December 2008

In my way of thinking the Holiday season is officially upon us, now that we've celebrated Thanksgiving, one of my very favorite American holidays. Locally, the stores have had Christmas decorations and such on the shelves since early November, at least. The Holiday season now is kind of like the last presidential race, starting so early and lasting so long, that we're a little tired of it by the time the Main Event takes place. But, I do enjoy looking at the lights on homes and around town. Here in Hallettsville, our courthouse is rather spectacular this time of year.

I also like to look at the magazines that come out with recipes and decorating ideas. Not that I ever decorate as in a magazine, but it's interesting to me how magazine editors and the like keep coming up with new ideas and features for the Holiday issue year after year. I do sometimes try recipes I see, though, especially for cookies or other sweets.

Herb magazines have fun recipes and ideas for decorating using herbs and making gifts with the herbs you've harvested in the fall. Rosemary is an herb that is plentiful here in our climate year round and makes a nice addition to winter decorating. Its dark green color and wonderful aroma can be enjoyed in a kitchen wreath, mantle decoration or outdoor wreath, too. And, rosemary is very welcome in recipes as well.

I found this reference to Rosemary by Susan Albert, author of, among other things, the mysteries featuring China Bayles with herbs interwoven into the stories.

Susan's Herbal Notebook Plant Lore, Garden Mysteries, and Herbal Magic for the Cultivated Gardener

Rosemary: An Ancient Herb for a New Millennium

Thousands of years before refrigerators, people who lived around the Mediterranean noticed that rosemary leaves kept fresh meat from spoiling. About the same time, over in Egypt, embalmers began using rosemary to make mummies. These demonstrations of the herb's ability to preserve led people to believe that rosemary could also preserve memory. Which is why Greek and Roman students wore garlands of rosemary when they studied for exams.

It wasn't long before the plant became associated with memories themselves. A funeral wreath included rosemary as a sign that the living would always remember the dead. Rosemary in a bridal bouquet, on the other hand, symbolized the couple's life-long remembrance of their wedding vow.

During the Middle Ages, this association transformed rosemary into a love charm. If you got tapped by a rosemary sprig, there was no way out: it was love until death. So by the late sixteenth century, when Ophelia hands Hamlet a rosemary sprig "for remembrance," Shakespeare's audience knew that Ophelia was hopelessly in love with him, and that his rejection meant her death.

The plant was irretrievably linked to love and death, and to the eternal recollection of both. All folklore, right? Maybe not.

Today we have our modern explanation of rosemary's ability to preserve. It turns out that plant contains powerful antioxidants which slow the cell breakdown that causes decay and spoilage--antioxidants so potent that Japanese researchers have used rosemary as a replacement for chemical preservatives. German scientists have found that these same chemicals also help to slow the breakdown of acetylcholine in the brain, and may retard memory loss in early-stage Alzheimer's victims.

One American herbalist even suggests that the traditional rosemary rinse that makes your hair shiny may also help you remember to buy shampoo. So there you are--rosemary, an old herb for a new century. Remember it. -

Copyright 2000 Susan Wittig Albert. All rights reserved.

There are many recipes using rosemary with poultry, pork, potatoes and stuffing. But, rosemary can also be used in sweets. A basic shortbread recipe can be dressed up by adding a teaspoon or so of finely chopped fresh rosemary. Rosemary has a strong flavor, so keep a light hand when using it in desserts, such as the shortbread. Thyme or lemon thyme is another herb that adds a unique flavor to shortbread. Lemon thyme combined with rosemary is especially tasty in shortbread.

Shortbread Cookies with Thyme

If you use dried herbs, use half as much.

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or lemon thyme

Extra confectioners' sugar

1. Cream the butter and sugar together by hand or in a food processor.

Add the flour, lemon zest, rosemary, and thyme. Knead gently to make a soft dough and chill for an hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll the dough on a pastry cloth or lightly floured surface about 3/8-inch thick, and cut into diamonds, circles, or free forms. Pinching the edges, pie fashion, will create an attractive crinkle.

3. Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cookies are lightly golden. It is important not to over bake.

4. Sprinkle lightly with the extra confectioners' sugar while the cookies are hot. Cool on a rack.

Yields 2--3 dozen cookies, depending on the cuts

From Herbal Sweets: A Fresh from the Garden Cookbook by Ruth Bass (©1996
by Storey Communications, Inc.; published by Storey Publishing).

Here's an easy recipe for a potato casserole with rosemary:

Rosemary Potatoes with Cheese
8 medium potatoes, peeled
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp butter
1 cup minced onions
1 1/2 cups grated onions
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup hot milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 eggs, well beaten
Preheat oven to moderate 375F.

Peel the potatoes and cook them in boiling salted water to cover. Drain and mash them.

Melt one Tbsp of the butter and add the onions. Cook, stirring until onions are translucent.

Combine the mashed potatoes, onions, remaining butter, the cheese, milk, salt and pepper to taste and rosemary. Fold in the beaten eggs and pour the mixture into a lightly buttered casserole.

Bake for 45 minutes, until puffy and brown. Serve immediately.

(The New York Times Menu Cookbook)

Here's another one, for a cordial:

1 bottle claret or other full-bodied red wine

1 quart black tea, preferably Assam or Darjeeling

1/4 cup mild honey

1/3 cup sugar (castor sugar)

2 oranges, sliced thin and seeded

2 3-inch cinnamon sticks

6 whole cloves

3 rosemary sprigs

Mix the wine and the tea together in a non-corrodible saucepan. Add the honey, sugar,

oranges, spices, and rosemary. Heat over low heat until barely steaming. Stir until the honey

is dissolved.

Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let stand for at least 40 minutes.

When ready to serve, heat to just steaming and serve hot.

(Herbs in the Kitchen)

I hope you enjoy these recipes using either dried rosemary you might have from harvesting before frigid weather sets in, or from your growing rosemary, if you live where winters are mild.

Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. -Stephen Swid, executive (b. 1941)