10 Tips for Growing and Using Culinary Herbs

Fresh herbs, essential to a home cook’s arsenal of ingredients, can be successfully grown using these tips from the St. Louis Herb Society.

My AeroGarden produces just enough culinary herbs to use in a variety of dishes and drinks.

When admiring beautiful and abundant herb gardens, I’m green with envy. I like to cook with herbs, whether fresh or dried, but when I try to grow a small assortment, I have only limited success. Sure, there’s that small patch of oregano in my backyard, but then this stuff is pretty hard to kill. Mom’s pantry always was stocked with a variety of dried herbs, but Dad grew vegetables and flowers, not herbs, in the backyard.

However, earlier this year, I invested in an AeroGarden with six hydroponic herb pods, which gives me a steady supply of dill, basil, parsley, mint, and thyme. I love having this in my kitchen (note that this isn't a sponsored post).

But there’s always room to grow my culinary knowledge, so when the Saint Louis Culinary Society and the St. Louis Herb Society teamed up for a virtual class about cooking with herbs, I signed up in a flash. The hour with Herb Society member Mary Hammer, who has amazing herbal gardens (I’m not using the term lightly here), flew by. There was so much good information, I knew I had to share it with all of you.

“For the most part, they (herbs) are easy to grow,” Mary said. Here are 10 tips for growing and using culinary herbs in your kitchen.

1. Herbs need six to eight hours of sun, whether you’re growing the plants outside or indoors. Spend a bit of time assessing your home or yard to find the best sunny spot and plant your herbs accordingly.

2. Good drainage is essential, whether growing the herbs in the ground or in pots. Mary said raised beds are perfect for growing herbs, but if using pots, be sure there are adequate drainage holes in the container’s bottom.

3. A loose, compacted soil is best for herbs. Mary said the soil should look like chocolate cake. At this time of year, it’s best to buy plants that are established; look for compact (not bushy) herbs, preferably without any blooms.

4. When harvesting, use a sharp knife, not scissors, to cut herbs. Remove any leaves near the bottom that could touch water in storage.

5. Never cut more than a third of the plant.

6. To store fresh herbs, be sure to rinse the cuttings and shake excess water off the leaves. Keep in a clean container filled with water (remember, no leaves in the water as this promotes bacteria growth). Change the water daily. Fresh basil hates cold, so don’t store this herb in the refrigerator, so keep it in a glass on your counter.

7. Wrap parsley or cilantro in damp paper towels and place inside a plastic zip-top bag inside the refrigerator.

8. Keep dried herbs away from heat sources (such as your stove). To ensure freshness, rub the herbs in your hand before adding to your dish; if it doesn’t have any fragrance, throw the herbs out. My friend Kathy in North Carolina successfully dries herbs from her garden in the microwave. She cuts all stems off and places leaves between paper towels. This is microwaved on a safe plate for a minute. If not fully dried, she zaps the herbs in 10- or 20-second increments. I did this with oregano and it worked very well.

9. Use any leftover herbs you’ve cut to make herbed butters. Herbs also can be frozen in water or in oil.

10. Remember to label everything. Chopped and dried herbs look a lot alike.

Wondering what you should grow? Start with parsley, the 2021 Herb of the Year (so named by the International Herb Association). Flat-leaf is best for cooking; curly parsley is usually saved to garnish a finished dish.

Mary also mentioned basil (so many varieties here, but perhaps start with sweet Genovese), chives, dill, French tarragon, garden sage, and mint. “I don’t know if you can have an herb garden without mint,” Mary said with a chuckle, adding it’s best to grow this herb in a pot because it spreads so rapidly.

And English lavender is lovely not only in the kitchen, but it works beautifully dried for potpourri and sachets. Inspired by Mary's comments, I bought lavender plus a few other herbs to grow in outdoor pots near the patio. So far, they are looking great, and I recently used some of the lemon thyme and sage in recipes.

The St. Louis Herb Society, now in its 80th year, has a couple of cookbooks to its credit, but I recently purchased Herbal Cookery: From the Kitchens and Gardens of the St. Louis Herb Society. There also are a number of recipes on the society’s website, including these Baked Peppers with Herbs.

Look at these beauties! I almost felt bad about cutting them up.

Featuring beautiful, colorful bell peppers and plenty of fresh herbs, this dish is easy to make and super delicious. I’m adding this to my go-to arsenal of vegetable dishes. It can be an appetizer served with a baguette or a good Italian bread, a side to serve along with grilled meat or fish, or a brunch dish. I ate these with an egg for breakfast.

