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Lovage, the first green of spring |
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Recipes
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Written by Barbara Fay
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Monday, 19 May 2008 23:56 |
In late April at my former home in Fairbanks, Alaska I would anticipate the coming of spring, while my lawn, garden and roof were still covered with snow. I’d raked the leaves and winter’s debris away from the foundation of my house in anticipation. And I wasn’t disappointed! There, peeking up from the earth little green tips of my lovage plants were greeting me.
Lovage, a very useful but not well-known herb, is always the first one up in the spring. I planted the plant way back in 1968, the first year I planted a garden in Fairbanks. I started it from seed and it has been coming up ever since. It has been divided many times and the divisions planted in other places on my property to see where it would thrive best. Numerous divisions have been given to friends over the years.
Being a novice gardener and not having any idea what the plant would grow to look like, I planted my first plants out in my vegetable garden and it did well there. It grew to about 4 feet but looked out of place in the row it shared with lettuce. I bought a copy of Rodale’s Encyclopedia of Herbs, which said it was a perennial and that it could be grown in full sun to partial shade so I moved it to the bed on the northeast side of my house and there it has been and has thrived best ever since. It has been a good backdrop for annuals that can be grown in partial shade or for another “shady” lower growing herb, Sweet Woodruff. It would also do well against a fence or wall or in a corner which would help to stabilize it when the wind blows.
My first impression of the taste of its leaves was, “Wow, this herb is potent”! It has the flavor of celery with a spicy depth, which makes it a good addition to a bouquet garni when making soups, gravies, stews, sauces or marinades. It has to be used with a lighter touch than celery, however.
It is a most versatile herb and can be used in many ways to add a flavor to your every day fare.
Two of my favorites are as a garnish for broiled or roasted meats and as a straw. Place hot meat on a platter covered with the leaves and you not only have a delicate seasoning but a beautiful garnish and a tantalizing aroma. A new dimension is added to drinks like lemonade, tomato juice or a Bloody Mary when sipped through a hollow lovage stem.
You can make a soup by adding a few leaves to a cup of chicken broth and sprinkling the top with some grated cheese. Plain rice or mashed potatoes can be spiced up by folding a combination of chopped lovage and other herbs like dill, tarragon, or parsley, and a grating of lemon zest into them.
A sprinkling of chopped leaves on cooked veggies, stews, soups, casseroles, or broiled meats add color as well as a flavor interest. Candied leaves and stems can be used to decorate cakes and candies. Put some leaves and a stem in a bottle and fill with a good quality white wine vinegar and you will have a flavorful vinegar.
Whirl some very dry lovage leaves and salt in a blender or processor and dry the mixture very carefully in a very low oven stirring the mixture frequently to prevent caking …whirl again if the mixture is caked….and you have an aromatic salt to use all winter.
And its use doesn’t stop with food. Crush the leaves, put them under the hot water tap and you will have an exotic bath!
I hope that these suggestions will encourage you to try it and do some experimenting on your own. Unfortunately you will not find this herb in the supermarket (at least I have never seen it) so if you want to enjoy its flavor and aroma you will have to grow your own. It is not hard to grow. It will grow in partial shade and it is a VERY hardy perennial which will come back faithfully, year after year. And it is the first “green” of Spring. All good reasons for you to give it a try.
Some of my Favorite Lovage Recipes
Lovage Cheese Casserole
4 servings
1 ¼ cups fresh white breadcrumbs
2 cups milk
2 Tbs. butter
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
½ cu prosciutto or smoky ham, finely chopped
2 Tbs. Chopped lovage leaves
Salt and Freshly ground pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl. Heat the milk and butter in a pan until bubbles appear then pour over the breadcrumbs. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs and add them to the breadcrumbs, along with the restof the ingredients.
Pour the mixture into a shallow, buttered, 6-cup baking dish. Bake until it rises and turns olden brown, about 35 minutes. The casserole is done when a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Decorate with a spring of lovage.
Recipe by Noel Richardson from the Herb Companion Magazine
Cauliflower in Lemon Cream
6 servings
1 head cauliflower or 2 packages (10 oz. each) frozen cauliflower
2 Tbs. white-wine vinegar
3 to 5 Tbs.oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ cup sour cream
2 Tbs.Dijon-style mustard
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 Tbs. minced fresh lovage, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs. grated lemon peel
Separate cauliflower into florets, cook until tender and drain. Or thaw and drain frozen cauliflower but do not cook.
In small bowl whisk together vinegar, oil and garlic. Pour over cauliflower while still slightly warm. Chill. Mix sour cream, lemon juice, mustard, 1 tablespoon lovage, set aside. Drain any unabsorbed dressing from cauliflower. Toss cauliflower gently with sour-cream sauce so florets don't break. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon lovage and the lemon peel.
Recipe by Barbara Fay
SOME LOVAGE LORE
• Around 1500, in the first known cookbook De Re Culinaria, attributed to Apicus a Roman gastronome, lovage was used in almost every savory dish just as we use parsley today.
• A component of the most ancient herb gardens, the leaves are one of the oldest salad greens; the stems have been eaten as a vegetable and the seeds and roots candied as a confection.
• It was one of the first “wonder drugs”. The Greeks and Romans used it as a medicine and in the Middle Ages it was used as a cure-all for most illnesses. It was grown in American colonial gardens and countrywomen have long considered its use in tea as a simple remedy for diverse aches, pains and maladies.
• In Chaucer’s day it was known as love ache or love parsley. Mislead by the name, many people over the past 600 years have fancied a connection between lovage and love potions and considered it an aphrodisiac
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