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Matt Landi, County Bounty: Use culinary herbs to bring culture, flavor to most any dish

Central Coast cuisine is blessed with an abundance of fresh ingredients almost every month of the year. Many foods come and go with changes in the growing season, but an array of aromatic culinary herbs remain in almost constant supply. They offer a diversity of flavors that can enhance almost any dish.

An herb, in the nonbotanical sense, is characterized as a plant valued for scent, flavor or medicinal qualities. These plants can take on a variety of botanical forms including that of perennials, biennials or annuals. Physically speaking, herbs vary greatly, ranging from woody shrubs like rosemary and thyme to trees such as bay laurel. Not intended to provide substance, they are used primarily to bring food to life and are a vital part of the sensual eating experience worldwide.

Cole Canyon Farm in Aromas offers a wide variety of culinary and medicinal herb plants, which they sell both at retail locations and area farmers markets. Partners in life as well as business, Pamela Mason and Steve Rehn started their five-acre nursery 10 years ago with a heavy focus on vegetable starts. The increase in fresh herb offerings was customer-driven.

“Every week customers would ask for special herbs that were dear to them. It became clear to us that the flavors of favorite foods for people of all cultures were related to the unique herbs added during the cooking process,” recalls Mason. “We started slowly adding common herbs, then those more culturally specific and

hard to find.”

Many of those difficult-to-find varieties were simply regionally specific versions of well-known herbs such as French tarragon, Mexican oregano and Vietnamese coriander.

Others, many grown for medicinal uses, like Aztec sweet herb, are much less commonly known. In total, Cole Canyon grows more than 80 varieties, including seven varieties of mint alone.

From all of this diversity, there are several basic varieties widely available and especially common during the fall cooking season.

Sage is an evergreen herb that’s been used for centuries. It is commonly thought of as a holiday accompaniment to poultry. Yet, it offers far more. Sage works well in heavy soups and stews, adds flavor to root vegetable dishes and even makes a great addition to breads and muffins.

Thyme is a woody shrub, that, according to Cole Canyon’s Mason: “Goes well in everything. I use it as I would salt and pepper.” Have it for breakfast with your eggs or use it to create a savory soup stock.

Rosemary is an evergreen shrub, native to the Mediterranean. It is a well-known accompaniment to roasted potatoes and poultry. Rosemary can also be baked into any bread, cracker or pizza crust.

Mint is a perennial that can be enjoyed year-round on the Central Coast. It is common as a tea, and its cool, refreshing flavor can liven up everything from salads to pasta sauce.

Marjoram is related to another common herb, oregano, but is much sweeter. Its pleasant aroma has even led to its use as a breath freshener. Marjoram works well in a fresh salad and with any recipe that calls for oregano. Legend has it that Aphrodite used marjoram to heal a wound from Ero’s arrow, but instead of curing her pangs of love, the sweet herb only increased her passion.

A home herb garden is one of the most satisfying ways to enjoy the bounty of fresh herbs. Whether kept in containers or planted directly in the ground, many of the most common herbs are both pest- and drought-resistant. Given that many are woody shrubs or biennials, they require very little maintenance aside from occasional pruning, which, if you’re using them enough, isn’t a frequent task. Of the 65,000 plants Cole Canyon sells in a calendar year, 80 percent are sold in the spring. The majority are 3- and 5-inch pots for re-planting. However, several herbs are best planted in the fall including sage, oregano, marjoram, lavender, rosemary and thyme. Parsley is also well-suited to our mild winter climate.

If you’re not up to growing your own, fresh cut herbs are available from locally grown sources much of the year on the Central Coast.

“We live in paradise, or at least one of three Mediterranean regions in the world,” Mason noted. “Our growing season lasts for nine to 10 months and most herbs are available most of those months.”

Even if you’ve stayed away in the past, once you open up to the world of cooking with fresh herbs, going without doesn’t taste quite the same. Mason summed it up well in describing the reaction of her 93-year-old mother: “To this day she comments about all the weeds’ I’m chopping into our food. She swears she has no idea what those weeds are, but they sure do taste good!”

