Eastern Herb Salad

Another recipe that I want to try, it looks really healthy and good!

Eastern Herb Salad

Ingredients:
*1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded, and diced
*salt and pepper
*3 tbsp. olive oil
*3 pita breads, toasted and broken into small pieces, or 5 slices of white bread, toasted and cut into strips
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*juice of 1 lemon
*2 tbsp. young Gotu kola leaves, roughly chopped
*4 tbsp. purslane leaves, removed from their stalks and chopped (or baby spinach)
*2 tbsp. flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
*2 tbsp. cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
*2 tbsp. mint, roughly chopped
*1 red onion, finely chopped
*5 ripe tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped

Directions:
1) Place the diced cucumber in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain for 20 minutes.
2) Toast the the bread. In a large bowl, mix together the garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil to make a dressing.
3) Add the herbs, the diced vegetables, the pieces of bread and toss well to coat with the dressing.
4) Season with salt and pepper, serve immediately. The salad does not keep. Enjoy!

I got this recipe from: Jekka McVicar, The Complete Herb Book, pg. 77

For additional information, see: references and warnings

Garlic, Chives, Onions

Name:
*Garlic (Allium sativum)
*Garlic Chives (Allium odorum)
*Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
*Onion (Allium cepa)


Description:
*the Allium family are a pungent, tasty product from the garden
*garlic is an insect repellant and also neutralizes the poisons of bites and stings

Parts Used:
*leaves, bulbs, flowers, use them fresh

Position:
*all Alliums like well-tilled weedless soil, good drainage, and a sunny position

Propagation:
*plant onions by seed
*plant chives by seed
*propagate garlic by planting cloves vertically with top covered by 2.5 centimeters of soil

Maintenance:
*weed well, especially in early growth stages
*do not over winter
*garlic is vulnerable to nematode (eel worm) attack. To clear soil of nematodes, plant a crop of dwarf orange marigolds (Tagetes patula) beforehand

Harvesting:
*use fresh
*when they are finished growing, the tops of both onion and garlic wither and fall over. On a sunny day, pull the bulbs of these plants and leave them for a few days to dry out. Store in a dry, well ventilated place
*to prevent browning, avoid cutting chives with a scissors, but rather use your hands

Medicinal:
*garlic: a natural antibiotic, regular consumption helps prevent and treat lung infections, coughs, colds, and gastrointestinal infections
*garlic can be used as a preventable against stomach and colorectal cancers
*garlic is beneficial for the cardiovascular system, lowers cholesterol levels, lessens bloodclot formation, reduces blood pressure, and helps blood circulation

Cooking:
*far too obvious to make much comment. Check out future recipes on this blog

Companion Planting:
*plant Alliums near roses to prevent black spot
*they also help prevent leaf curl in trees, especially peach trees

For additional information, see: references and warnings