Our Diminutive Balcony Garden 2010, Tuesday, 18 May 2010

Its a fantastic warm sunny morning here in London and I have just had a cutting of salad leaves from the small pot about enough for Maureen’s lunch. Also sowed some Rosemary seeds for the sitting room windowsill I really do hope that they take we both love to cook with Rosemary I also pricked out six Basil (Sweet Genovese) plants that we grew from seed Basil is another herb we like to use a lot in our cooking. With good weather and a little look I hope to be growing enough herbs to make a recipe amount of my favourite herb blend;


Herbes de Provence (Provençal Herbs)

Provençal cuisine has by tradition used many herbs, which were often considered collectively as "Herbes de Provence,” but not in any exacting recipes, and not sold as a blend. Herbes de Provence can be different in content and quantity, more often than not the blend will comprise Thyme, Bay Leaf, Rosemary, Savory, Lavender and Basil.

Serves / Makes: Quite a few, though this blend makes about 1/3 cup of herb mix

Prep-Time: 10 to 20 minutes

Cook-Time: no cook

You Will Need;

1 tablespoon, Thyme

1 tablespoon, Chervil

1 tablespoon, Rosemary

1 tablespoon, Sage

1 teaspoon, Lavender

1 teaspoon, Tarragon

1 teaspoon, Marjoram

½ teaspoon, Oregano

½ teaspoon, Mint

2 powdered or chopped Bay leaves

Method;

If using fresh herbs? Dry them first then mix together all of the ingredients and store in a tightly sealed container.

Serve and Enjoy!

Notes:
You can prepare your own blend using these herbs alongside with other quantities of aromatic herbs as lavender, fennel seeds and sage all depending on your personal taste, I personally like a little lavender added to the blend.

Herbes de Provence are for the most part used to flavour grilled foods such as fish and meat, as well as vegetable stews. The blend can be added to foods before or during cooking or mixed with cooking oil prior to cooking to infuse the flavour into the cooked food. They are rarely added after cooking is complete, Put the herbs in a jar with a screw top lid, and shake together