Herb Salt

When we moved into our townhouse, I had grand plans for our tiny yard. I envisioned a yard full of tomatoes, summer squash, herbs, and peppers. Last spring, I bought seeds, spent weeks cultivating a garden box, carefully staking our plants, and...nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing. I did manage to get a good cucumber harvest before aphids took over. But I didn't factor in the lack of continuous sunlight in our yard--none of my fruiting plants really yielded much fruit.

I did, however, enjoy a boom in herbs. I did so well that I had tons and tons of herbs that I couldn't use up quickly. So I made herb salt. Easy peasy.

You'll need:
4 cups of fresh herbs (I used marjoram, savory, thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, and chives)
1 cup of kosher salt

1) Spread the herbs out on a shallow tray.
2) Pour the cup of salt evenly over the herbs.
3) Place in a sunny spot and let dry. Alternative: put in the oven on low (150 degrees) heat for 4 hours.
4) Once the herbs are dry dump the mixture into a blender and blend until the salt is very fine.
5) Strain the big herb stems/pieces out with a sifter.

Voila! Herb salt. I use it in eggs, mixed with cream cheese, in broth, in pasta, as a meat rub, anything.