Herbalicious - Rosemary

Whenever I think of rosemary I think of my friend Miss M-ski. No she wasn't set to be called Rosemary then her mother found out her father had a rather dishy ex called Rosemary and no she doesn't even have any friends called Rosemary or friends with babies called Rosemary. She's not even obsessed with Roman Polamski's film 'Rosemary's Baby'. But Miss M-ski, my lovely Miss M-ski had finally become Dr M-ski. Not a useful doctor who could save your life by doing a double heart lung transplant, but an even more useful doctor of psychology. It took her a while but she got there and I am so proud. But it is not her nearly Dr status that makes me think of her when I see rosemary, it is her love of potato and rosemary pizza! She introduced me to it, at a fine little place on Errol street and I've never looked back. While it is a carb avoider's nightmare, it tastes divine. And I think it is the Rosemary that does the trick.

Long has humanity known the wonders of putting rosemary and the potato together. They just work, simple as that. Pumpkin or sweet potato is an adequate replacement in the pairing but nothing beats the original. After Dr M-ski introduced me to this devilishly good combination I added it to my cooking repertoire (though usually substituting puff pastry for pizza base if short on time.) Problem was I liked it so much my single rosemary bush was getting overly depleted. There was the option of cutting down on my consumption of this herbalicious wonder, or, another solution, which was to procure a new one! Luckily I had a birthday around this time and my kindly relatives solved the rosemary conundrum.

So now I have two rosemary bushes. See one,

and two.

They live in different parts of the balcony garden, one gets less sun, the other full sun.

They both seem happy, though the second one is a little hidden behind the corn and tomatoes nowadays.

I use rosemary in risotto too, and sometimes put it on meat when I slow roast it. It is truly versatile and so delicious. You can even use large sticks of it as an aromatic skewer! Do you grow rosemary? If so what kind? Any tips or tricks for growing? My tip is grow as much as you can, and if you're lucky it could end up looking like this one growing in my Mum's backyard!

Herbalicious - Mint

Given it is spring and I've just planted some more basil and coriander I think it might be high time to do a few little focus posts on the herbs in the balcony garden. Some, like the aforementioned greeny goodies basil and coriander are annuals. Basil I sow in Spring and Summer while coriander is a year round affair, when I remember to procure seeds that is. I'll post on them seperately. This post is for an amazing little green fellow who was one of the first plants in my garden. He grew from a cutting and has never changed pots (in 3 years, no new potting soil yet he lives and thrives.) If you haven't guessed by now this hardy little tacker is, it is mint.

Common mint for a bit more precision (let's not get into the tangle they did on Masterchef when naming mint.) I did have some ginger mint at one stage but it died a while back from neglect. I don't use mint very often. Maybe for a garnish but never as a star. That was until I started experimenting with cooking, and substituting it for other herby flavours. Mint and coriander go so well together, in rice paper rolls, salads and even as a soup garnish. Particularly different kinds of asian cuisine suit it divinely.

On Friday night I threw together a salad for a few people before a party. It included a dose of finely chopped mint (and coriander) from the garden sliced up on the lovely mezaluna given to me for my 30th brithday by my dear boss Dr A, lettuce from the garden, baby spinach, spicy fried potato noodles, garlic, ginger and chilli marinated baked chicken and some purple cabbage. Mostly healthy and full of flavour! I'd eat it again in an instant.

Do you grow mint? Is it almost like a weed as it is for some of my friends or do you have trouble with it? Should I expand my mint varieties - chocolate mint perhaps? or maybe fill another pot with mint? What is your favourite mint?

Hanging in there

Sorry for the lack of posting in the last week, between writing and giving a paper at a uni conference last Thursday and visiting my parents in Adelaide for Dad's 67th over the weekend I have had little time to think, let alone dwell in and about my balcony garden. Luckily I left it in Capable E's hands over the weekend, and I think he will look after it while I am overseas as well. Excellent. I look forward to harvest Monday next week too - there were some yummy things in that haul I can assure you.

But today I want to show you one strange photo that I found in the mix of 30th birthday photos. Along with the shots of white jacketed men and 1940s women (it was a Casablanca themed party) there appeared this one photo which only proves the photographer was a true garden freak. It was ...

... a picture of my hanging pot of garlic which seems to have a few small coriander plants springing up around it. And the photographic culprit??? It was me! I can't usually see into the hanging pot very easily, and while out taking photos of my trivia friends who had nestled nicely in the back corner bench I must have, in champagne fueled wisdom, worked out a way to check the progress. Ahhhh gardeners, we are an odd bunch at times aren't we!