Cilantro Ethnic

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I am so lucky to live within close distance to a myriad of small ethnic markets. Not only do I find all kinds of interesting ingredients I also find great prices on everyday food. Oh, and I've also learned that "merhaba" means Hello in Turkish!
 
Cilantro pesto with pepitas

In my effort to rid my life of some of the "junk" I have, I've been scanning recipes from magazines I've saved (and moved more times than I'd like to admit). Well, the May 1986 Bon Appetit had a recipe for cilantro pesto. Pretty much the same as basil-based pesto except you use pepitas (pumpkin seeds) instead of other nuts and add lime juice. There is also a recipe for chili pasta dough in that issue that intrigues me. Basically, pasta dough to which you had tomato paste and cumin. The filling was chorizo and instead of ravioli, the article had instructions for shaping the pasta into little sombreros. I think I'll have to dig out the pasta machine and give this recipe a whirl.
 
I use an Aero Garden for all of my herbs. It is easy to do. Nothing bolts. I have for for various herbs and four for lettuce. I tried doing cherry tomatoes and jalapenos ,but the tomatoes had thick skins and were watery and totally tasteless and the jalapenos so hot that they caused coughing I. Other rooms of the house when I cooked some. Won't do either again in the Aero Garden. The herbs and lettuce however are better than any I have grown outdoors, quite happy.

Robert
 
I'm looking to see if I've written this on this particular thread or not. I've always had a problem with the stuff bolting, way, way, too early. When we lived in Florida, one day hubby came in from mowing the lawn. "Claire, I think that is an herb?" Sure as heck, the cilantro I could never grow in the garden was living in the middle of the lawn. So every time DH mowed the lawn, I'd go out and cut it to the ground. I'm not really sure if it is a perrenial, biennual, etc, but it seems we got the better part of a year out of the darned plant, even when I didn't need it so just let hubby mow it as part of the grass.
 
Oh, by the way, Zerah, loved the picture of cilantro in a vase. In younger days, I would often give people bouquets of herbs from my garden as hostess gifts. Most people loved them, but some just didn't "get" it (acted like I'd given them a bouquet of weeds). I have the best herb garden I've ever had right now, but don't have an appreciative audience for an herb bouquet.
 
I could never get dill to grow outside, no problems with my Aero Garden but out side it just wouldn't do much. A few years ago I got a small clump that went to head, then died. This year I have "volunteer" dill all over the back yard. I guess somethings are just happy when you abuse, ignore and forget about them.

Speaking of mowing things. I saw some landscapers do this with daisy's. Instead of clipping them back each year with clippers they just used a high weed mower and mowed them. They always came back really strong with lots of blooms. I guess nothing says I love you, please grow like a lawnmower! :)

Robert
 
I could never get dill to grow outside, no problems with my Aero Garden but out side it just wouldn't do much. A few years ago I got a small clump that went to head, then died. This year I have "volunteer" dill all over the back yard. I guess somethings are just happy when you abuse, ignore and forget about them.

Speaking of mowing things. I saw some landscapers do this with daisy's. Instead of clipping them back each year with clippers they just used a high weed mower and mowed them. They always came back really strong with lots of blooms. I guess nothing says I love you, please grow like a lawnmower! :)

Robert
My problem with dill is it goes to seed before the Kirby cukes are big enough to pickle.
 
My problem with dill is it goes to seed before the Kirby cukes are big enough to pickle.

The key to beating that problem is to make successive sowings of dill every couple of weeks.

My dad used to pickle not only cukes, but also all of the end-of-season green tomatoes, & by making successive sowings of dill he always had more than enough dill foliage & seed heads right up until frost.
 
Coming late to this party ( I just joined) but years of growing cilantro taught me some things.

It likes cool weather, not hot or cold.
It doesn't like to be transplanted! Really doesn't like it although once or twice I had minimal success with that. '

The seeds are HARD. I soak them for a a day or so, then scarify it by putting them between paper towel sheets and pressing a rolling pin over them. (Scarify means to scratch the surface a little. Since I couldn't see myself taking each seed and scratching it------- I did the rolling pin thing.)

Then I put them in a ziploc baggie wrapped in moist paper towel and watched and waited until I saw a little 'foot' start to form. (That's the root).

Then I'd put them out in the garden, scattered fairly thickly, cover with some dirt about 1/4 inch thick and wait. Often covered them with a burlap sack till they started popping up, but I imagine burlap sacks have gone the way of the dinosaur.

I know that everyone fell asleep after one paragraph----- but it's a lot easier than you think. LOL

It WILL bolt at the first sign of hot weather. But I grew it for years using this method while living near San Francisco---- so the weather was milder than many areas.
 
cave76 said:
Coming late to this party ( I just joined) but years of growing cilantro taught me some things.

It likes cool weather, not hot or cold.
It doesn't like to be transplanted! Really doesn't like it although once or twice I had minimal success with that. '

The seeds are HARD. I soak them for a a day or so, then scarify it by putting them between paper towel sheets and pressing a rolling pin over them. (Scarify means to scratch the surface a little. Since I couldn't see myself taking each seed and scratching it------- I did the rolling pin thing.)

Then I put them in a ziploc baggie wrapped in moist paper towel and watched and waited until I saw a little 'foot' start to form. (That's the root).

Then I'd put them out in the garden, scattered fairly thickly, cover with some dirt about 1/4 inch thick and wait. Often covered them with a burlap sack till they started popping up, but I imagine burlap sacks have gone the way of the dinosaur.

I know that everyone fell asleep after one paragraph----- but it's a lot easier than you think. LOL

It WILL bolt at the first sign of hot weather. But I grew it for years using this method while living near San Francisco---- so the weather was milder than many areas.

Wow, Cave76, you really know your stuff! Thanks for the info!
 
My latest is that hubby and I thought maybe we'd try planting it in a planter. Of course we got maybe two meals, and it all bolted. Then, yesterday, I was out trying to do some of the clearing of the garden for autumn, and looked at the planter, and there is a beautiful little cilantro plant. Only three leaves. I'm going to baby it for a few days then kill it, maybe for just a little garnish with the last tomatoes and some tortilla chips.
 
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