I wouldn’t be
without my chives – a very easily grown perennial that adds interest to a whole
variety of dishes from early April right through to October. Although a member
of the onion family, chives have a sweet flavour entirely their own. A
catalogue of how to use them would be endless: they turn up in very many
dishes, but one of my favourite ways of serving them is to add a couple of
heaped tablespoons to 5 floz / 150ml of soured cream, and
to pour this over halved jacket
potatoes.
Don’t chop chives –
keep them in bunches and use scissors to snip them into small pieces. They can
be deep-frozen for the winter by placing them in a sieve, pouring boiling water
over to blanch them, then cooling them under a cold
tap. Dry them as thoroughly as possible and freeze in sealed polythene bags.
Dried chives don’t
work at all, but if you can get hold of a clump (or seeds) of Welsh onion,
scallion, or green onion (which all look like spring onion tops) you’ll find
these go on all through the winter. Although they have a slightly stronger
flavour, they’re suitable for any recipe that calls for chives.
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Anya
Potato Salad with Shallots and Vinaigrette
Baby
Summer Vegetables with Lemon Vinaigrette
Baked
Smoked Haddock Creams with Lemon-dressed Leaves
Barbecued
Sardines with Summer Herb Sauce
Bayerischer Kartoffelsalat
(Bavarian Potato Salad)
Beef
and Vegetable Stew with Crusted Onion Dumplings
Broad
Bean Salad with Pancetta and Sherry Vinegar
Buttered
Jersey Royals with Parsley, Mint and Chives
Buttermilk
Scones with Cheshire Cheese and Chives
Cauliflower
Soup with Roquefort
Eier in Grüner Sosse – Eggs in Green Sauce
Foil-baked
Whole Fresh Salmon with Green Herb Mayonnaise
Fried
Plaice Fillets with a Herb and Polenta Crust
Grüne Erbsensuppe mit Saurer Sahne
(Pea Soup with Sour Cream)
Jacket
Potato Halves stuffed with Melted Gruyère and Chives
Krebssalat Helgoländer Art
(Helgoland Crayfish, Rice and Mayonnaise Salad)
Marinated
Courgettes with a Herb Vinaigrette
Open-faced
Egg, Chive and Spring Onion Sandwiches
Poached
Quail Egg Salad with Watercress and Tarragon Sauce
Salt-crusted
Mini Baked Potatoes with Cold Chive Hollandaise
Slow-cooked
Root Vegetable Soup
Smoked
Haddock with Crème Fraîche, Chive and Butter Sauce
Smoked
Haddock with Spinach and Chive Butter Sauce
Soufflé
Omelette with Three Cheeses and Chives
Teriyaki
Grilled Marinated Salmon with Marinated Cucumber and Sesame Salad
Thai
Grilled-Beef Salad with Grapes
Trout
with Butter, Crème Fraîche and Chives
.