'Jekka's Herb Cookbook' offers countless ways to use them
-
Jekka McVicar. -
"Jekka's Herb Cookbook"
Share with others:
Wouldn't you know it?
For the past few years purslane has been growing with wild abandon between the bricks in the back yard, and its low-growing habit and succulent look made it a welcome addition to our garden.
This year, as Jekka McVicar's new herb cookbook debuts with three salad recipes using purslane, we've got nary a shoot.
C'est la vie. In "Jekka's Herb Cookbook," she has plenty more ways to use dozens of herbs, most of them familiar and cultivated but a few that may be new to American cooks and gardeners, like rock samphire (sea fennel), and the Asian herb shiso, with cumin-flavored leaves, and Good King Henry, the wild spinach that long ago set Ms. McVicar on the path to becoming, in the words of Jamie Oliver, England's "queen of herbs."
Thirty years ago, in between freelance television production jobs for the BBC, she worked on an herb farm called Tumblers Bottom.
"I thought I knew a lot about herbs because of my mum but these guys were growing Good King Henry," she said over the phone from her home in South Gloucestershire. "Why would they call a plant Good King Henry, I wondered. And if there's a Good King Henry, there must be a Bad King Henry."
Today Ms. McVicar cultivates Good King Henry (named, oddly enough, for a German elf) and more than 700 other organically grown herbs on her densely packed two-acre lot. From the air, the scope of Jekka's Herb Farm is evident: a large glass house for propagation, two multi-section hoop houses and numerous planting beds, all tucked behind a row of trees and shrubbery and a two-story stone house called Rose Cottage -- the largest herb-growing operation in the United Kingdom.
Ms. McVicar, whose herbs have won 62 Royal Horticultural Society gold medals, is the featured speaker at the Herb Society of America's annual national conference, to be held at Downtown's Wyndham Grand hotel June 23-25. Her hour-long talk at 1:15 p.m. June 24 is open to the public; tickets are $15.
Its topic -- "Herbs are More Than a Garnish" -- will emphasize that herbs are "the center of our food," she said.
"Did you know parsley is one of the best foods you can eat to stimulate your appetite? It's very high in iron and minerals, as well."
First Published June 16, 2011 12:00 am
