Bloodroot and Rosemary Biscuits

While looking for books to donate to a church media sale, I happened upon Susan Wittig Albert’s Bloodroot, published in 2001, which has been on my library shelves for quite awhile.  I  tried reading this mystery before but didn’t get far.  The setting is the Mississippi Delta rather than the herb shop and tearoom in the Texas Hill Country of Albert's other China Bayles mysteries. 

I picked up the book again and decided if it didn’t hold my interest this time, I would donate it.  I must have been more amenable to reading about the South this go-around, because I finished it quickly.  I actually enjoyed learning some back story about China and her mother Leatha, with whom China has had a troubled relationship in the past. 

The aunt who raised Leatha and who owns the family’s Mississippi plantation is ill with a degenerative neurological disorder, and Leatha is caring for her when secrets from the family’s past begin to emerge, and Leatha asks China for help.  China’s legal skills from her former career are called into play, and some unexplained ghostly assistance points China in the right direction.

Ill-conceived and extreme measures taken to hide family secrets lead to unnecessary deaths, and the sins of the fathers must be uncovered in order to move forward.  The decisions of the characters propel the plot at a more leisurely pace so this isn't a "sitting on the edge of your seat" mystery.  While the characters are fraught with human frailties, the reader is left with hope for the future.

Of course, there is the usual information about herbs in this series, and since I’m taking a Master Gardener class, I try to pay attention to all the Latin names! 

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis)

Master Gardener binder at my desk--reading this week's assignment!

My reading also inspired me to make some rosemary biscuits though I didn’t use the exact recipe provided in the book.  I had some heavy cream in the refrigerator left over from Christmas and decided to make cream biscuits from a recipe found here on the Internet.  Essentially you add heavy cream to a mixture of flour, baking powder, sugar, salt.  I added dried rosemary to the recipe and they turned out well.  I was able to use the leftover cream, but these rich biscuits certainly aren’t something I would make often. 

Toasted rosemary biscuits with honey for breakfast

Thinking about Herbs

I'm sitting here eating a piece of rosemary bread with honey, thinking about herbs.  I didn't make this bread, just baked it, but lately I have been contemplating cooking with herbs, all because of the third book I've read as part of my Foodies Read 2 Challenge.  Susan Wittig Albert's An Unthymely Death is one of those books that I've had sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I had read a little bit of it but laid it aside and forgot about it. As I gathered books from my library for the Foodie Reading Challenge, I realized this would be the perfect opportunity to complete it.

Albert, as mystery lovers will recognize, is the author of 21 mysteries featuring China Bayles, a former criminal defense attorney and current proprietor of a herb shop, Thyme and Seasons, and a tearoom, Thyme for Tea, that she owns with her best friend Ruby Wilcox who also features prominently in the herb series mysteries.  Albert has other mystery series, too, the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter and the more recent garden club mystery series.  She writes a series with her husband under the pseudonym, Robin Paige; and she has written 60 Youth Adult Books, in addition to several nonfiction books.

A former English professor, Albert is, to state the obvious, a multi-talented and prolific author. 

An Unthymely Death fits in with the China Bayles series.  It is a collection of short mystery stories featuring China and Ruby, interspersed with numerous sidebar facts about herbs, herbal recipes and craft ideas featuring herbs.  For example, there is a mini history of mustard, a listing of herbs for a tea garden, as well as herbs of the Bible, instructions on how to make a tussie mussie, and scores of recipes.  Albert is also the honorary President for 2012-2014 of the Herb Society of America.  To read more about herbs and the herb society, Click Here.   She also has an excellent website with lots of links and information about herbs on it.  Wittig's About Thyme website gives recipes and a lot of fascinating facts about herbs.  To view this website and find more herbal recipes, Click Here.

Two recipes I want to try:

Faerie Blossom Cookies

1/8 cup sugar

1/4 cup fresh lemon-basil leaves, packed down

1/4 cup fresh lemon balm leaves, packed down

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3 cups flour

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease two baking sheets.  In a blender or food processor, process the fresh herbs with the 1/8 cup sugar and set aside.  Using your electric mixer, beat butter or margarine until creamy, gradually adding the 3/4 cup sugar.  Add egg and lemon juice and blend.  Add herb-sugar mixture, then flour, 1 cup at a time, beating to blend thoroughly.  Shape into one inch balls and place two inches apart on greased baking sheet.  Dip the bottom of a glass in sugar and flatten each ball.  Bake until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes,  Remove to wire racks to cool.  Makes about three dozen.

 

Rosemary Caper Tapenade

2 small (6 or 8 oz) jars of oil-cured black olives

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup tiny capers (nonpareil) drained

2 (2 oz) tins flat anchovy fillets, undrained

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, minced fine

2 teaspoons finely minced fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried

Pepper to taste

Pit the olives and place in a blender or food processor.  Add olive oil and blend.  Add capers, anchovies, lemon juice, garlic, and rosemary.  Blend until smooth (or, if you prefer, still slightly grainy).  Taste and add pepper if you like.  If the spread is too thick, add additional olive oil.  Refrigerate several days for best flavor.  Serve at room temperature.  (To store, pack in a large-mouthed jar and cover with olive oil.  Cover jar tightly.)

There's only one thing standing in my way to culinary prowess with herbs--my current herb garden!

Umm, this is my current herb garden, the planter outside the back door
and it's empty--no seeds sprouted.