue, who is a poet, an ordained non-denominational minister and a practitioner of the healing arts, is currently compiling recipes for a vegetarian cookbook; the fennel sprout salad, oregano pasta sauce and bread stick recipes below are from her forthcoming book.

When Yvonne Mason isn’t painting, writing or teaching poetry to eighth-graders at Calle Mayor School in Torrance, she rolls goat cheese in herbs. She tosses peppery nasturtiums into greens, or honeysuckle blossoms into a fruit salad. She bakes focaccia with rosemary or makes sorbet out of lavender flowers. She makes wreaths out of herbs, writes poems about herbs, does needlepoint about herbs. “Herbs,” she says, “are an intimate part of my life.”

Her kitchen door opens to a back yard filled with random patches and pots of rosemary, sorrel, arugula, garlic, lavender, oregano, Italian parsley, basil, thyme and nasturtiums.

Stimulated by a Sicilian uncle who was a chef, Mason has been recreating the flavors of the Mediterranean in her Manhattan Beach kitchen. “Virtually everything I cook has herbs in it,” she says. “I haven’t used salt in years.”

Unlike most cooks, Mason generally prefers to use a single herb in each dish rather than a blend. Lavender is one of her favorites; she grows both English and French varieties. As she talks, she reaches up, picks a few buds from the sprigs in her hat and drops the lavender into the fresh tomato sauce simmering on the stove. “I love tarragon too,” she says. “Too bad the plants are dormant now. My kids like my spiral pasta salad made with tarragon, roast chicken, artichokes and olives.”

“I experiment all the time,” she says, pointing to a small jar of dressing, a rose-amber-colored infusion of purple basil in wine vinegar. The smell of barbecued chicken wafts across, irresistibly fragrant with rosemary sprigs burning on the coals. “Many years ago in Spain, I learned a method of herb-smoking meats.” The method calls for drying branches of herbs, soaking them in water before grilling and then throwing them into hot coals.

Her advice to gardeners is basic. “Herbs usually don’t do well where you want them to be,” she says. “I’ve stopped fighting with my herbs; I now just put anything where it wants to grow. I like to keep them in pots so I can move them around--it all depends on where they’re happy.”

She has much the same philosophy about feeding herbs to people. “Herbs have such distinct flavors,” she says. “You just have to please people with the herbs that they want. The thing is, you either like one or you don’t.”

Melantha Donahue likes to contrast dried herbs with fresh herbs. Here she uses Italian seasoning, a blend of dried sage, rosemary, basil and oregano. “Whenever I use dried herbs, I always put them in my hand and pulverize them. This pops open a little more flavor,” she says.

MELANTHA DONAHUE’S SPICY TOMATO SAUCE WITH FRESH OREGANO

1/8 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (mix of dried sage, rosemary, basil, oregano)

2 cubes vegetable bouillon

1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Salt

Bread Sticks With Oregano, optional

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook 1 minute. Add garlic and continue cooking 3 minutes. Stir in oregano and wine and cook until wine is reduced, about 4 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes, Italian seasoning, vegetable bouillon and crushed red pepper. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add parsley and salt to taste. Simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, about 45 minutes, until sauce is reduced and thick. Serve over hot pasta with oregano bread sticks, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

173 calories; 769 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 2 grams fiber; 42% calories from fat.

Bread Sticks With Oregano

2 (12-inch) sourdough flutes

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 1 tablespoon dried

Cut bread into eighths lengthwise. Place bread sticks on baking sheets. Brush tops and sides of bread sticks with olive oil, then sprinkle with oregano.

Bake at 350 degrees 15 to 20 minutes or until golden and crispy. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes 16 bread sticks.

Each serving contains about:

65 calories; 70 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0 fiber; 54% calories from fat.

MELANTHA DONAHUE’S ENDIVE, WATERCRESS AND FENNEL SPROUT SALAD

2 cups sprouted fennel seeds

2 cups watercress, broken into bite-size pieces

3 to 4 heads Belgian endive, cut into bite-size pieces

1/4 cup roasted pine nuts

Dressing

Combine fennel seeds, watercress, endive and pine nuts. Top with Dressing. Toss and serve. Or leave salad ingredients whole and artfully arrange on platter and sprinkle with Dressing. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving with dressing contains about:

380 calories; 171 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 30 grams fat; 28 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 7.3 grams fiber; 70% calories from fat.

Dressing

1/4 cup Chianti vinegar

6 tablespoons olive oil, or to taste

Dash salt

2 teaspoons water

Whisk together vinegar, olive oil, salt and water.

YVONNE MASON’S GRILLED CHICKEN WITH CARNIVAL SAUCE

Herb branches (rosemary, tarragon, sage or other)

1 whole chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt, pepper

Carnival Sauce

Strip herb sprigs off branches. Hang branches to dry 1 to 2 days. Soak dry branches in bucket of water about 2 hours before barbecuing chicken. Drain.

Cut chicken in quarters. Rub pieces with garlic and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Prepare hot coals. Place wet herb branches directly on coals. Place chicken on grill. Cover and cook until done, turning once. Serve with Carnival Sauce and garnish with fresh herb sprigs. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving with sauce contains about:

305 calories; 153 mg sodium; 59 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 21 grams protein; 2.5 grams fiber; 51% calories from fat.

Carnival Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 small crookneck squash, sliced

2 tablespoons crushed fresh thyme

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

8 medium to large tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon vodka

1 tablespoon chopped fresh lavender buds or basil, optional

Salt, optional

Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add and saute garlic until golden. Add and saute crookneck squash few minutes. Stir in thyme, rosemary and tomatoes. Simmer about 20 minutes, or until thick sauce consistency.

Add vodka and saute off alcohol, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in lavender and season to taste with salt, if desired. Serve hot with herb-smoked chicken, lamb or fish or pasta. Makes 4 servings.