H is for Herbs

 

 

Having stunned Freddie's tastebuds with the fiery horseradish, we needed a gentler experience with H for Herbs. I know they aren't classed as vegetables but given we use them to enhance their taste, they clearly deserve a mention. Freddie has always enjoyed growing herbs in pots in our tiny back-garden. As Head-Gardener, he has also carefully avoided eating them. So we organised a blind-tasting competition. We laid out plates of thyme, basil, mint, rosemary and sage. The blindfolded taste-explorers were encouraged to touch, smell and taste the herbs and guess what they were. As the Great Big Veg Challenge has travelled through the alphabet, Freddie's fear of new flavours has faded. "As long as it doesn't taste of sick or earwax, I'll try it", said Freddie. Both he and Alex correctly identified four out of five herbs which saved us from a sibling row. Freddie asked for a sudden death-by-herb play off but I resisted and we settled for a draw. And their prize was a huge plate of herb fritters for tea. The fritters scored ten out of ten.
Herb Fritters
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp sage
1 tbsp rosemary
4oz self raising flour
2 tsps caster sugar
2 eggs separated
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 oz butter melted

Finely chop the thyme, basil, sage and rosemary and put aside. Sift flour into a bowl. Add the sugar, egg yolks and milk. Mix everything together until it is smooth. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites to form peaks. Gently fold into the batter mix. Stir in finely chopped herbs. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Place small spoonfuls of the batter in the pan, carefully spaced apart. Cook on a medium to low heat until golden and turn them over halfway through cooking. Keep the fritters warm in a low temperature oven until you have cooked the rest of the batter. Butter has a tendency to brown so you might want to stop between batches and wipe down the pan.