Feel free to hit me for the title, but when I ask Ellie to marry me, I would love to wrap it into a very bad pun. Unfortunately, Rosemary is "Romero" in Spanish, so that would cause even more confusion than it would with a person who grew up speaking English. But that's not important right now.
Though I do have all kinds of herbs (Dill, baby, dill!) including Oregano, Thyme, chives, garlic herb, chamomile (is that a herb?) and such, Rosemary is my favorite. It's to me what potatoes are for Sam, I love to use it for everything. Baked potatoes? Rosemary! Tomato sauce? Rosemary! Gemüseauflauf? Rosemary! Morocco Style fava bean stew? Rosemary! Any kind of beans? Parsley! Just kidding. Rosemary!
I remember the first time that I made a dish with Rosemary for Ellie, and she loved it, telling me what a great flavor that was. Though you can find Rosemary in Shampoo here, it's not used in cuisine that much. That was a very special moment for me, the creation of an extra connection between the two of us, I almost wept (if she hadn't liked it, well, I don't know what I had done. Would I be able to be with someone who didn't like Rosemary? Could I endure that kind of negativity in my life and still be happy?). Since then, I combined it with everything, I even made her a special version of my pickled Rocoto (the hottest local Chili), with Rosemary (surprise!). It was really good. I have to make it again, now that I remember and have a few Rocoto ripening on the bush. Chili is another thing we share, the hotter, the better.
Lily loves rosemary as well. She doesn't really have a choice, though. Her favorite recipe is also the easiest, "Ofengemüse", baked veggies would be the translation I think. It's very easy to prepare, just chop up some rosemary and mix it with oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Chili if you like (Lily doesn't, but we're working on that, quietly upping the dose of black pepper in her food...). Let that sit while you chop veggies of your liking (I recommend potatoes, onions, bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower), then mix it all together and pour in a casserole. Let it sit while the oven heats up to 200°C (Celsius, not Fahrenheit), and then gently slide the casserole into the oven. Takes around 1h to be fantastic, I usually stir it once after around 40min. If you have a convection fan in your oven, you'll get it perfect, crispy, rosemary flavored potatoes... 🤤 But even without, it's really nice.
Lily loves to have some cheese on top, and other people might like the flavor bacon or other animals in there. It all works. Just go creative and adapt it to whatever you like to eat, it'll taste like rosemary, anyway, fortunately.
I even use my herbs in my business. As everything. Well, almost everything. Lupin Beans are the base of my mayonnaise-replacement. They're called "chocho" here and are considered a super-food. Great stuff. I blend them with Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano and basil, throw in some lemon juice, salt, garlic and avocado oil (or any other oil), and blend it with water until I get the desired consistency. It's a great dip!
I know that Rosemary helps with digestion, which makes it a great companion for beans and the likes. There are probably many more benefits of ingesting it, besides the obvious one which is the flavor.
So, I guess this answers the questions for this week's Question of the Week. Big thanks to the Hivegarden-Community for having me, despite having failed on my promise to deliver the presentation of my garden - it will be done, eventually. We're going to have a strike here in Ecuador, and though that might seem like a "no-work" situation, it usually brings a lot more work to me as a basic-needs provider with the bakery. But I'll try!