Cooking with Fresh Herbs: Chives

I'm going to have to start this latest installment in my series on Cooking with Fresh Herbs by admitting I've only recently become a member of the Chives Appreciation Club. Just as I did with dill, I ignored chives for quite a while in favor of other herbs. But now that I've started using the chives from my garden, I've discovered I really, really like chives.

There's no doubt about it, chives is a subtle flavor, especially compared to some assertive herbs like tarragon, basil, or cilantro. But the subtle oniony chives flavor really makes a difference in a lot of dishes. Some people have never thought of chives as anything other than a baked potato topping, which is too bad, because the flavor of the chives shows up more when they're used in cooked dishes. I first started to appreciate that flavor when I made a frittata with garden veggies, and added a generous handful of chopped chives to the sauteed vegetables before I poured the eggs in.

Chives is a member of the onion family, belonging to the allium branch of the family, along with leeks, garlic, and chives. The plural name is usually used because the plant grows in clumps. The hollow grass-like leaves are the part that's snipped off with scissors and eaten, although the pinkish purple flowers are also edible. Chives are easy to grow yourself, and will come back year after year with little effort on the part of the gardener. If you keep cutting chives through the season, they will grow new grassy leaves, and keep producing until winter comes. There are a few varieties of chives, and the flatter type called garlic chives is also called Chinese Chives.

In the kitchen, chives are often included in omelettes, potato dishes, salads, soups, and bread, and fresh chives are always preferable over dried.

More about Chives:
Farmgirl Fare ~ Growing Chives and recipe for Chives and Herbed Yogurt Cheese

Appetizers with Chives
Andrea's Recipes ~ Panko-crusted Crab Cake Bites with Roasted Pepper-Chive Aioli
The Well Seasoned Cook ~ Chives on Toast (pictured above, photo by Susan from The Well Seasoned Cook)
Eggs on Sunday ~ Beluga Lentil Toast Points with Garlic-Chive Goat cheese
Pinch My Salt ~ Creamy Blue Cheese Dip with Lemon and Chives

Chives Used in Bread, Scones, Biscuits, or Pancakes:
Simply Recipes ~ Buttermilk Biscuits with Goat Cheese and Chives
A Year in Bread (Beth) ~ Feta and Chives Cornbread
Treat a Week Recipes ~ Chive and Cheese Scones (Chives Photo below from Treat A Week Recipes)
Closet Cooking ~ Sour Cream and Chive Biscuits
The Modern Apron ~ Chive Blossom Biscuits
Life's Smorgasboard ~ Garlic and Chive Semolina Pancakes

Chives with Eggs:
Chez Pim ~ Perfect Omelette with Chive Flowers
Eggs on Sunday ~ Mushroom, Cheddar, and Chive Crustless Quiche
Greedy Gourmet - Scrambled Egg and Chives Sandwich
Albion Cooks ~ Scrambled Eggs with Peas, Green Garlic, and Chives

Chives in Soup
Lisa's Kitchen ~ Tomato Soup with Polenta Croutons and Chive Oil
Pro Bono Baker ~ Chive and Sour Cream Waffles with Pea and Chive Soup
Kitchen Goddess ~ Butternut, Cheese, and Chive Muffins

Chives with Vegetables or in Salads:
Taste and Tell ~ Lemon-Chive Roasted Vegetables
The Kitchen Sink ~ Creamy Potato Salad with Chives and Peas
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies ~ Creamy Chive Salad Dressing
Eddybles ~ Blue Potato Spring Chive Salad
Morsels and Musings ~ Pork, Ruby Grapefruit and Avocado Salad with Chive Vinaigrette
More Than Burnt Toast ~ Grilled Asparagus with Lemon and Chive Dressing
Thyme for Cooking ~ Creamy Cucumber Salad with Fresh Chives

Chives in Main Dishes
Beyond Salmon ~ Slow Roasted Salmon with Chive Oil
Daily Unadventures in Cooking ~ Chicken Salad with Apples and Chives
Cookography ~ Lemon, Chive, and Chicken Pasta
Food and Paper ~ Tagliatelle with Chive Oil
Sidewalk Shoes ~ Garlic Chive Mayo with Chicken
Big Red Kitchen ~ Cheese and Chives Tea Sandwiches

Having Fun with Chives:
Columbus Foodie ~ Chive Blossom Vinegar
Rasa Malaysia ~ Stir-Fried Chive Buds (pictured above, photo by Rasa Malaysia)
Is It Edible ~ Chinese Chive Cakes

BlogHer readers, have you discovered the subtle but wonderful flavor of chives? If you have tips for using chives or recipes to share, please leave them in the comments.

