Over the weekend, I made dried herbs from the CSA oregano, and rhubarb syrup (plus compote, adding another jar of rhubarb jam-ish to the fridge).
I made a few changes to the compote recipe: I halved it because I only had a pound of rhubarb, I used lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar, and I left out the spices in place of vanilla extract, which I added toward the end so it wouldn’t boil off. And I only let it simmer for half-an-hour, because there was less in the pot to boil off.
I dried the oregano using several techniques from various websites that required a little tweaking in my terrible gas-leaking oven. Basically, wash and dry the herbs, spreading them out over a sheet pan. Put the pan in the oven and let it pre-heat to 200 F, then turn it off, open it a bit, and leave the herbs in there for 45 minutes to an hour. When the herbs are cool enough, strip them off of the stems and put them in a jar.
Because of my finicky oven, I had to put the oregano in the oven and dry it a second time, but it came out perfectly toasty then. Your milage (and oven) may vary.
We also stopped by the farmers market on Saturday, where we picked up some golden beets and black heirloom tomatoes. More on the golden beets later, but the heirlooms are great. Perfectly ripe with such a rich flavor. I’ve been making this salad from them, which goes something like this:
- 2 lbs heirloom tomatoes
- 1 15.5 oz can of kidney beans
- fresh basil
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
It gets a little juicy, so I recommend pouring out the excess tomato juice before adding the other liquids. But it’s good and so fresh and summery. And goes great with slices of toasted baguette.
Rhubarb Season 