For this dish, you’ll need:

• red, yellow, and/or orange bell peppers

• fresh parsley and thyme

• garlic

• tomato sauce

• cheese (cheddar, gouda or Gruyere)

The peppers are cleaned and cut into 2-inch chunks. But don’t toss the pepper tops; trim the flesh off the stem and dice so you can add peppers to scrambled eggs or a salad the next day.

I also used a little less than the recommended amount of parsley, although I had to augment the amount of fresh parsley on hand with the dried herb, which worked out just fine. And because I didn’t have tomato sauce in the pantry, I blended half a can of diced tomatoes with salt and pepper to make the sauce.

By adding the minced garlic and finely chopped herbs to the olive oil, it was easy to evenly pour the mixture over the peppers. I also drizzled the tomato sauce on top of the herbed peppers before topping everything with three ounces of grated Gruyere.

The peppers and tomato sauce bake together so sweetly while the herbs bring the dish together; the cheese, really, is just showing off here.

Truly, I haven’t been this excited about a vegetable recipe in a very long time.

Many home gardeners plant peppers, and they’ll soon be showing up at farmer’s markets in the area. When they are paired with herbs and cheese, something special happens. Give this recipe a try and let me know how it turned out for you by leaving a comment below!

Italian Deli Rotelle Pasta Salad

Make this versatile dish as a side at your next barbecue or for a picnic meal.

Recipe is an excerpt from my cookbook, Three Women in the Kitchen.

Italian Deli Rotelle Pasta Salad is ready for your next cookout or picnic in about 30 minutes.

Who wants to go on a picnic, because I have the perfect salad for the basket.

Whether you’re heading to the park, the beach, or your backyard patio with friends and family, make this dish to take along. You can have it ready in about 30 minutes.

Maybe you have a similar Italian pasta salad recipe in your arsenal, and who among us hasn’t made (or tasted) macaroni salad with mayonnaise dressing? While pasta certainly is Italian, pasta salads—noodles with veggies, meat, and cheese combined with a dressing—are very American, and they’ve been around for a long time.

Macaroni salad recipes were in newspapers and cookbooks as early as 1914. A Washington Post recipe in the 1930s tagged the dish “mock potato salad.” I guess pasta salad could be a cousin to potato salad.

But unlike the heavy mayonnaise salads, this pasta salad—inspired by the corner Italian deli—can safely be kept in a chilled cooler for the afternoon. It’s great served at room temperature. It’s also a versatile dish; you can make it if you have to clean out some vegetables that have been in your crisper for a week or so.

Mom’s recipe that we often toted to our annual church picnic at Sylvan Springs park in St. Louis County includes broccoli, cauliflower, green onions, a grated carrot, and black olives. But my crisper and pantry were out of carrots and olives, so I easily substituted what I had. The fridge was short on provolone cheese, but I had Provel—that crazy cheese blend that hails from St. Louis—so that went into the salad.

For this recipe, you’ll need:

2 cups dried rotelle pasta (the little wagon wheels)

Hard salami

Provolone (or your choice of cheese)

Broccoli and cauliflower florets

Green onion (or substitute with any other onion; leeks would work well, too)

Grated Parmesan cheese

Italian salad dressing (I used bottled dressing)

Cucumber

Grape tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh basil for garnish (optional)

If you don’t have rotelle in the pantry, rotini (the little corkscrews) or even macaroni would work. Any shorter shape, really, can be used in this dish. What’s important is that you cook the pasta until it’s just tender; nobody wants mushy pasta salad. Also, drain the pasta and run cold water over it for about a minute or so. Your Italian grandma will haunt you in your sleep, but it’s a necessary step to stop the pasta from cooking.

Another tip is to add the broccoli and cauliflower florets into the pasta water for the last two minutes. This will blanch the veggies and give broccoli a beautiful deep green color.

While the pasta and veggies are cooking, dice the cucumber, onion, and salami. You can either cut the grape tomatoes in half or toss them in whole. If, like me, you were out of scallions and have a little trouble digesting raw purple, white, or yellow onions, try soaking the chopped onions in ice water for about 20 minutes. It does tone their heat down a little.

For the dressing, I started with a half cup (Mom's recipe called for 1 cup) because I prefer salads that are lightly dressed. But this makes a huge bowl of pasta salad, so I added ¼ cup more and felt it was the perfect amount. Keep in mind the tomatoes and cucumbers will release some of their liquid into the salad, which was another reason I dressed on the lighter side.

Aside from the strong memories I have with this Italian pasta salad, it’s so comforting, thanks to the pasta and cheeses. The crunch of just-blanched and raw vegetables, the sweet tomatoes, and the hum of raw onions or scallions round out this dish that hits every note. Should there be leftovers, store covered in the refrigerator for a day or two. The flavors tend to get better the next day.

