Herbes de Provence

I attended a week long cooking class at The Culinary Institute in Napa Valley some years ago. The class was in French Provencal cooking. During the class, I was introduced to Herbes de Provence. It is an herb blend I was not very familiar with. What a wonderful blend it is!

Herbes de Provence traditionally is a blend of herbs grown in Provence. There is no set blend or formula. The traditional version is sold in crocks or small packets to tourists in France and does not contain lavender.

To please the US tourists that identify the region with the local lavender, the Herbes de Provence in the US contains lavender and I am happy about that. I love lavender. Still it is an herb that needs to be used in moderation; otherwise it can taste like soap. A little goes a long way.


I have made my own blend, using the recipe I learned at the Culinary Institute. It comes from the cookbook by Richard Carrier, “Feasts of Provence”it and includes lavender and dried orange peel. There are many variations. Recently I bought the McCormick brand. I don’t see lavender on the ingredients list and cannot smell it, so I assume it is a more traditional recipe. I like if for most recipes. If I was going to use the blend with a tomato base, I might prefer my homemade blend with the orange peel.


Herbes de Provence pairs well with many different wines depending on it’s usage, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, White Burgundy to name a few.


You can use Herbes to Provence in many recipes. It matches well with a lot of foods. You can match it with:

Chicken dishes (think La Madeline Rotisserie chicken) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Herbes-de-Provence-Rotisserie-Chickens-238794
Lamb :http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Wine-Braised-Lamb-Shanks-with-Herbes-de-Provence-109263 or
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/sauteed-lamb-chops-herbes-de-provence.aspx
Goat Cheese: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Scalloped-Potatoes-with-Goat-Cheese-and-Herbes-de-Provence-2999
Fish:
Trout. Sprinkle inside of Trout with Herbes de Provence. Top with slices of lemon and bake en papillote (in parchment paper or foil) or with
Cod http://miahungrylongtime.com/2010/03/07/cooking-with-paper-cod-en-papillote/
Grilled Salmon Filet Sandwich http://www.herbcompanion.com/cooking/herbes-de-provence-salmon-fillet-sandwiches.aspx
Vegetables: Sweet corn risotto http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cat-cora/sweet-corn-risotto-with-herbes-de-provence-recipe/index.html
Roasted Vegetableshttp://www.sacfoodcoop.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=726:roasted-vegetables-with-herbes-de-provence-&catid=47:side-dishes&Itemid=59


Other ideas for using Herbes de Provence:


Use in combination with Goat Cheese in omelets, scrambled eggs or with roasted red or Yukon gold potatoes or as above.


Black olive tapenade- http://recipes.wuzzle.org/index.php/54/1067


Pizza- The best pizza I have ever had was in Geneva, Switzerland. I am not sure what cheese they used (maybe Swiss cheese? Not quite but it was a white cheese!) but it was topped with Herbes de Provence and was fabulous! You could use it in place of oregano and top a traditional pizza with Kalamata olives and roasted red bell pepper, (ok you can throw a little cooked Italian Sausage on if you must).


On baked caramelized tomatoes- Core tomatoes and slice in half horizontally. Place on a baking sheet cut side up. Mix some olive oil, garlic, Herbes de Provence and salt and pepper. Pour over the tomato halves and bake for about 2 hours at 325 until collapsed and well carmelized. These are great on their own, but I sometimes put them over pasta.


My two newest favorite uses are in grits (for all the French cowboys!) and on a vegetable Panini.


For the grits, I take a packet of quick cooking (I use Quaker butter flavored) grits, add ½ cup of milk, some dollops of goat cheese and a sprinkling of Herbes de Provence. Microwave the grits on High for 1 minute 40 seconds. Add some light butter and enjoy.


For the vegetable Panini, cut serving size pieces of either foccacia or a nice sourdough bread. Take 3-4 medium sized asparagus per serving and put them on a toaster oven sheet mixed with olive oil. Bake for about 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees until cooked to desired doneness.


Divide bread in half as for a sandwich. Spread a light coating of goat cheese on one side of the bread, top with cooked asparagus and either roasted red onion slices (can roast with asparagus) or sliced Portobello mushroom. Throw a few leaves of basil on top. Spread the top piece of the bread with some goat cheese then sprinkle with Herbes de Provence and place on top of the vegetables to complete the sandwich. Lightly grease a preheated George Foreman grill and cook the Panini until done. Alternatively, cook on medium high in a lightly oiled skillet. Weigh down the bread to compress as in a Panini. Remove and enjoy.


I hope you will try some recipes with Herbes de Provence. 
Read more:  http://ptbcooking.blogspot.com/2011/02/herbes-de-provence.html

Tree trimming 2010

Tree trimming 2010

Since I was away the first week in December and had the flu upon my return, I didn’t plan a tree trimming party this year. So, it was a quiet year as parties go. 

