Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Ersatz Gardener: The Allure of Lemon Thyme

(I'm not much of a gardener, but I want to be; hence the title of this post.)



Yesterday at Pike Nurseries, where I was buying two tomato plants (more on this later), I was ecstatic to see lemon thyme plants in their herb offerings.  Not as popular as the usual herb plants, lemon thyme (thymus citriodorus, for those of you who care) has thrived in my Maine herb garden, but I had not found any here at home, so I immediately snatched a four-inch pot.  If you haven't yet succumbed to lemon thyme, let me tempt you.

Last night, I cut up and roasted some red potatoes with olive oil and a little coarse-ground sea salt.  After they were cooked (to perfection, I might add), I sprinkled some lemon thyme atop my serving.  Bliss!  Tiny Girl used some on her black-eyed peas and pronounced them edible at last.  (Black-eyed peas are not her favorite.)  Himself took the plunge and sparingly sprinkled some of the herb on his potatoes, as well.  Miss Priss was the only one of us who held to her typical course and declined lemon thyme.  Her loss!

And that's just one use.  I've used lemon thyme in hot tea, lemonade, and on other veggies, such as steamed broccoli.  My favorite use is in lobster "salad," which is chopped lobster meat and mayo at its most basic.  I add lemon thyme and some seasoned salt and either devour it as is (or atop some lettuce leaves) or stuff it into a hot dog bun for an elevated Maine lobstah roll.

Lemon thyme is reported to be particularly good with fish and chicken.  I haven't tried any of those yet, but they sound wonderful.  Now that I have my own plant here at home, I'll be looking for new recipes!

2 comments:

  1. yum, yum, yum! Very inspiring. I want a lemon thyme plant now!! In the absence of lobster I shall now have to have red potatoes tomight with some other herb (pronouncing the "h" like anyone from Downunder), and postpone the pleasure of the lemon thyme. A GA garden and a ME garden! So cosmopolitan, Ellen.

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  2. Tanya, glad to have inspired you. And, as you know, when one thinks "cosmopolitan," one naturally thinks of me. HA!

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