It’s nearly tea time. I did managed to get to the Post Office (optimistically/desperately renewing my passport with the maximum number of pages to stamp) and get out for a run on the Flats but homeschool has been full on today and there’s been no down-time inside at all.
So what to cook? Carrying on from yesterday’s aromatic, recipe-sharing theme I reach for a copy of my book The Heritage Herbal (always pleased with how pretty the cover is) and flick through in the hope that something will reveal itself. Indeed it does: Oregano, page 109, Aromatic Pizza Sauce.
In the throes of a slightly haphazard kitchen refurb (Tetris-style furniture switch around; quest for additional storage space; reminder of my height issues while designing cupboards; insistence on a dairy table as opposed to an island just because I like the name; biggest emphasis on reusing materials and having comfy seating areas; resistance in the name of all being currently sat around the kitchen table), I’m feeling something of an impetus to expand my culinary repertoire. By that I mean, teaching the kids to cook dinner as well so they can prepare at least some of their millions of daily meals themselves and, hopefully, for me too.
I’m not much of a baker (most attempts to teach the kids to bake have involved eggs or flour in hair and ears) but the passing on of homemade pizza dough and rich tomato pizza sauce recipes/know-how does appeal. Also pizza sauce includes herbs. I’m big on herbs.
The recipe that appears in my book can be made with fresh or dry oregano which lends a tangy note alongside the sweeter taste of basil. Fresh oregano is more pungent than dried though, so measure accordingly.
Oregano (Origanum vulgare), often confused with it’s cousin sweet marjoram (Origanum majorana) owing to its similar botanical name, round leaves, square stems, whorled flowers and common name wild marjoram is, however, more pungent, camphorous and bitter (marjoram is sweet, floral and ‘woodsy’). It’s a favoured culinary, medicinal and fragrancing herb of ancient Greece and Rome and synonymous with Greek and Italian cuisine. Native to a wide swathe of Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa and naturalised in parts of North and South America, its deep pink flowers also bring joyful colour to many a mountainside or the dry, infertile, alkaline soils of chalk or limestone grassland, hedge banks or woodlands. Hence it’s reputation as the ‘herb of joy’.
Those lucky enough to live near a wild patch may try and forage for this humble aromatic beauty. Or, you can try and grow part of your pizza sauce yourself by surface sowing oregano indoors in spring and planting out in early summer when all risk of frost is gone. Avoid over-watering and harvest in late summer, picking leaves before the flower buds open to use fresh – or tie in loose bunches and store in a warm, well-ventilated space to dry. Failing that, there’s always the herb section of a supermarket or store or plant a pot from a garden centre in spring when imminent freedom is hopefully here.
You can also bring plants inside in winter for a year-round supply of flavoursome and medicinal leaves – as well as being delicious, oregano also contains a powerful combination of antioxidants and phenols including carvacrol, thymol and rosmarinic acid that make it useful in therapeutic foot oils, sore throat remedies and digestive aids.
Elizabeth Blackwell recommended oregano for ‘Obstructions of the Liver Breast & Womb; helping the Jaundice, shortness of Breath & stoppage of the Menses’ in her book The Curious Herbal (1737–39) as well as for headaches and toothache (find lovingly produced reproductions of Blackwell’s beautiful illustrations in The Heritage Herbal as well; still can’t believe I got to use these as well as pore over the original books). Today oregano is used as a common ingredient of pizza and pasta sauce as well as a potent antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and potentially pain-relieving essential oil.
On that note, here’s my recipe for Aromatic Pizza Sauce, the Herb of Joy Cake I mentioned yesterday in my ode to oranges (it also contains oranges and lemons) and I might as well throw in the Happy Feet Oil plus six other bonus ‘other uses’ ideas at the end – the sore throat, cough-easing infusion may come in handy for some right now. Step lightly, Bon Appetit and good luck grabbing sporadic moments of joy.
