My rosemary plant in the herb garden did not survive last winter (I try every year, but mine never make it), so this spring I went to buy a replacement.  We only have two local nurseries that sell plants, and no one had any rosemary.  It can be difficult to start from seed and would take a couple of years to grow large enough to use, so that wasn’t really an option.

Go to Plan B.

I found a package of fresh organic rosemary in the produce department of our local supermarket.  So I rooted the sprigs, and ended up with 12 pots of plants at a cost of less than 25¢ each.  I love being cheap frugal.

Rosemary is relatively easy to root. Choose a nice fresh sprig (about 4″ long) and strip the leaves off the bottom inch to inch-and-a-half of the stem.  Save the leaves you’ve stripped off for cooking.  Mix some potting soil with some sand (about 2/3 soil to 1/3 sand), and fill small pots or plastic cups with the soil mixture.  Make a small hole with a pencil or a chopstick and insert the stripped part of the sprig into the hole.  I used rooting hormone, but it’s not absolutely necessary.  Some folks use pure honey to help with rooting if you don’t want to use “chemicals”.  Firm the soil around the cutting and water well.  Rosemary does not like wet feet, so keep the soil just slightly moist.

I put my potted cuttings in a shady spot outside and about 4 weeks later they had rooted.  After they rooted, I moved them gradually into the sunniest spot in the garden.

For cooking, rosemary complements the flavor of apples, asparagus, basil, beans, beef, blue cheese, caramel, citrus, cranberry, game meats, garlic, grains, fennel, figs, mushrooms, nuts, onion, oregano, parsley, potatoes, poultry, raisins, sage, seafood, sugar, thyme, and tomatoes.

Tonight our side dish with grilled chicken will be Rosemary-Garlic Potatoes.

Chop up some red potatoes.  For the two of us, we used three medium potatoes.  We like the skin, so we don’t peel them.  Yukon Golds also work in this recipe – russet or baking potatoes do not.  They aren’t creamy enough in texture.

Put them into a pot of lightly salted water and bring to a boil.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes.

While the potatoes are boiling, chop some fresh parsley.  This was probably about 3 tablespoons chopped, but use how much you like.  You can also used dried parsley, thyme, oregano or any herbs you prefer.  Put the chopped parsley in a bowl large enough to hold the potatoes, too.

Snip off one or two good-sized sprigs of fresh rosemary and sniff.  I love that smell.  Those are five cuttings I rooted this spring.  This one pot should keep us supplied with plenty of fresh rosemary all winter.  A little goes a long way.

Strip the leaves and discard the stem.

Big pieces remind me of pine needles in my food, so make sure the rosemary is very finely minced.

Back to the potatoes.  After about 5 minutes or so, the water should begin to get foamy from the starch in the potatoes, and they will be barely soft on the outside.  That’s what you want – don’t overcook them.

Drain the potatoes and add to the bowl with the parsley in it.

Add a palm full of bread crumbs.  We used Italian style crumbs, but you can use plain crumbs or panko.

Drizzle the hot potatoes with olive oil (we add a small pat of butter, too).  Season to your taste – we use onion powder, curry powder (we use “Balti” seasoning from Penzey’s), Cavender’s Greek Seasoning (a wonderful all-purpose seasoning), garlic powder, and a little fresh ground pepper.  At times, we substitute paprika for the Balti.  We don’t add any additional salt (there’s some in the Cavender’s).  Feel free to experiment!

Stir gently to coat the still-warm potatoes with the bread crumbs and seasonings.  At this point, you can let the potatoes sit to let the flavors blend until you’re ready to finish cooking them.

Spread on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake at 350°F until golden brown. Stir occasionally while baking to brown them evenly. The potatoes will be creamy on the inside and the bread crumb coating forms a crunchy crust that is really delicious.

These make a great side dish to go with grilled chicken.  We should have had a green vegetable, but we wanted to use up these leftover pinto and adzuki beans.

Rosemary is a wonderful herb – easy to grow and fun to use in the kitchen.

I bring potted ones inside for the winter. I didn’t have much success overwintering in the house until I remembered that rosemary is a plant native to the Mediterranean, and winter is the rainy season. I realized that I should be watering the plants more in the winter than I had been in previous years.  Putting them in a cool, sunny spot in the house and keeping them moist (but not overwatered) allows me to overwinter rosemary quite nicely.

Thanks to Mama Bear at Gotta Little Space for including us in this week’s Make It From Scratch! Blog Carnival.

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