Mom’s Italian Deli Rotelle Salad is a meal in itself, and when you pair it with grilled bread (I love to brush ciabatta with olive oil to grill in a pan, finish with a rub of garlic and a pinch of black pepper), fresh fruit, and a chilled glass of rose or a white wine, you may just break into song: “Summertime and the living is easy.”

Easy Moist Lemon Cake

A box mix is elevated to the next level and crowned with a zippy glaze to create the perfect dessert for spring or summer.

Make this Easy Moist Lemon Cake for a light and quick dessert.

I’m sweet on lemons. If sunshine had a flavor, it would be lemony. Lemons just work in savory and sweet recipes, not to mention cocktails. This perfect little fruit is available year-round, but spring’s lighter fare seems to be the perfect backdrop for lemons.

Lemon desserts are some of my favorites, and this super moist lemon cake is easy to make, thanks to the box mix that’s measured the dry ingredients for you. From-scratch bakers, I also have an alternative for you at the end of this post, but honestly, this moist lemon cake recipe is next level, so I hope you’ll try it.

For this recipe, you’ll need:

1. 1 box lemon cake mix (you could also use yellow cake if that’s what you have on hand)

2. 1 package instant vanilla pudding (lemon pudding mix would work here if you’re using yellow cake mix)

3. 4 eggs (Here’s a tip: If you’re short an egg or two, substitute ¼ cup of plain or vanilla yogurt per egg. I had to do this to make my cake this time and it turned out beautifully.)

4. 1 cup water

5. ⅓ cup vegetable oil

I baked the cake in a long loaf pan for 45 minutes.

This can be baked in a loaf pan (that’s what I did) or a in a Bundt. To glaze the cooled cake, microwave about ½ cup of lemon frosting for 10 to 15 seconds until it’s smooth.

Even if you think you’re not a baker, I promise, you can make this cake and proudly take it to a graduation party, baby shower, picnic, or any spring gathering with family and friends.

The pudding mix creates the rich, moist texture, and the cake’s crumb is tender. I baked the cake two days ago and it’s still moist after sitting (wrapped) on my kitchen counter. I’ll probably freeze part of it for later.

This moist lemon cake also is super versatile. It’s perfect plain, but you can use it in a trifle with berries. Here’s another idea: macerate mixed berries in Limoncello, chill, and serve over a slice of the cake. (Maybe I won’t freeze that second half after all.)

My original intent for this lemon cake was to use it in fruit skewers. However, I think a more traditional pound cake would have worked better. The cubed pieces of lemon cake didn’t consistently stay on the skewers; the texture wasn’t dense enough for this application. But I thought the presentation was pretty and a little different. So, if you want to try the cake and fruit skewers, I’d suggest using my grandma’s pound cake recipe, which I featured in the Three Women in the Kitchen cookbook. Here’s her recipe (with my lemony twists.)

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

(From Three Women in the Kitchen: Recipes and Stories of Growing Up in St. Louis.)

Ingredients:

¾ pound unsalted butter

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract (for the lemon cake, use lemon extract)

3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar, and cream cheese.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, and continue to blend.

4. Add extracts and flour, beating until batter is smooth.

5. Pour batter into greased and floured 10-inch tube pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake is golden and toothpick comes out clean.

6. Let cake cool and sift powdered sugar on top to finish.

You can add a lemony punch to the pound cake. Add the zest from half a lemon to the batter or a teaspoon or two of lemon extract. If you grow herbs and have lemon basil, lemon thyme, or lemon verbena, adding a few teaspoons of one of these would be interesting. And don’t forget our good friend, limoncello; use this instead of the lemon extract. You also could swap powdered sugar for the lemon glaze used in original moist lemon cake recipe.

Kitchen tips:

• Storing lemons. Although lemons placed in a pretty bowl look great on your counter, they will not last more than a week, so when you buy lemons, place them in a plastic zip-top bag and store in the refrigerator’s crisper for up to a month. If you’ve cut a lemon but didn’t use all of it, store the remaining fruit in a container with a tight-fitting lid.

• Juicing a lemon: Remember to roll it under the palm of your hand on top of your counter prior to slicing it in half. You’ll get the most amount of juice this way.

• Cleaning with lemons: Taste of Home suggests a number of applications for lemons around the house (some I don’t agree with, like throwing rinds down your disposal). But you can clean your cutting boards and copper or aluminum pots by sprinkling regular table salt on the surfaces and scrubbing with half a lemon.

Now when life gives you lemons, you know that you can create some pretty fabulous food. What’s your favorite lemony recipe? Please share in comments below, and as always, thanks for being a part of our kitchen community.