When I first guest-hosted the Herbs on Saturday blog challenge for Karen at Lavender & Lovage back in July, I found the experience such good fun, particularly discovering so many talented bloggers and a whole heap of tasty new recipes to try. But I was rather surprised at just how many entries were submitted; 30 in total. Putting off writing the round-up to the last-minute was a bit of a silly move. I vowed if I were ever to host Herbs on Saturday again, I’d compile the round-up as I went along to save myself from a last-minute panic.
Hosting Herbs on Saturday second time round has been a real blast and I’ve loved the steady flow of emails arriving in my inbox offering a diverse array of tasty and tempting dishes. But guess what? Yes, you’re right. I failed to learn my lesson and so last night I had another last-minute panic on my hands. This month Herbs on Saturday attracted a whopping 43 entries – you lot are incredible! And each and every one is a wonderfully delicious celebration of cooking with herbs.
Since we’ve got a lot to get through, and I have a slight tendency to waffle on a bit, I’ve decided to be extremely strict and limit myself to just three words to describe each entry. So let’s get this show on the road…
Nigel Slater’s Hangover Salad from London Busy Body
Herbed Cheese and Bacon Souffles from Caroline Makes
Cumin Spiced Chicken with a Puy Lentil and Chargrilled Courgette Salad from How to be a Gourmand
Mushroom, Onion and Thyme Focaccia
from Lancashire Food
Swamp Juice from Tinned Tomatoes
Parsley and Almond Pesto from Chez Foti
Slow Roasted Pork Neck in Thyme, Rosemary & Bay with Mint Flatbreads from Bangers & Mash
Creamy Lemon Butter Beans from The Garden Deli
Roast Chicken with Bulgur Wheat Stuffing and Roast Butternut Squash from Food Eat Love
Bacon-Wrapped Salmon from Fab Food 4 All
A Really Useful Asian Broth with Awesome Add-Ins from Food to Glow
Rosemary and Thyme Chickpea Pancakes (Socca de Nice) from Food to Glow
Saltimbocca alla Romana from Rita Cooks Italian
Spicy Pork Stew with Sweet Potatoes and Beans from Farmersgirl Kitchen
Parsley Pesto from The Botanical Baker
Chicken, Sausage and Vegetable Hotpot
from Lavender & Lovage
Dukkah & Sun Dried Tomato Muffins
from Fuss Free Flavours
Fridge-Raid Smoked Salmon Spaghetti
from Crumbs and Corkscrews
Tiger Prawn Curry with Basmati Rice from
Lavender & Lovage
English Parsley, Walnut and Stilton Pesto
from Marmaduke Scarlet
Easy Shakshuka (Spiced North African Tomato and Eggs) from Food to Glow
Carrot Ginger Lime Soup with Sweet Potato Hummus from The Taste Space
Butternut Risotto with Butternut Crisps from Chez Foti
Middle Eastern Chicken Salad with Hummus Dressing from Bangers & Mash
Chicken Breast Fillets with Sage from
My Little Italian Kitchen
5:2 Diet Minestrone Soup from Tinned Tomatoes
Rillettes de Canard from Blue Kitchen Bakes
Cauliflower & Pear Soup from Elizabeth’s Kitchen
Croustade de Canard (Duck Pie with Figs) from Delicieux
Roasted Mushrooms with Rosemary from Cherrapeno
Zero Effort Spicy Carrot Soup from Dinner with Crayons
Thyme, Black Garlic and Tomato Flatbreads from
Blue Kitchen Bakes
Bresaola Spirals from Leeks and Limoni
Shakshuka from Exploits of a Food Nut
Peashoot, Bacon & Ricotta Penne from Anne’s Kitchen
Nigella’s Chicken Tagine from Blue Kitchen Bakes
Kroppkakor – Swedish Style Dumplings from Delicieux
Belleau Minestrone from Belleau Kitchen
Sicilian Style Tuna with Salsa Verde from 8&Ruth
Smoked Mackerel Salad with Yoghurt, Horseradish & Dill Dressing from Recipe Junkie
Lemon Chicken with Cannellini Beans and Rosemary from Lavender & Lovage
Cheesy Chorizo Flatbreads from Blue Kitchen Bakes
Goats Cheese Souffles with Thyme from Maison Cupcake
Now how’s that for an impressive selection of recipes, providing a veritable wealth of culinary inspiration? I look forward to working my way through the list. I’m starting the 5:2 diet next week and will be trying out the Lemon Chicken with Cannellini Beans and Rosemary from Lavender and Lovage, and I’ve also got my eye on the Croustade de Canarde from Delicieux, as I have some duck breast in the freezer. Which dishes have caught your fancy?
