Herbes de Provence

Years ago, I got turned on to a magical little mixture of herbs from sunny Provence, France called, herbes de Provence.  This stuff is fantastic on pretty much everything, but for starters, try it as a rub for a roast chicken, and on the potatoes that go with it.  It is wonderful on every meat, poultry and fish that I've tried.  It's also wonderful on roasted vegetables of every kind, and in soups and stews.  Try mixing it with some salt and putting it in a salt grinder to sprinkle on eggs and popcorn and such. You can even use it every where that other herbal mixtures are called for, in place of Italian herbs, for example.

I used to buy it from a neat little spice shop in Santa Clara, CA, and from World Market or Fresh Market here in Savannah, but it's cheaper and so much tastier if you mix it up yourself, so now, that's what I do!

The key ingredient is the lavender - without lavender, you have a very delicious herbal blend, but it simply is not Herbes de Provence!  Last year, a church friend gave me about a quart of dried lavender from her own lavender plants, and WOW!  FABULOUS!

Here is my recipe.  It makes about a half cup.

Denise's Herbes de Provence

1 1/2 tsp each of crumbled bay leaves, tarragon, oregano, rosemary and fennel seed*

1 Tbs each of thyme, basil, summer savory*, lavender, marjoram and parsley

1/2 tsp sage

Mix it all together and it is ready to use on virtually everything.  Other than onions, garlic and basil, Herbes de Provence is what I reach for most when I cook.

For some suggestions about how I use Herbes de Provence, type in "herbes de provence" into the search this blog block on the right side of this blog.  There are about eight pages of recipes that use this mixture.

My personal favorites are:
http://whatimcookingnow.blogspot.com/2006/04/roasted-veggies-on-side.html

http://whatimcookingnow.blogspot.com/2007/06/edamame-succotash-salad.html

and Dear Daughter's favorite soup:
http://whatimcookingnow.blogspot.com/2007/03/roasted-red-pepper-mushroom-and-barley.html