Savour the moment

I HAVE a small table and some chairs a bleary-eyed stumble from the kitchen door that provide me with the perfect spot to enjoy an early, reviving coffee.

- Mark Diacono

If it isn’t raining, you’ll find me there—bed hair and all—first thing. It is a precious spot. Just behind it, a wall retains a bed full of the herbs I like to use frequently, whether in the kitchen or simply to carry their scent on my fingers. Among the lemon verbena, the orange thyme and more, I grow both winter and summer savory.

Summer savory (Satureja hortensis) and winter savory (S. montana) are closely related, very underappreciated and share many characteristics, yet are very much their own thing.

Summer savory is a hardy annual that, visually, you might mistake for the child of a hefty thyme crossed with oregano. Rub its leaves and you’ll discover a scent that, although close to oregano, is also slightly minty, with a gorgeous piney undertone. This translates to its flavour, which, albeit very present, is not too intense for the kitchen: it is particularly good with dairy, beans and pulses, chicken and fish, or added to tomatoes, cooked or raw. I most often use whole sprigs as one might rosemary, during cooking, but, when the leaves are young and soft, they are superb added late as a garnish. It is also one of the classic ingredients of herbes de Provence.