After such an unusually cold, seemingly never ending winter, I was hopeful (and worried) about my garden bouncing back – especially some of the less hardy plantings. Once the cold finally broke, and the calendar said spring, I made the rounds daily, sometimes twice, for signs of life. Fully into the season I had to accept, like many, that I had some substantial losses – bushes, roses, my old, enormous rosemary plant. I think that one saddened me more than the others. I haven’t had the guts to pull it out of the ground yet to replant a new planting, as it will leave a huge, empty reminder.
On the upside, other things abundantly bounced back, so I’ve temporarily diverted my attention to what’s thriving ~ my chive patches being one of them. Last week saw rosemary, chive butter cookies, the addition of chive florets to my herb and floral pepper, and yesterday, a simple chive and dill bread.
Floral & Herb Flavored Pepper
Grind your favorite whole peppercorns the coarseness of your liking. Add dried lavender buds, wild violet leaves, rose petals, nasturtium flowers & dried chive florets ~ or any of your own favorites.
Sprinkle on anything you would normally add pepper to as a finishing touch.
Chive & Dill Bread
This is the same recipe I used for the dandelion bread I made a few weeks back ~ that post coming later. It’s a simple, basic recipe for a soft everyday bread of which herbs, spices, and edible flowers can be easily swapped in and out.
The original recipe came from this wonderful blog before I switched herbs and flowers around.
- 600 g flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 10 g fresh yeast
- 400 ml lukewarm water
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 100 ml olive oil
- 2 Tblsp dill
- 1 Tblsp chive florets
- 1 tsp. maldon sea salt
Make a well in the flour, pour in the yeast mix, cover lightly with a bit of flour and let sit again for 10 minutes, until bubbles form.
Then start to mix and then knead, adding 3 tablespoons of the olive oil.
Knead the dough by hand for 10 minutes. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover with saran wrap and cover with a clean towel.
Remove the florets from the chive blossoms and if seeding has begun, remove the seeds and save for planting later. Set aside some for garnishing tops of each loaf.
After the dough has risen, knead in both half the dill and chive flowers.
Preheat the oven to 220 c / 430 f. Put the breads on a baking sheet lined with parchment, garnish with the remaining dill and chive florets, brush with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle liberally with maldon sea salt.
Reduce the oven’s heat to 180 c / 360 f.
Makes 2 breads.
Rosemary & Chive Floret Butter Cookies
This is a buttery, sweet, savory shortbread like cookie, sure to be a favorite.
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg white, beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon dried chive florets
- 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 cup fine sanding sugar
Mix in whole egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, rosemary, chive florets, salt, and mix until combined.
Halve dough; shape each half into a log. Place each log on a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment.
Roll in parchment to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log.
Transfer to paper-towel tubes to hold shape, and freeze until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375. Brush each log with egg white; roll in sanding sugar.
Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment.
Bake until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
Store in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.
The original recipe from Martha Stewart can be found here.
Chive Illustration ~ Lisa Ballard
Roasted Sugar Snap Pea Food Styling ~ Jeff Martin
