Herb Guide News

This is my first entry in my new blog - it's a St Patricks Day Menu - an idea for a themed party. St Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland and St Patricks Day is the 17th March. It's celebrated not just in Ireland but around the World.

Now, if you want an excuse for a party, but don't fancy champ and colcannon - and I don't blame you if you don't - then here's a themed St Patricks Day Menu that you might like to try.

The colours of the Irish flag are green, orange and white.

For starters, try a tomato basil soup, garnish with a swirl of cream and chopped basil and there you have the beginning of your theme - green, orange and white.

For main course, I would favour a poached salmon with watercress sauce, served with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and new potatoes - that puts two orange, two green and two white items on your plate.

For dessert, try a mixed fruit salad - kiwi, mango, lychees, green grapes, orange segments and sliced pears - top it with whipped cream, chopped angelica and a shake of cinnamon or ginger - lots more green, orange and white.

Finish your St Patricks Day Menu with Irish Coffees - sweetened black coffee with a shot of Irish Whiskey and cream floating on top - delicious - and you might find you want more than one.

Continue your colour theme with a white tablecloth and green and orange candles and napkins.

White tableware would be nice - I always think food looks better served on white crockery.

Play some Irish music - if you don't like the traditional folk music, then maybe Thin Lizzy will do as Phil Lynot was proud of his Irish ancestry and there's normally 'Whisky in the Jar' on most compilation CDs :-) Or you might even go for The Nolan Sisters or Val Doonican - only joking.

Dave Allen was an Irish comedian and there are CDs available of his shows. He was very funny, one of my favourites and it would really entertain your guests if you could find a recording.

To drink, you can have Guinness - which is very good for you, so they claim - Irish Whiskey is freely available, but of course neither of these are suitable for serving with your poached salmon.

I've researched heavily for Irish wines - and they do exist, but you're unlikely to find any on general sale.

Ireland doesn't have the climate to support large commercial vineyards - those that exist are very small - 5 acres or less and all around Cork (well, if you're going to produce wine, you need cork).

One of the vineyards makes wines for its own restaurant and the others just supply local shops and restuarants.
The largest produces a mere 3000 bottles a year.

If you search though, you can find Irish people who have emigrated to wine producing countries and the vineyards will have Irish sounding names - the best I can do as a wine recommendation for a themed St Patricks Day Menu.

I like champagne with salmon - a nice, medium dry fizzy wine is great and it adds to the celebration to have champagne corks flying.

If you don't like fizz - then go for a medium dry white - Nierstein, Piesporter or similar.

If you need a recipe for poached salmon with watercress sauce, then please visit my seafood recipe site.

If you need a tomato basil soup recipe - then have a look here at my herb website.

March 19, 2006 14:51 - How do I kill a mint patch

Hmm... well, here at the herb guide, I don't recommend killing any herb - they're all useful - but if the herbs are in the wrong place and vigourous growers like mint, then you have a weed.

Mint grows by putting out runners - vast quantities of runners - which is why, in my growing herb section I suggest that you plant your mint in pots and then sink the pot in the herb bed. If you lift it every so often during the growing season it won't have chance to put out all those shoots and overrun the garden.

I do sympathise - when I first moved here, I had mint creeping through from my neighbour - it was growing through the fence and shooting up all over the place. It's about to sprout now - my neighbour hasn't bothered as he just cuts his grass and the mint goes with it.

I don't want the mint there - I'm growing ivy up the fence to make a hedge so really, that keeps the mint out to a great extent, but it still shoots up where it fancies.

So - dig out the mint - take a fork and really work down as far as you can go - gently lift the plant to keep as much of the root intact as you can, trying not to break off any runners.

Scrape away the soil as you follow the roots - pulling gently to ease the runner from the soil.

Keep going like this until you've got as much out as you can. Then just keep an eye out through the growing season. When you see a mint shoot, gently pull and get out as much root as possible each time.

The mint will eventually stop coming up - it needs light on its leaves to continue putting out runners, if you continually take its shoots away, it will deprive its root system of what it needs to grow - well, in your garden anyway - it'll probably shoot in your neighbours lawn! :-)

You can refer them to this page then - 'how do I kill a mint patch?'