Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Our lemongrass plant is beautiful, about 4 feet tall now. I'd never grown it before so I was so surprised when I used the stalks DH cut from our plant. It smelled so good, so much better and more than the store bought. I used it last night to make LEMONGRASS AND SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES POACHED HALIBUT WITH ZUCCHINI AND PESTO.

The lemongrass is added to the slow roasted tomatoes, also from our garden, (the recipe called for sundried tomatoes, but I'm not a fan) a bit of salt and water. Boil to dissolve the salt, cool and then place in ziploc bags along with the fish to marinate for a few hours. Then the fish is poached in the bag. The fish had the best texture I've ever made. It was firm and moist and so flavorful. Putting the pine nut and pistachio pesto on it was like icing on a cake.

Now I want to use lemongrass in other dishes, but found I only had one more recipe that used it (Thai beef stir fry). So any ideas are welcome. TIA

Alina,

There are countless Thai, Vietnamese, and other SE Asian dishes that use lemongrass - the reason I grow so much of it.

What growing zone are you in? Lemongrass wil grow year round in 9 and higher, so I have to harvest all of mine in Oct. or Nov., then I clean it and trim it, and FS it, and it lasts more or less forever that way.

Dave, do you think you could grow lemongrass as an annual in zone 5? Alina, other than Thai curries and soups, I don't know any uses for lemongrass. Sorry!

I am in Chico, CA (northern CA) and I believe I am in 9a. I live across from a creek on the west side of Chico, and it is normally about 5-10 degrees cooler on our street than the rest. I can feel the temp change as soon as we are by the creek. We put our lime tree by next to the house last winter and covered a couple of days when it was supposed to be freezing. It did really well and we have wonderful limes again. My rosemary and sage are fine year round as is our tarragon, all the rest of the herbs come back except the basil if that helps any.

Thanks Darcie and Dave. I will have to check out more Thai dishes. I have not ever cooked nor remember ever having Vietnamese food. I'll have to check out a map to see what else is considered SE Asian exactly.

You could, but you may have to start it a little earlier earlier than I do (mid-April), and put it in a pot for a while, since you have a shorter season there. I buy some at the Asian market, pull some outer layers of them, and stick them in a cup of water, changing it every other day. In 3 weeks most will have rooted, and I stick them in the ground about a week into May, when threat of frost is gone. Then I pull them up when a frost is eminent, in late Oct.- early Nov., to give you an idea of the time it is growing here.

Don't use the seeds - those are another species, and much smaller. Real lemongrass is like tarragon - non-flowering.

Alina,

Something you can do with the dark green blades and trimmings of the lemongrass is to make a beverage with it.

LEMONGRASSAIDE

Combine 1/2c water and 1/3c sugar in a pyrex cup, and nuke briefly to dissolve sugar. Set aside.

Combine 3 1/2c water and 2c lemongrass trimmings in blender. Blend on high for a minute or two, until finely ground. Strain through a very fine strainer, and add the syrup to the liquid, adjusting the sweetness to taste. Serve over ice.

One of the unusual cuisines of SE Asia is that of Laos. They use a generous amount of dill in with the usual seasonings of Thailand - garlic, lemongrass, hot peppers, fish sauce, etc. I got some "Thai dill" seed one time a few years ago, and didn't know what it could be for, but they use it in the upper east side that borders Laos, which is a large area. It's just not the best known food from Thailand.

Thanks Dave, I'll have to try the drink and I'll check out Laotian cuisine.

Both lemongrass and Kaffir lime work well indoors. They need water and iight.

I summer both outdoors.