It occurred to me that I am clueless as to how to decorate my tree, much less put an artificial tree together. Since I have a party every year, other people have handled the details. My job has always been the food and drink.

I still trimmed my tree this year and I still had guests, but only those close to me, my mother, my sister and Steve. I had invited a couple other close friends but both were under the weather.  I was very happy Steve came over because my mother’s interest was watching the football game. My sister thought that was a grand idea too.

Steve and I trimmed the tree, he being in charge of the lights and both of us sharing ornament placement. I must admit I was impressed with Steve’s prowess at putting on the lights, especially since we were a bit short on lights. We also did a darn good job at trimming the tree all by ourselves. Designers watch out!

I normally make “from scratch” food for my parties. This time, with little advance notice,  I took some shortcuts and made some “from scratch” food too.  I made chocolate cookies from a mix, and the same was true for the lemon bars.

I am here to say, it’s just not the same. For most people the sweets would be acceptable but for a foodie that loves to cook from scratch, the mixes really fall short. The cookies were good but not great. The lemon bars didn’t even taste like lemon, they were just sweet.  I had to squeeze fresh lemon juice over them to get even a little discernable taste of lemon.

I also made rosemary walnuts. Those were from scratch and although they are very salty, I really love them.  Normally I use rosemary from my garden.  This year, no fresh rosemary so I used the dried version.  Fresh is much better.

Rosemary Walnuts

2 cups shelled whole walnuts

2 ½ tablespoons butter, melted

2 tsp crumbled dried rosemary (use more if using fresh)

1 ½ tsp salt ( I use less)

½ tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place walnuts in a single layer in a shallow pan. Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour over walnuts. Roast in the oven for about 10 minutes, until browned, shaking occasionally. Yield 6 servings

From The Pink Adobe cookbook by Rosalea Murphy

One thing I did enjoy without disappointment was the dinner I made, Santa Fe Pasta Sauce. You will find it in a previous blog called Southwestern Pasta sauce. It came from a Cooking Light recipe. Several years ago it was among the top rated Cooking Light recipes. It is healthy, filling and tasty.

I normally make changes to the recipes I use. The changes I made to this one are minor. Because I was serving it buffet style, I chose not to use fettuccini. I wanted a pasta easier to handle.  I used a mixed grain, higher fiber curly macaroni.

I was unable to find fresh jalapenos after visiting several stores and sliced pickled peppers just doesn’t work for a former Texan.  I guess this isn’t Texas, but Brazilians have their own hot peppers. I chose some red Brazilian peppers without knowing if they were sweet or hot.  Just so you don’t have the same surprise, they are HOT! They are really good though. I think I like them better than jalapenos (but don’t tell my Texas friends)!

I did not make the chicken as I wanted this to be a vegetarian meal.  The sauce is better after it sits for a day, so don’t be afraid to make it ahead of time. I hope you try this and enjoy it. For the runners out there, it would be a good healthy carb meal.

Breakfast for One

I get bored with breakfast. I am not a big fan of cereal. I don’t think it is the best choice to start your day. I wish I could eat oats, but they don’t agree with me.  My favorite easy breakfast is to scramble an egg in the microwave and put it on a multigrain English muffin then melt some lowfat cheddar on top (a la McBreakfast).

The other day I had some asparagus in the fridge that I needed to use. Somewhere I had seen a picture of cooked asparagus with a fried egg on top and I had vowed to try it one day. I was unsure if it sounded like a good idea or not, but I thought I would give it a try.

I used to cook asparagus in a pan with water. Then the asparagus cookers came out and everyone was cooking them upright in a pot of water. I never had one of those.  I have since changed my asparagus cooking technique to roasting it in the toaster oven.

What I do is, once the asparagus is cleaned and the tough ends removed, I preheat the toaster oven to 400 degrees.  I then place the asparagus on the toaster oven pan and pour some olive oil over them (not a lot) along with some lemon pepper.  I mix it all up, leaving the asparagus in a single layer and bake them in the toaster oven for 12 minutes.

To make my breakfast, while the asparagus was roasting I fried up an egg (using olive oil rather than butter).  When the asparagus was done, I lay some (3) on a plate, lightly toasted a slice of sourdough (or multigrain) bread, then topped the asparagus with the egg and a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

When you break the egg over the asparagus, it mixes with the lemon juice and lemon pepper and provides a creamy lemony, hollandaise like topping for the fresh asparagus spears, without the fat of a traditional hollandaise. I use the sourdough to soak up the yolk. 

Oh and I made myself a nice cup of Cuban coffee too.

That’s all there was to it. It made a delicious breakfast and a healthy one too.  I hope you get a chance to try this breakfast. I think you will enjoy it.