What do you cook when you have a garden with herbs and it is Autumn, something autumnal I would say. In the garden I had marjory, thyme, sage and rosemary. I decided some parsley would be handy. I have some in the garden, but the curley leaf sort, which is OK but I prefer the large flat leaved sort, the wild parsley, as it has more taste I find. I also needed some basil as mine had already gave up the ghost. It needs more sun and less rain, and Autumn is not very good at that. I bought it all in the supermarket as well as some chives. I have chives also in the garden, but as I keep cutting it for salad sauce, it cannot grow fast enough.
Actually I was inspired by a Bavarian cooking programme on the Bavarian German channel on the TV yesterday evening. Their star cook, Alfons Schuhbeck had a programe showing his idea of good Bavarian food, naturally accompanied by a German actor, Elmar Wepper, who I am sure you have never heard of. His brother, Fritz Wepper would be more well known perhaps, for his rôle in the film Cabaret, with Lisa Minelli.
Anyhow Alfons decided to throw a handful of fresh herbs in everything. Mr. Swiss and I found it interesting and today I was Mrs. Alfons Schuhbeck in the kitchen. What I really liked was the way he deal with the garlic. I usually just chop it into thin slices. I do have a garlic crusher, but it seems to me you lose too much. Alfons just took a fine grater and grated the garlic over the pan, so I decided to try it as well, and it was a success. Garlic is not everyone's taste I know, but Mr. Swiss and I like it.
Anyhow to continue. After chopping all these herbs with a sharp knife (no, I did not cut myself - I was the female version of Alfons Schuhbeck after all), I found some spring onions in the fridge which I had almost forgotton. In our part of the world we slice and cook them. My mum just threw them on a plate of salad raw - the english style I suppose.
It was then I got to work on peeling the mushrooms (the type we call champignons, not too small, and white) and then I sliced them. Alfons did not have any mushrooms, he had a Bavarian sausage. Mr. Swiss and I don't usually eat meat during the week for lunch. We are not vegetarians, but don't have to eat meat every day.
So now everything is ready for cooking. Next step take a frying pan, melt butter (I love my butter, although my doctor finds olive oil would be more healthy). On the other hand I am supporting the drug industry by taking a cholesterol tablet every day to keep things under control. Always look on the positive side of things.
Fry the sliced prepared mushrooms in the butter and when nicely fried, add white wine (I don't know how much but don't empty the bottle, just a jet of wine will do). I then flavour it with Aromat (we are Swiss, it is flavoured with Aromat, otherwise you can use salt), ground pepper and of course do not forget to grate the garlic over it all. I then put my sliced spring onions into it. Add the herbs and now you have a frying pan looking like this.
Just eating a plate of mushroom, herbs and spring onions would be monotonous, so as an accompaniment I decided on Pasta. Pasta comes in all shapes and sizes, so I use what I have. I had a packet of Cravattini (sort of bow tie shaped) and they were ideal. As we say in Swiss German "en guete" (a phrase uttered before you start eating. The english language does not seem to have any equivalent, but you could sort of start a meal with "good eating everyone" to compensate).
