Murski Homestead Bed & Breakfast, Brenham, Texas » Herbs

Antique Rose Emporium: Annual Fall Festival of Roses

Pamela Murski — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:16:32 +0000

Roses

The Antique Rose Emporium (ARE) hosts its annual Fall Festival of Roses in November with three days of free garden-related seminars presented by nationally and internationally known speakers and gardening tours. The ranch is located just a short drive down a beautiful country road from this amazing nursery & garden center.

Antique Rose Emporium, with its 8 acres of landscaped grounds, is located at 10000 FM 50 in Independence, Texas. For more information about the annual Fall Festival of Roses, call 979-836-5548.

Spring Herbs at Brenham Texas B&B Ranch

Pamela Murski — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:44:54 +0000

Spring at our Ranch B&B in Brenham is just around the corner and after this crazy, wild winter we are planning on a bumper crop of spring herbs. Some of our favorites include Aussie Sweetie basil, African Blue basil, Lemon thyme, Italian parsley, Tuscan Blue rosemary, Rose Scented geranium and cilantro. The Antique Rose Emporium is one of our favorite places to shop for them. It is also a great place for inspiration and reflection. We look forward to blogging about some of our incredible recipes from our spring classes using those great herbs!

Fava Skordalia….Greek Split Pea Recipe….”Hummus Style”

Pamela Murski — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:40:28 +0000

Fava Skordalia (Yellow Split Peas with Garlic)

2 cups yellow split peas, picked over and rinsed

2 bay leaves

2 tsp salt

4-6 garlic cloves

½ cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

3-4 Tbsp red wine vinegar

¾ Tbsp dry white wine

2 Tbsp dried oregano, crumbled, plus more for garnish

Freshly ground black pepper

All or a few of the following toppings:

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2-3 Tbsp pitted and chopped Kalamata olives

4-5 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped

1 medium tomato, cored, peeled, seeded diced and drained

Few sprigs of arugula, coarsely chopped

Few sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

EVOO

Place the split peas in a large pot, add water to cover by 4 inches and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low & simmer, skimming often, for 5 minutes. Add the bay leaves and simmer for 40 minutes more, stirring occasionally and adding a little warm water as needed to keep the peas covered as they cook. Add 1 tsp of the salt and simmer for 15-20 minutes more, or until the peas are soft and almost dry.

Puree the peas with a stick (immersion) blender, or transfer to a food processor and puree. Let the puree cool completely; it will thicken considerably.

In a large mortar, grind the garlic with the remaining 1 tsp salt into a smooth paste. Add 2 cups or so of the puree and continue grinding to incorporate the garlic. Or use a blender or a small food processor.

In a large bowl, combine the garlic mixture, the remaining pea puree, the oil, 3 Tbsp each vinegar and wine, the oregano and pepper to taste, stirring vigorously to incorporate. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

If the skordalia seems too thick, add a little vinegar, wine or water to thin. Spread on a large plate, sprinkle with oregano, garnish with toppings of your choice and serve

Gardens Near Brenham Texas Bed and Breakfast

Pamela Murski — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 18:01:49 +0000

On a recent to trip to Blackwood, an educational land institute within a 30 minute beautiful drive from BrenhamTexas, I was delighted to see the way that the land has been preserved through gardens and nature through sustainable practices. A formerly neglected tract of land has been turned into a living learning environment at Blackwood, including the construction of an amazing straw bale home. It inspires me with my gardens and attempts to work with the land and ecosystems that exist naturally at the ranch. Encouraging our cooking class participants to shop, eat and live locally is part of our philosophy here at the ranch.

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Fall Garden Herbs, Vegies, and More…

Pamela Murski — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:27:35 +0000

With dill as the herb of the year, it is a good idea to start planting it in the garden soon. Be sure to plant lots of its wonderful familial relatives such as parsley, fennel, lovage, cilantro, and chervil. Now is also a good time to start planting other cool season plants such as kale, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, chard, spinach, lettuce, collards, mustard, turnips, beets, and such. Stick some of these into your flower beds for interest. ‘Redbor’ and ‘Winterbor’ kales with their dark purple or soft green leaves look great with pansies, snapdragons, calendulas, dianthus, chartreuse lettuces, parsley and cilantro – the bonus is you can eat them too!
Don’t forget that fall is also a great time to plant trees, shrubs, and bulbs. Roses are one of my favorite group of herbs, and I’d recommend the following varieties: ‘Mutabilis,’ ‘Carefree Beauty,’ ‘Mrs. B.R. Cant,’ ‘Maggie,’ ‘Cecile Brunner,’ ‘Marie Pavie,’ ‘Cramoisi Superieur,’ ‘Madame Antoine Mari,’ ‘Belinda’s Dream,’ ‘Knockout,’ ‘Nacogdocehes,’ ‘Martha Gonzales,’ and, oh, the list could go on until your eyes started to glaze over. Yes, you can have your roses and eat them too!

