Don’t be timid. Treat late spring and early summer green herbs like vegetables. I toss them by the handful into pasta, rice and leafy greens such as spinach and chard. Here, I wilted local organic spinach that had been soaked and rinsed several times to remove the sand, drained it well and tossed it with spherical pasta often referred to as Israeli couscous. I prefer the similar pasta called fregola, toasted balls of semolina dough, but I’m cleaning my pantry and this I what I had on hand.

Lovage, mint, tarragon and chives are the first herbs to poke through the winter soil in my pot garden, and we enjoy them in abundance. Most often, I use them individually but when combining with spinach or chard, the combination works miracles on the taste buds, adding spark to the earthy, mineral-like taste of early greens. (BTW, lovage is the herb featured in the banner of this blog.)

Categories: Greens, HerbsTags: Greens, Herbs