Matt Landi is produce director for New Leaf Community Markets. Contact him at [email protected]. His County Bounty column runs monthly.

 

Herbs play a great role in elevating a roasted chicken, but too many varieties or too much of one kind can create herbal warfare. More is not better! After you carve and serve the chicken, make sure to save the chicken carcass and the drippings. Those bones with all their rich flavor are perfect for stock. And if you’re not ready to make stock right away, just wrap the carcass well and freeze it. Pan drippings are pure gold. Any time you strain the liquid from the vegetables, you’ll have equal proportions of fat and natural juice. Refrigerate that for a day, and the fat will solidify and rise to the top. Then remove the chicken fat and save it separately to use for making a roux or sauteing vegetables. The strained juices make a natural sauce for roast chicken, or add them to a soup for a great hit of flavor, or make a delicious pan sauce. — John Besh

HERB-ROASTED CHICKEN
Serves 4
1 4-pound whole freerange organic chicken
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 head garlic, halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
Leaves from 1 sprig fresh thyme, chopped
Leaves from 1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
Leaves from 1 sprig fresh sage, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
Butcher’s string
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season the chicken cavity liberally with salt and pepper and stuff the halved head of garlic inside. Season the outside of the chicken with more salt and pepper, then slather on the olive oil. Scatter the chopped thyme, rosemary, and sage all over the chicken, letting the leaves cling to the oiled skin.
2. To truss the chicken, cut a length of butcher’s string 4 times longer than the chicken. Set the chicken on a board, breast side up. Find the middle of the string and slip it beneath the tail. Bring the ends of the string up and across the tail, crossing the string over the ends of each drumstick from the inside. Loop around the drumstick once or twice and pull the string taut. Then turn the chicken over and cross the strings across the back of the chicken, centering one end over each wing. Turn the chicken over and pull the strings tight to secure the wings against the body. Tie the ends in a knot and cut off the excess string.
3. Scatter the onions, carrots, and celery in a heavybottomed roasting pan, then pour in enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Place the chicken, breast side up, over the bed of vegetables. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until the chicken breast registers an internal temperature of 150 degrees on a meat thermometer and the legs register 160 degrees. The skin should be dark amber and when you move the joint at the crease of the thigh, the juices should run clear. Let the chicken rest for 30 minutes before serving.
– From John Besh’s ‘My Family Table:
A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking’
[Andrews McMeel Publishing, November 2011; 264 pages; $35]

On almost any night, we love nothing more than a big, hot bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup — pho. Don’t worry about the number of ingredients in this recipe. Pho is nothing more than a flavorful broth often perfumed with star anise. Since that’s not easy to find, we use Chinese five-spice powder (which has star anise in it). As for the chili paste and hoisin sauce, a pantry is incomplete without these key ingredients. — John Besh
VIETNAMESE NOODLE SOUP
Serves 6
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
3 quarts chicken broth
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound rice vermicelli noodles, cooked
1 pound sliced cooked meat, such as
Braised Veal Brisket
Leaves from 1 bunch fresh cilantro
Leaves from 1 bunch fresh basil
2 limes, quartered
2 handfuls bean sprouts
Hoisin sauce
Sambal chili paste
1. Heat the sesame oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the green onions, ginger, garlic, and five-spice powder and saut
for 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken broth, raise the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low. Taste and season with salt and pepper and cover the pot.
2. Divide the cooked rice noodles among 6 soup bowls. Over each bowl of noodles, scatter equal portions of sliced meat, then pour the hot broth over the noodles so that the meat is barely covered.
3. In the center of the table put plates of the fresh herbs, lime quarters, and bean sprouts. Each person can add his own fresh herbs and bean sprouts to the soup. Squeeze lime over the top, season with hoisin and chili, stir well, and start slurping.
– From John Besh’s ‘My Family Table:
A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking’
[Andrews McMeel Publishing, November 2011; 264 pages; $35]

 

IF YOU GO

Fresh Herb Class
What: A cooking demonstration and tasting with local chef Debbie Sipowicz and County Bounty’s Matt Landi
When: 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10
WHere: Westside New Leaf store, 1101 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz
COST: $5
Preregistration: 466-9060, ext. 126

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