Thanksgiving is a good time to get your sweet pea seeds in the ground. If your looking for a suggestion, my favorite is an old variety named ‘Painted Lady.’ She has pink and white flowers, blooms early, for a long time and is particularly fragrant.

Post me a comment and let me know some of your favorites!

Early Summer Gardens Texas Ranch Bed and Breakfast

Pamela Murski — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:36:25 +0000

The summer brought on the grasshoppers and leaf cutters but the gardens transitioned beautifully from Spring to Summer producing zinnias, gladiolus, sweet peas, roses, flowering basils, incredible cardoon blossoms, and so much more. Our vegetable gardens at the B&B were chock full of cucumbers, squash, thyme, fennel, colorful swiss chard, bell peppers, basil, yellow and red tomatoes. We spied this fun cucumber that we had missed that was now firmly entrenched in the landscaping timbers! What were your gardens like this summer?

Best of Summer Salads at Texas Bed and Breakfast

Pamela Murski — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:42:56 +0000

Greek Salad

Summer time screams tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and basil….all fresh from the gardens at the B&B. This Greek Salad is a favorite and equally delicious as a side or the main course. Paired with crusty bread, herb butter, glass of vino and you have a feast!

Put together equal parts of chunked tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, whole black olives, fresh mozzarella balls or cubes, bite sized strips of fresh basil. Mix 1/3 balsamic vinegar with 2/3 good quality olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and drizzle over vegies. Toss to mix. Garnish with basil flowers and serve. Be sure not to overdress the salad….you can always serve extra dressing on the side. This salad is great to adjust to your own taste buds by adding whatever you have on hand that is fresh and creating your own version of summer salad. Fresh edible flower buds are a great addition as well as herb fronds such as fennel, thyme flowers, and Fiddle Head buds.

Texas B&B Antique Roses, Herbs & Spring Gardens

Pamela Murski — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:31:25 +0000

Our gardens at the ranch are worked year round so that we and our guests can enjoy being outside and the wild birds have plenty of food, water, hiding places and nesting material! We had a great flush this past Spring after the hard freezes of the winter helped put nature back in balance with growth patterns, weeds and bugs. We use of a lot of the flowers, herbs and fruits in our cooking classes and food preparation. There is nothing better than “farm fresh”. We encourage all our guests and cooking class participants to use anything they can find locally and fresh from the farmers markets and meat markets…..Some great photos of some of our flowers and herbs:

Foodie Weekend TX Bed and Breakfast Style

Pamela Murski — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:52:15 +0000

What a great time we had recently with the Foodie Weekend participants with adventures at several local farmers markets, harvesting herbs from the ranch gardens for class, snatching a few fresh figs for our dessert from a friends back yard after spying them ripening on the tree, an unexpected detour from the last market to take everyone on a scenic history drive through the country side back to the B&B, cooking together and lots of good food! One of the favorites’ from the Friday night heavy hors d’oeuvres and cocktails was this amazing Texas Slider, a Murski Homestead B&B classic recipe…..venison/turkey fresh herbed patty, oozing jalapeno jack cheese, house made remoulade, fresh avocado slices and buttered grilled bun! A little messy but oh, so, so good…….

Culinary Queens "Tour" Spain

Pamela Murski — Wed, 12 May 2010 22:52:14 +0000

Culinary Queens of the Pioneer Unit Herb Society Of America toured Spain through food and cooking authentic recipes recently. The highlight was a delicious Paella with shrimp, chorizo, mussels, and chicken cooked outside picnic style over an open flame. The meal was rounded out with Sangria, Onion Marmalade, Bunuelos De Bacalao (Salt Cod-Potato Fritters with Garlic Aoli), Oysters with cava dressing, Almond Cake and Lemon Sorbet. Try the Salt Cod-Potato Fritters which were an exceptional appetizer eaten out of hand while enjoying the delicious Sangria! Be on the look out for the recipe in an upcoming blog post……The dish will be added to one of our Foodie Weekends just in case you don’t try them at home….