You can use the tag Cooking with Fresh Herbs to find all the herb posts in this series.

Kalyn Denny writes about food and at BlogHer.com and shares her passion for cooking at Kalyn's Kitchen.

Submitted by Kalyn Denny (view blog

) on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 08:09

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Subtle? Chives?

I don't think of them that way, at all. Maybe it's because I use them so often, in such great quantity. They are easy, easy to grow -- there's no killing them, in either pots or in the ground. I keep a pot of garlic chives which aren't good for food but have wonderful flowers, any day now.

PS I've had Susan's Chives on Toast recipe saved in my feed reader for weeks now!

Alanna Kellogg
Kitchen Parade &
A Veggie Venture

Submitted by Alanna Kellogg on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 08:23

Interesting . . .

Maybe this is an example of different people tasting things in a different way, but to me the taste is much more subtle than tarragon, basil, or cilantro. My chives are even milder than green onions. Really getting to like them though.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 08:32

I love fresh chives. I use

I love fresh chives. I use them straight out of my garden weekly. I snip them quite small in my dishes, and sometimes mine are so potent that my eyes water like they do with onion!

Not only do they add a subtle but great flavor, but they add a nice color to the dish.

Submitted by tanyab1976 on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 09:40

Interesting

My chives are really quite mild. It's a brand new plant in my garden, wonder if that makes a difference. They taste great don't they?

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 11:53

Glad you are now a chive

Glad you are now a chive convert, Kalyn. You may have noticed that they do have a distinctly different flavor than, say, leeks.

Thanks for featuring my photo and recipe, as well as some other recipes from your recent BlogHer articles. I've been very behind in blogging activities lately, but don't think your mentions have gone unnoticed. : }

Submitted by Susan Wolfe Bittle on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 12:22

Definitely I'm converted!

Hope you've been having fun with whatever has been distracting you! I'm loving my chives.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 12:30

How Funny!

I'm looking at the title of my last comment: "Glad you are now a chive," which populated b/c I didn't type anything in the subject field. I'm far more glad that you are a human being, Kalyn! Supposedly we all taste like chicken, but I won't go there! Next time I will reckon w/ the limitations of these commenting features. : D

LOL!

Submitted by Susan Wolfe Bittle on Thu, 07/17/2008 - 12:35

Kalyn as a chive

convert - thank you Susan!

I'm with Alanna, I've never thought of them as subtle but I maybe just use a lot of them.

Once again Kalyn I'm so impressed with your organization and the data base you're building.

Submitted by MyKitchenInHalfCups on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 05:13

Thanks Tanna

I can see I will have to re-evaluate the flavor later in the season when my chives are more mature! This is a fun series to do, lots more to come if you want to put in a plug for your favorite herb I haven't done. (Basil will be next I think.)

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 07:26

chive flowers

Hi Kalyn,

Great post and list of recipes! My current favorite use for chives isflowers in salad. Just grab a flower head and gently pull the individual petals (are they petals?) loose. Sprinkle on top of your salad. It's a lighter, sweeter version of the leaves.

kitchenmage

kitchenmage's Herb Garden

A Year in Bread

Submitted by kitchenmage on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 15:50

Ohhhhh, love that idea!

My newbie chives don't have too many blossoms yet, but I love this idea when I do get more flowers.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Fri, 07/18/2008 - 16:01

I have always loved chives.

I adore them with hard-boiled eggs. When I was a kid, chives were the only ingredient besides potatoes, salt, pepper and miracle whip (I know... I liked it then!) and maybe a bit of paprika for colouring. I adored that potato salad. I've made it recently with mayonnaise instead of miracle whip and it's just as wonderful as I remember.

The first time I saw chive blossoms used was in a restaurant. The individual flowerets were scattered with chopped chive leaves as a garnish for fish. It was stunningly beautiful, as well as lending a lovely flavour.

It drives me mad that our chives don't get enough sun to develop blossoms. So we just have to be satisfied with the leaves (which is very satisfactory).

But I agree that they have a delicate flavour that is easily overwhelmed. But try a whole chive blossom and be amazed at the intense burst of chiveness. It's hot too!!

But I wonder if your chives might be particularly mild because they're in rich soil, Kalyn. I always thought that herbs grown in lean soil will have be flavoured much more intensely.

One thing I have noticed is that the flavour of spring chives is superior to the flavour of late summer chives.

Elizabeth
blog from OUR kitchen

Submitted by ejm on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 06:12

Interesting

I can't wait to get home from BlogHer and taste a chive to see if the flavor is getting stronger because it's probably about 2 weeks since I've used any.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 08:41