BEYOND GARNISH

By Marcelle Warner

"The maxim ‘You are what you eat’," Marcelle Warner explains, "holds true more so today than perhaps ever before. In today’s world of fast and so-called convenient foods, nutrient poor meals are probably the norm.

The most natural and also the simplest way to increase physical, mental and spiritual health, is to turn to ones’ own patch of earth and cultivate an edible garden. These nutrient-dense plants are easy to grow both in soil or in pots and provide all that is needed to inject fresh vitamins and minerals into the diet.

Having such a garden allows one to not only nurture and sustain the body but also to find solace and relief for our stressful and anxiety filled lives.

Growing your own herbs allows you to learn the personalities of each plant, their individual characters, tastes and textures, aromas, uses, food values, how they grow, seasonal preferences and how they best combine with others.

Constructing a menu begins first and foremost in the garden. This is like composing a picture or a piece of music. One looks for taste, aroma and texture, colour and form, harmony, resonance and unity as well as perhaps high notes or discordant ones to delight or shock both the eye and the palate. 

Herbs rise above their common use as merely garnish and are put to use to embellish dishes, imbuing them with nuances of flavour as well as loads of fresh and healthy nutrients. This hopefully will entice diners to become more adventurous, (possibly less squeamish when it comes to eating herb flowers) and really savour their meals.

Adding herbs to ones’ repertoire does not mean drowning every available dish with some poor herb or another but a careful matching and blending of tastes. In this case ‘less is definitely more’!

A further dimension to healthy cooking is the use of spices. Spices are commonly the hard parts of plants such as seeds or barks that are dried and/or ground for use. These can be successfully combined with herbs both fresh and dried, to produce fragrant dishes that have the benefit of great taste plus many medicinal properties. Many of the culinary spices have digestive properties and their inclusion boosts the ability to digest and assimilate ones’ meal.

Use fresh herbs wherever possible. Spices (and dried herbs) should be kept as whole as possible before use, so that flavour and efficaciousness are not lost and only ground them when needed. This is not always easy to do, so a well stocked herb cupboard and spice drawer are essential standbys.

CUCUMBER & LIME with mint and lemon verbena

¼ cucumber, finely sliced
2 limes (lemons can be substituted)
2 tbsp sugar
50 ml vodka (gin can be substituted)
handful mint leaves
sprig lemon verbena
crushed ice
tonic water
(Serves 2)

Cut limes into quarters and pound to a pulp with sugar. Divide between two tall glasses, and add vodka, cucumber, mint and crushed ice. Top up with tonic. Add lemon verbena sprigs, stir with a swizzle stick and serve!

SWEET POTATO & GINGER SOUP

2 medium - large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 
3 cups chicken/vegetable stock 
¼ cup sliced leeks
1 - 1½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
coarse salt to taste
(Serves 6)

Sauté leeks gently in olive oil, add potato slices, ginger and stock. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 20 – 30 mins, until soft. Purée in blender and add orange juice and salt to taste. Serve hot or cold with a swirl of yoghurt/cream or pesto.

Cook's note: Take 1 tsp rocket pesto per serving and dilute with 1 tbsp buttermilk. Swirl this mixture into the soup before serving.

MINI ROCKET QUICHES

Pastry base:
100 g flour
2 tbsp ground linseeds
1 flat tsp whole linseeds
50 g cold butter
1- 3 tbsp water
pinch salt

Whizz all together in a processor. Use pastry to line 6 small ramekins. Prick bases. Set aside.

Filling:
rocket, nettle, spring onion
eggs
milk
herb filled feta cheese

Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese - grated
coarse salt and black pepper
(Makes 6)

Gently sauté chopped herbs and onion in olive oil. Add to beaten eggs with milk and crumbed feta cheese and seasoning. Spoon into pastry cases and sprinkle with grated cheese. Add a sprinkling of paprika and bake at 200°C  for about 30 minutes or until set.

BEETROOT & AVOCADO SALAD

fancy/wild lettuce leaves 
snipped young saladings of rocket, lettuces, basil, mustard lettuce, chives, and whatever other herbs available.
beetroot, boiled or baked and cubed
avocado, sliced
mixture of sprouted legumes
celery, sliced thinly
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
coarse sea salt, black pepper

Arrange the salad using the larger leaves as a base, add remaining leaves. Tuck beetroot and avocado slices in between. Top with sprouts and drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly milled black pepper.

KIWI & STRAWBERRY SENSATION

2 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced into 5 or 6 slices
about 12 – 15 firm ripe strawberries (do not remove calyces)
2 medium sprigs peppermint

Lightly bruise a few mint leaves and place on a plate. Arrange kiwi slices on top of these overlapping in a circle. Place strawberries into spaces around the Kiwi fruit and place the rest of the sprig of peppermint into the centre. 

Honeybush Syrup:
1 tbsp honeybush tea (not bags!)
1 medium sprig rosemary
¼ cup ginger flavoured sugar
1 cup boiling water
(Serves 2)

Boil together honeybush tea and rosemary for 10 minutes. Remove rosemary and add sugar. Boil for a further 20 minutes or until the syrup is fairly thick. Drizzle the syrup over the kiwi and strawberries followed by a dollop of Greek yoghurt or thin cream. Serve with a slice of Lemon Thyme Apricot Tart.

Lemon Thyme Apricot Tart:
1 beaten egg
3 ml vanilla
125 ml brown sugar
500 ml flour
10 ml baking powder
a pinch of salt 
125 g melted butter
2 tbsp lemon thyme leaves
250 ml preferably homemade apricot jam

Whisk egg, vanilla and sugar together. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt alternatively with melted butter. Add lemon thyme leaves. Knead well on floured board. Press 2/3 of the mixture into a pie plate. Spread with apricot jam. Grate the remaining 1/3 of dough onto the jam. Bake at 180ºC for 20 to 30 minutes until pastry is golden brown. 

For a superb range of home made marmalades and excellent jams, be in touch with Marcelle Warner who prepares some of the finest. A treat indeed! kwarner@cybertrade.co.za