post — Kinship Cooking

Yes, you CAN take it with you. As I write, I am in transit between two places. Luckily, the destination of this particular adventure, among many my little family have embarked on, happens also to be the place my heart wants to be, and I am so, so grateful.

The place behind us? Well, it had just the most beautiful yard we have ever had. Complete with gigantic rosemary bushes and wonderful gardening nooks that I worked hard to populate over the past two years, never mind the poison ivy that I also worked hard to eradicate! But that is another story.

I wanted a way to take some of my cherished garden with me, so, while neck deep in boxes, phone calls, and logistical madness I decided to make rosemary sage honey, and take it with me. A little bit of my Texas nest, preserved in amber.

As you can see above, the herbs are simply washed, patted very dry, and minced. This recipe can be as approximate as you like. The herbs are combined with the honey and brought up to a simmer or boil, quickly removed from the heat, and allowed to steep until cooled. If you don't want chunks of herbs in your honey, pass it through a fine mesh strainer. I myself want every bit of those herbs in there!

Hearty herbs work really well to steep in hot honey. Rosemary, sage, thyme, lavender flowers, and bay leaf come to mind. All fresh. I can think of a billion things to experiment with to make infused honey like juniper berries (I am so doing this), star anise, ginger, lemon grass, chilies (of course), leftover vanilla bean pods (never, ever throw those things away!). What works well are items that will not cook to death when heated with the honey. More tender herbs are just going to cook. The sage seems to hold up well, even though it is softer.

Now comes the fun part! Things you can do with this stuff include but are not limited to: Drizzling over yogurt with black berries, glazing roasted or grilled veggies and proteins, making killer vinaigrette for a lentil or potato salad, spreading on a hot tortilla with chipotle sauce and scrambled eggs, baking into muffins or cornbread, mixing with soft butter for herb honey butter, mixing with lemon juice and water for rosemary sage lemonade or throwing this stuff on a cheese plate! Let me know what YOU do...I myself am over here licking the spoon.

So there it is. My golden souvenir. My last Texas recipe for y'all. See you in the land of sky blue waters....

Rosemary Sage Honey

Ingredients:

1/4 C minced fresh rosemary
1/4 C minced fresh sage
1 1/4 C honey

Gently rinse and pat the herbs very dry. Remove leaves from the stems and mince both the rosemary and sage very fine. Combine the herbs and the honey in a small, heavy bottomed sauce or saute pan and bring just up to a simmer or low boil. Remove from the heat immediately. You may notice it foams on the top if it boils a little. Just leave the foam and stir it in later if you like.

Transfer the honey to a heat proof jar with a tight fitting lid and allow to cool with the lid off. Store in the fridge until you use it all! Enjoy!

Note: The ratio I used in the recipe is not set in stone. I think a 1:2 ratio of herbs to honey is a good place to start if you need a guide. My ratio was a little less on the herbs. Play around and use what you have.