Is your herb garden bursting its confines, like mine? Fresh oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, sage, and chives are at their springtime best right now. It’s a wonderful time to cut giant swathes of the stuff, tie with twine, and hang for drying.

It’s also a fine time for cooking with the soft fresh herbs. You can make pesto out of practically anything, or omit the nuts and garlic and make a simple an herb-oil puree to pour over any vegetable or meat. Make compound butters (we especially like garlic and thyme butter on grilled steak) and freeze for later use. Bake a focaccia topped with fresh herbs, or make mint ice tea/lemon verbena tisane. Now is the time to be profligate with herbs, while they are still soft and green, before they become woody and concentrated later on in the summer (when you’ll be inundated with basil, cilantro, and dill anyway).

One of our favorite things to do with young herbs is chop up a selection (today I used oregano, rosemary, chive, and thyme) in the food processor, with about a cup of cornmeal, a liberal amount of salt, and olive oil. This makes a paste that we often spread on pork tenderloin. After baked (in a 425 oven until cooked through), the herbed cornmeal makes a nice crust which adds so much texture and flavor to the not-so-exciting tenderloins. This would also be delicious on a firm white fish like cod, or even on tofu, if you’re a vegetarian.

I’d love to know how you like to use fresh herbs from your garden. Feel free to share a recipe in the comments!