I gathered our dinner directly from the garden today.
Still gathering cool season crops. Peas, radishes, green onions, kale, chervil and cilantro.
The egg basket is over flowing, so we will have a picnic favorite, herb deviled egg with dinner tonight. I have lots to lacy-leaved chervil and picked extra for my morning omelet. Delicate chervil is only in the garden for another week or so. It is my favorite fair weather herb.
What’s for Dinner?
- Kale salad with green onions, home-made herb vinaigrette, topped with hemp seeds and currants.
- Deviled farm fresh eggs sprinkled with chervil and chives.
- Open-faced radish sandwiches, a springtime-only special: Simply fresh thin-sliced sourdough or baguette, fresh butter, salt, thin sliced radishes.
Chervil Anthriscus cerefolium, mild flavored, delicate lacy leaves. If you don’t grow your own, you probably will not have the privilege of enjoying this fresh herb in the spring and fall.
I use chervil (pronounced SHER-vil) in delicate dishes, like tomorrows breakfast omelet. Sprigs of chervil will top the deviled eggs and, in a non-mayonnaise based potato salad.
Chervil is a delicate annual, growing only in cool weather. It’s a great herb for succession planting. Add a few seed to the garden every week in the spring to extend the season as long as possible.
Fines herbes, the French herb blend uses chervil. The combo includes chervil, parsley, chives and French tarragon. Fines herbes (pronounced feens-erb) is best used fresh because the herbs lose a lot of flavor when dried.
Sweet and tender spring peas will be tossed into a stir-fry or used as dippers on a veggie tray.
2 Cool Seasons
Remember, anything you grow as an early spring crop can be grown a a fall crop. Sometimes veggies are even more successful since the soil is already warm. This fall, give peas a chance.
Spring kitchen bonus.
Pick chervil, chives and cilantro often, to encourage plant growth. Keep the cut stems in a glass of water on the kitchen counter, making it easy to add fresh herbs to any dish.
The peas, radish and herbs are grown from seed purchased at Renee’s Garden Seed.
When fresh herbs are not available, get Fines Herbes at Penzeys Spices .
My handy husband, Jeff, made the harvest basket.
