Who says......
You can’t grow coriander in our bit of France. Well that’s the speak. People say that it bolts as soon as you look at it. The thing is, this hasn’t been my experience. For a start it seems to be winter hardy, so that gives you months of this wonderful herb for your cold-weather curries and soups. Then in spring the trick is to keep sowing every couple of weeks. Don’t let it dry out, unless you want to grow it for cheap and easy seeds. Water and cut it often. Sow lots and cut great bouquets of the stuff and whizz it into fantastically fragrant chermoula. Recipe below. Then in summer sow it round the roots of some plants that will shade it. Keep cutting and watering and you’ll have coriander all year round.
It’s January and my vegetable garden is in a chilly spot so has regular frosts but I have coriander growing slowly and happily. In the greenhouse raised bed it is as happy as Larry. (Who was Larry?) Here you can see the latest three batches in trays/pots in the greenhouse. They’d do just as well on a sunny windowsill until germinated. Those on the left were sown four weeks ago, the next on the right I set going on 2/1/22 and those at the back-right on the 10/2/22
Chermoula recipe
50g of coriander, roughly chopped
20g of parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
10g of garlic, (about 2 medium cloves)
35g of preserved lemon, halved and pips removed (about 1 medium lemon)
80ml of olive oil
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
Method
Blitz the lot together and dollop on fish, into soups, on roasted meat, on vegetables - especially grilled aubergines - or mix it with yoghurt and serve it with barbecued lamb.
If you’re inviting friends to eat with you make sure they actually like coriander before you go heaping it into dishes. Some people find it tastes like soap. It’s a genetic aberration and you shouldn’t hold it against them.
