The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor

There are herb gardens, and then there's the Herbfarm, both an award-winning restaurant with an award winning chef, Jerry Traunfeld, and an herb farm--literally. Over the past 14-years Traunfeld has had a farm's worth of herbs to work with in his commercial kitchen and at home. He opened the doors to his commercial kitchen with The Herbfarm Cookbook. And now he takes us home with The Herbal Kitchen. Here's a hint: It's all about heightened flavor through the creative use of herbs.

There's the humble roasted oyster, for example. Traunfeld makes a sauce of fresh sorrel, butter, shallots, cream, and lemon juice. Each oyster sits in its half shell atop a dollop of the sauce and bakes until plump. They are served topped with fine strips of fresh sorrel. Briny oyster meets tart sorrel gentled with cream and butter. Does it get any better? You bet it does. Roasted Oysters with Sorrel Sauce is but an appetizer, along with Minted Lentil and Goat Cheese Strudel, and Spicy Verbena Meatballs.

After a brief introduction to herb basics, Traunfeld moves on to appetizers and drinks (the Rosemary Gin and Tonic sounds intriguing). Chapters that follow cover soups, salads, fast suppers, meals for a crowd, intimate feasts, vegetable dishes, breads, and desserts. Consider the Shiso Crab Cocktail, or Black Olive Roast Chicken, Sides of Salmon Slow-Roasted in Dill, or Lavender-Rubbed Duck Breasts with Apricots and Sweet Onions.

These are precise, carefully thought-out and executed recipes, and they are all built around the masterful use of fresh herbs. You will want to attend to your gardening as much as your cooking with this book as inspiration. Work through The Herbal Kitchen from front to back and you will transform your relationship with herbs. The food you cook and eat will never be the same. And that's a delicious gift from one of the mighty. --Schuyler Ingle