IN CELEBRATION OF HERBS

This year we decided to expand the herb garden rather than to plant vegetables.
I decided to do a little entertaining in the month of June.  I put aside other interests, gave the house a good cleaning and invited a few friends over for two consecutive weekends. With the herb garden putting on some nice growth, I perused through some of my favorite herb books to plan the menu. Being summer I opted for a cold plate presentation.

I decided on a favorite chicken salad  recipe from Martha Stewart. She is great for entertaining, as her recipes are ample.

The chicken salad was layered upon a bed of cucumber slices uniformly sliced with the mandoline on croissants.

Two and a half pounds of chicken breasts were laid on a bed of parsley, thyme and bay leaves.
They were then roasted, cooled and shredded.

I then made a homemade mayonnaise

In keeping with the herbal celebration theme, I added fresh spinach, watercress, chives and freshly squeezed lemon juice to the mayonnaise

The mayonnaise was added to the chicken salad and chilled overnight to let the flavors marry.

Next in the preparation was a homemade lemon cake. This recipe comes form one of my very favorite herb books by
Emellie Tolley
Lemon verbena was steeped in milk and added to both the cake and the icing recipe.
Citrus geranium leaves were layered on the bottom of the cake pan which are visible above.

A simple decoration of fresh lavender buds and bee-balm decorated the cake.

Raspberries freshly picked form the garden in the morning were mixed with fresh mango and dressed with a light dusting of turbinado sugar and peach brandy.

Looking through one of my southern table decorating books , I got the inspiration to use  a set of Villeroy & Bock dishes that I purchased from the factory in Germany. The pattern is colorfully decorated with a lively jungle managerie of monkeys, leopards and toucans

A drink station was set up for lemon water and iced teas   spiked with fresh mint.

A bouquet of fresh lilies just coming into bloom  added color and a heavenly scent.

My lovely lady guests Karen and Mitzi of whom I made their acquaintance through St.Anne's , our church.

Karen and I
Where there is food there will be our dog Monique.

Mitzi and myself

Plated and ready to eat.