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Are You Epicurious? or The Marjoram That Wouldn't Die

© Sarah White

My favorite thing about cooking is having opportunities to use fresh herbs. Last spring, when my now-husband and I decided at the last second (in the midst of wedding preparation) to plant a garden, I was excited about fresh tomatoes and cucumbers still warm from the sun when you eat them, but the first thing I wanted to buy was herbs.

We'd gotten a garden-center gift certificate as a wedding present, so we ran out and spent pretty much the whole thing on herbs. In our frenzy while wandering around, I said "Marjoram?" and my almost-husband said "Why not?" Soon after, the plant had wound its way around all the other plants in the window box and was trailing down the brick sides of our patio.

About this time I started looking for recipes that would use up marjoram. Sure, it was nice on top of foccacia or in an Italian sauce, but I wanted to know more. So I turned to http://www.epicurious.com the Web home of Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines, to find out more about this enthusiastic herb.

Epicurious.com is a great Web site for anyone curious about ingredients, wine and drink selection, even etiquette or good restaurants. The site is easily navigable, with the major site categories listed in drop-down menus right along the bottom of the main site logo.

If you hold down "learn" and click on the "food dictionary," it will tell you marjoram is a member of the mint family found in the Mediterranean and often used to flavor meats. From there, hold down "recipes" and click on search to find 126 recipes with marjoram, ranging from lamb-shoulder chops with tomatoes and marjoram to drunken chicken to green beans and red bell peppers with marjoram and almonds.

You can search for recipes by occasion, course, main ingredient, type of preparation and cuisine, or browse by any of these categories. You can also look at the most rated recipes under the "constant comment" section or use the "search spy" to see what other people are looking for while you're browsing (as I prepared this article, people were looking for "flan" "fondue" and "easy," among other things.)

There's also a separate drink search. And when you find recipes you like, you can save them in your recipe box (which requires a quick, free registration) and they'll be kept organized forever for you on the site, or until you delete them.