“But who won the prize this month?” I hear you cry. Well, the lucky winner of Your Kitchen Garden: Month-by-Month, by the renowned gardening author Andi Clevely, is none other than Rachel from Marmaduke Scarlet for her fashionably green pesto made with English parsley, walnuts and Stilton. Karen’s mystery judge this month is a professional herb grower based in North Yorkshire, who we’ll call The Herb Lady.
The Herb Lady said: “It took me a long time to select the winner but I chose Marmaduke Scarlet’s pesto as it is so fresh and innovative and a good use of parsley, which is so often relegated to garnishes and sauces. Using walnuts instead of pine nuts makes this a thoroughly British pesto.”
Congratulations to Rachel and we hope you have lots of fun devising new ideas for your kitchen garden with inspiration from your new book!
Before I sign off, I’d just like to say a huge thank you to Karen at Lavender & Lovage for once again entrusting her Herbs on Saturday challenge to me. I’d love to host again some time – once I’ve fully recovered from compiling this round-up! And now I think I need a little lie down…
Bangers & Mash 
What a fabulous collection of dishes! I am so pleased to hear you might make my pie – please do stop by at Delicieux and tell me how it goes for you! Feedback like that is so important and valued by me xxx
Isn’t it a wonderful selection, Anneli? And yes, I will definitely be making your duck pie in the next week and of course I’ll let you know how it turns out. It sounds delicious!
OMG! Vanesther, you have OUTDONE yourself this time and what a BEAUTIFUL round up of the most amazing recipes, all of them are so inspirational!
I LOVE your In Three Words idea, and I may borrow that from you if that is okay? Such a great idea!
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your hard work and enthusiasm this month, as I said before,you can guest host me and Herbs on Saturday ANY TIME you like!
Stunning!
Karen xxxx
You are so, so welcome Karen. I love hosting HoS – it always attracts such an amazing response and such inspirational recipes. So yes, count me in for hosting again – I might just need a month or two to recover from this one 😉 And do of course take the three words concept. I got it from Simon Mayo on Radio 2 as I was driving home from work yesterday and panicking about how many dishes I had to summarise ahead of me, and then they started with their Three Word Thursdays. Really glad you liked it – I thought you might consider it a cop out!
IN three words: Stunning, Delicious, OMG!
In three words: You’re too kind!
Thanks for your great Herbs on Saturday summary – some really inspiring recipes which I look forward to visiting, also, I wasn’t even aware of this herb showcase event, so I’ll be following and hopefully entering in future too – not least when my herb beds get back in full swing.
Thank you and yes, you really must enter February’s challenge. I think it will be Karen hosting it again but full details will be here: http://www.lavenderandlovage.com/herbs-on-saturday
Hope you’re fully recovered from your marathon round-up Vanesther – did a lie down do the trick? So many great recipes though, don’t know which one to try first!
Just about recovered, thanks Sarah! We got such an amazing array of entries – including your delicious lemon butter beans. Look forward to giving those a try soon with some flatbreads 🙂
What an incredible round up, there are so many recipes there that I’d like to try.
Isn’t it fantastic Janice? And your spicy pork stew is just my cup of tea. Thanks for sharing.
great round-up!… such an amazing array of recipes. You’ve done the whole thing beautifully too… well done you x
Thanks Dom. I think sticking to just three words and focussing on images of the food has really worked rather well!
Wowsers, what a collection!. Many of wish I’m very excited to try, though my bookmarking is getting a tad out of hand these days! And I LOVE the three word idea, well done you!
Fantastic round up! 🙂 Well done!
Thank you very much for this collection of good recipes! I love herbs.
You’re very welcome Rita! Couldn’t agree more – and couldn’t imagine cooking without herbs…
My goodness Vanesther – what an incredible number of mouthwatering entries! Thanks for listing my recipe and being such a fab host 🙂
Thanks Jacqueline – such a fantastic response hey?
great round up – just off to do some bookmarking – love your three word summary – so easy to browse