Recipes: Herby Home Baking

Preserving Alpine Strawberries

The scarlet berries make an elegant decoration to all types of desserts and also summer drinks such as Pimms.
To preserve the flavour for the winter months the berries can be infused in vodka. Half fill a jar with the fruit and add a little sugar to taste if desired. Top up with vodka and keep for several weeks in a dark place, shaking every so often. The fruit will soon lose its colour and flavour to the spirit and can be drained off when the strawberries are greyish in colour. The flavoured vodka can be used in desserts in the winter months or served as a liqueur.

Basil butter is a subtle alternative to the usual garlic variety.          
Blend together:            75g soft butter
                                        2 tbs greek basil
                                        1 tbls garlic chives (chopped)
                                        A grinding of coarse black pepper

This butter will keep well in the fridge and has many summery uses.
          ~Serve with grilled meat or fish.
          ~Dot onto tomatoes before baking.
          ~Spread onto french bread slices and top with grated cheese before baking for an instant snack.

Basil oil is one of the best ways to preserve the true taste of basil for the winter months. Those little pots of herb from the supermarket never taste quite the same as summer grown basil.

Fill a clean jar loosely with sweet basil leaves and add extra virgin olive oil to fill. Seal tightly and leave in a sunny windowsill, shaking every couple of days. After two weeks store the bottle in the dark until needed, do not drain the oil off from the leaves before use. This oil can be used in dressings and marinades throughout the winter, and drizzled over pasta dishes to remind you of the summer warmth!

Tarragon Vinegar

Place 8 heaped tablespoons of tarragon leaves into a pestle and mortar and bruise lightly. Place in a screw capped jar or wide mouthed bottle and pour over 500ml white wine or cider vinegar. Leave in a cool dark place for 2 – 3 weeks whilst the tarragon flavours the vinegar.

Drain the flavoured vinegar off from the leaves and then pour back into the bottle with a fresh whole sprig of tarragon added for extra flavour and decoration.

Little lavender cookies

            75g self raising flour
            75g butter
            25g caster sugar
            2 tsp. baking powder
            I beaten egg
            4 tsp finely chopped lavender leaves – use young soft foliage.

Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor until well mixed. Set teaspoons of the mixture onto a greased baking tray, placing them a little way apart as the cookies will spread during cooking.
Bake at Gas mark 5, 190C, 375F for 8 – 10 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack.
They store well in an airtight tin for up to a week.

Crisp rosemary cookies
Delicious and unfailingly popular, we serve these little biscuits as part of the refreshments during our summer talks and tours at the nursery. They are very quick and simple to make.

            150g self-raising flour                         4 tsp baking powder
            3 tbs chopped rosemary                    2 eggs – beaten
            150g butter                                            50g caster sugar

Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor.
Grease a large baking sheet with a little extra butter and place teaspoonfuls of the mixture, well separated, onto the baking sheet.
Bake at Gas 5 / 190C / 375F for 7 – 10 minutes. Keep any unused mixture refrigerated until ready to spoon onto the baking sheet.
When cooled the biscuits can be stored in a tin, or frozen in bags for using at a later date.

Another of the teatime treats that we serve during our talks and tours of the nursery is Sage Bread spread with soft cheese.
           
Add 3 tablespoons of chopped sage leaves to your favourite bread recipe, granary bread is our favourite. Knead into the bread dough and rise and bake in the usual way, or add to the bread machine at the ‘beep’ near the end of the kneading cycle.
This is a lovely savoury bread that only needs fresh butter or soft cheese spread onto it.

Sweet mint scones

            1tsp butter                                               pinch of salt
            6 stems of pineapple mint                  40g vegetable fat
            225g plain flour                                      60g caster sugar
            2 tsp baking powder                             1 large egg beaten with
            1 tsp bicarbonate of soda                    4 tbs milk

Grease a large baking sheet with the butter and preheat the oven to very hot, Gas Mark 8, 450F, 230C.
Finely chop the mint leaves. Sift together the flour with the baking powder, bicarbonate and salt. Rub in the fat either by hand or in the food processor. Stir in the sugar and the mint. Using a fork, add enough of the egg and milk mixture to give a soft dough.
 On a floured board or worktop roll the dough to about 2cm thick and cut out the scones using a 50cm cutter. The remnants of dough can be rerolled to make more scones.
Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 – 12 minutes until golden brown.
Cool and serve at once with butter and bramble jelly.

Fresh parsley sandwiches

Cut thin slices of wholemeal or granary bread and butter half of the slices. Spread soft cheese such as Philadelphia onto the other half of the bread slices.
Sprinkle 1 tbs of chopped parsley on top of each buttered slice of bread and add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Top with the slices of bread spread with soft cheese, and slice into triangles with a sharp knife.