Uses for lemon verbena? (and other herbs, too)

In My Humble Opinion
1

This summer I planted various herbs in a couple of big planters on the back porch of my new apartment (yay! back porch!). It’s been quite a while since I had more space than a windowsill pot to plant stuff, so I’m a little rusty. Now I knew the mint plants would go insane, and the basil is getting kind of bushy, but there are zillions of uses for both of those.

One of the others, though, is lemon verbena. It smells lovely, especially if you rub the leaves with your fingers, but what the hell can I do with it? I suppose it would make a nice herbal tea component, but anything else? I don’t know if I’ll get ambitious enough to make scented soaps or anything, but I love to cook and am not averse to a craft project or two. Please share your recipes and craft ideas!

I’m not restricting this thread to lemon verbena, though, so I’ll list the other stuff I have planted, in order of current volume:

Peppermint
Spearmint
Basil
Greek oregano
Regular thyme
Sage
Variegated lemon thyme
Chives
Lemon balm
Lavender
Rosemary

Thanks in advance for your ideas, although I guess there’s always the pesto default for the basil. It’s rarely a problem for me to get rid of basil.

2

Chives are a light green-onion flavor. They cook to limp in no time, so I use 'em as a sprinkle-on-top herb just before serving. When they flower, sometimes I eat the flowers, but ditch the flower stems. They’re too stiff.

I put rosemary in nearly everything.

Thyme is awfully nice, too. Grab the stem at the second node from the top. With the other hand, you can make a little tunnel with thumb and two fingers. Pull the tunnel down the stem, and all the leaves zip right off.

Oregano goes in everything Italian.

The lemon verbena sounds great for chicken.

Get out the sage when you have to give some wise advice. :smiley:

3

Rosemary and sage are both wonderful, and very versatile. There are some great recipes around for sage-walnut cream sauces, and one of my favorite – though not low-fat – things to do with sage is make sage brown-butter. Melt some butter in a saucepan, and throw in a handful of sage leaves. Cook until the butter gets brown bits in it and the sage is crispy, then pour over chicken, pasta, etc. Yumm!

Rosemary is especially good with red meat – make some little slices in a steak or roast and stuff some garlic and rosemary into them, then drizzle with olive oil before cooking. Rosemary is also great on pasta, or in mashed potatoes.

One of my favorite things to do with basil is make my own pesto. I make it nearly non-fat, so I can have as much as I want! Here’s the recipe I use it in:

Pesto Chicken and Pasta

Ingredients:
About 1 cup fresh basil
about 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 or so cloves garlic
1 cup fat-free chicken broth
1 package fresh chicken drummettes (with bone and skin)
pasta of your choice (I like the orichette with this recipe)
olive oil (or basil olive oil!)
salt and pepper, garlic salt, etc.

In a food processor, process the basil, parmesan, garlic, and about 1/3 cup chicken broth until a good pesto-sauce consistency. Set aside.

In a saute pan or skillet, cook the chicken drummettes until they’re done. I do this with the rest of the chicken broth, adding it in as needed to keep the chicken from sticking to the pan. This way, I don’t use any oil. Season them as they cook with salt, pepper, garlic salt, Lawry’s seasoned salt, etc.

While the chicken is cooking, cook the pasta.

If you do this right, the chicken and the pasta should be done around the same time. Drain the pasta and add it to the chicken, and then add the pesto. Toss to coat; serve. Sprinkle a little more parmesan on top, if you want.

Have fun!

4

Lemon verbena is good for tea. I like it dried in little cotton bags in my underwear drawer too. You can use it anywhere you would like a lemon flavour. Put a couple of the bottom of the cake tin when baking sponge cakes or chocolate cakes.

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You can put lemon verbena in your closets, wardrobes and chests, in order to smell like Scarlett O’Hara’s mother. (Beats using pomander balls and smelling like apple pie.)

6

If you make your own ice-cream, try a lemon verbena one. Make a strong lemon verbena tea, slightly sweetened. Goes well with orange and cardamom ice cream (use condensed orange juice).

Use the lemon verbena stems (from when you trim it back in winter) as skewers for BBQing meat. Ditto rosemary stems.

Tell me you have the lemon balm in a pot. Please. If not, think you have a problem with overenthusiastic mint?? HA. I planted mine in a flower bed. We wound up going out with a machete and spade every couple of weeks, just to stop it taking over the whole area.

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You can use lemon verbena as a substitute for lemon grass, and the flowers are edible. It tastes great chopped over any kind of fruit dish. I have had great luck with lemon verbena coming back in the spring.

Of course, lavender and many of the other herbs you mentioned go wonderfully into pot pourri. I especially like lavender by itself.

Ditto about the lemon balm. And spearmint. And Peppermint.
Any kind of mint can be awfully invasive.