by Cristina Sciarra
I took these photos on a cloudy day in late June, in the garden of my in-laws, on the Western coast of France. My father in-law grows perhaps every herb known to man, plus many flowers, fruits, and vegetables besides. In these photos, I wanted to focus on how geometrically varied and interesting plants can be.
It should be noted — the yield of his garden is also delicious: I used the last cherries of the season, along with garden thyme, to make a crostata. Fennel fronds, chives, oregano, and marjoram — brought together with olive oil — made a potato salad worth writing home about. I also folded basil and chives into red wine vinegar-and-olive oil splashed tomatoes, cucumbers, and shallots. Rosemary sprigs, and then peppermint leaves, were boiled into simple syrups for two separate cocktails. It was a great week of cooking as locally as it gets — right from the back yard!
Cristina Sciarra is a writer and a cook with an MFA in Fiction Writing from The New School University and culinary degrees from Le Cordon Bleu, in Paris, and The Institute of Culinary Education, in New York. She has served on the Slow Food NYC board since 2013.