OREGANO RECIPES, TO HEAL, NOURISH AND STYLE // THE HERITAGE HERBAL (BRITISH LIBRARY PUBLICATIONS, 2020)
NOURISH // AROMATIC PIZZA SAUCE
Oregano adds a tangy note to pizza sauce alongside the sweeter taste of basil (see page 98). Fresh oregano is more pungent than dried oregano so measure accordingly.
Serves 4–6
10 fresh tomatoes (or 2 x 400g/14oz tins, chopped)
1 onion
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Small handful of fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
Small handful of fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried
2 tbsp tomato purée
Pinch of sugar
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 Dice the tomatoes and onion.
2 Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion until golden. Lower the heat, add the garlic and then the red wine vinegar. Simmer gently for 1–2 minutes.
3 Add the tomatoes, basil and oregano and simmer for 20 minutes (5 minutes for tinned tomatoes). Stir occasionally.
4 Add the purée, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Whizz with a stick blender until smooth.
5 Store in the fridge in sterilised, airtight jars for 1 week, or freeze for 2 months.
6 Spread onto pizza dough using the back of a spoon, or use as a pasta sauce.
Other uses
* Sprinkle fresh oregano leaves, a little garlic, chilli, Parmesan and olive oil onto pasta for a taste of the Mediterranean.
* Drizzle fresh oregano pesto over smoky baked aubergine served with caramelised red onion and toasted pine nuts.
STYLE // HERB OF JOY CAKE
Spread some happiness with this moist, zesty, herbaceous Italian-inspired ode to the ancient ‘herb of joy’.
Makes 1 cake
Butter, for greasing
2 oranges
2 lemons
150g (¾ cup) granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp dried oregano
100ml (1/3 cup) olive oil
120g (1 cup) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50g (½ cup) almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
500g (4 cups) icing sugar
Small handful of fresh oregano leaves
1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Grease and lightly flour a 23cm (9in) non-stick Bundt or spring-form cake tin with butter. Zest and juice the oranges and lemons.
2 Beat the sugar, eggs and half the lemon and orange zest together until creamy.
3 Add the dried oregano and then drizzle in the oil. Beat until well mixed.
4 Sift the flours and baking powder into the bowl. Gently fold in.
5 Pour the mix into the prepared cake tin and bake for around 40–45 minutes. Turn out onto a rack and leave to cool.
6 Combine the remaining orange and lemon zest, all of the juice and the icing sugar to make a glaze. Drizzle over the top of the cake. Decorate with tiny sprigs of fresh oregano.
Other uses
* Dry bunches of purple-pink oregano flowers to use in pot pourri or dried flower bouquets.
* Add a fresh oregano sprig to a classic Negroni of gin, vermouth and Campari.
HEAL // HAPPY FEET OIL
Oregano essential oil contains a powerful combination of antioxidants and phenols including carvacrol, thymol and rosmarinic acid – traditionally harnessed to help fight bacterial and fungal infections of the feet such as athlete’s foot. Combine with apple cider vinegar, sweet almond oil and warm water for a medicinal foot soak, or prepare the therapeutic oil below to massage directly into skin or nails.
Makes 1 x 10ml (1/3fl oz) dropper bottle
2tsp fractionated (liquid) coconut oil
8 drops oregano essential oil
1 Almost-fill a 10ml (1/3fl oz) amber-coloured glass dropper bottle with the coconut oil.
2 Add the drops of oregano essential oil. Seal with the dropper lid.
3 Massage the oil into the affected area of skin or nails three times a day. Put on a clean sock to help stop the oil from rubbing off.
Other uses
* Sip on an infusion of fresh or dried oregano leaves and honey steeped in boiling water to help soothe a sore throat or cough.
* Massage oregano essential oil diluted in sweet almond carrier oil into the lower back and stomach to aid digestion.
WANT MORE RECIPES?
For signed copies of The Heritage Herbal visit www.abotanicalworld.com/store; or purchase from the British Library Shop, or all good book stores.