A simple fish dish cooked with herbs is a piece of classic cuisine. I have always loved picking up these wonderful herb selections for fish when on holiday in France. However, if you plant this herbal box yourself, there is no need to go so far afield and you’ll be able to enjoy fresh herbs in your cooking whenever you wish!
What you need
For this window box, I have selected herbs that are often used in fish dishes, as well as a few other planting companions. The herbs are basil, bronze fennel, curly-leaved parsley, dill, English mace, lemon thyme, orange-scented thyme, and sorrel. It’s best to plant your herbs from late spring to mid-fall, and, once the window box is blooming, you can enjoy the produce all year. Remember to mix in a little horticultural grit to the potting mix because herbs enjoy free-draining conditions.
To maintain the herbs in this box, it’s important to prune any faded stems to keep the plants compact. I also suggest that you pick the evergreen herbs from the top instead of the side to promote new growth. It’s a good rule of thumb to feed the window box regularly with seaweed extract in order to encourage leaf production and help to maintain sweet and succulent plants. Neither parsley nor sorrel enjoy being in direct sun, so try to place the window box in partial shade.
Here is just one of the many recipes for fish with herbs that I enjoy cooking at home:
1 Put the couscous in a bowl and stir in the stock and oil. Cover with plastic wrap, leave to stand for 10 minutes, and then uncover and fluff up with a fork.
2 Keeping back some herbs, add the remainder of the ingredients (apart from the salmon, lemon, and seasoning) to the couscous. Season to taste.
3 Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200ºC/gas 6. Cut out four large sheets of non-stick parchment paper and divide the couscous mix between them. Sit each salmon fillet on the couscous, top with the remaining herbs, and season to taste. Fold the paper over and twist the edges to seal.
4 Place the parcels on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until the fish feels firm. Serve in the paper with a squeeze of lemon.
ingredients for every day The selection of herbs in this window box sets off so many fish dishes perfectly, including dill and salmon, thyme and wild trout. I especially enjoy cooking with fresh sorrel leaves and have found that their sharp, lemony flavor can be used with dill and crème fraîche or sour cream to make a wonderful sauce for cold fish such as salmon.