Culinary herbalist, cookbook author, writer and food photographer, Pat Crocker is passionate about food and herbs. Visit her at www.riversongherbals.com.

Anyone who has ever grown garlic knows how delicious the green tops are in spring salads and perhaps have even tossed a handful into a soup stock. With their heady garlic scent and bright green goodness, these edible green grasses are just the thing for winter weary palates.

I always marvel at the thoughtfulness of nature. Just when my supply of homegrown garlic cloves has dwindled to nothing or sprouted into thin air, along comes the green garlic tops to keep my lighter spring recipes singing with the flavor of fresh garlic.

For me, the green tops have always been a wonderful passing thing like asparagus or fiddleheads: here for a short while, but gone for another year once the plant moves on through its life cycle. But my friend Simon [that's his hand harvesting the tops for me to take home] grows organic garlic and he dries the green crop so that he can enjoy the garlic essence and nutritional benefit all winter. If you have a food drier, you can do the same. I will add the powdered green garlic he gave me into soups, sauces and dishes like mashed potatoes. How easy it will be to have the fabulous garlic taste ready to scoop out and sprinkle over vegetable purées and melt into cream sauce or even to use at the table as a condiment.

I'm saving my dried garlic greens and guarding them like green gold. I transferred them to a dark glass bottle and keep them in a cool dark cupboard. One day in November, I will bring them out, add them to a root salad dressing or roasted vegetable dish and remember the day in April when I spent the afternoon with Simon photographing all the green things sprouting at his farm.

Meanwhile, here is what I did with the green tops. You can use chicken breasts or thighs for this easy, one dish meal.

Roasted Green Garlic Chicken
Serves 4

• 4 large chicken thighs, skin removed
• 4 carrots cut into 2-inch pieces
• 16 small tri-colored potatoes, halved or 4 potatoes, quartered
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary or sage or thyme (or a combination)
• 1 6-ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained
• ¼ cup chopped fresh green garlic tops or chives, optional

1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Arrange chicken, fleshy part up, in a shallow roasting pan or on a rimmed baking sheet. Distribute the carrots and potatoes in one layer evenly around the chicken thighs. Drizzle olive oil over vegetables and chicken. Sprinkle herbs evenly over all. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring the vegetables once.

2. Stir in artichoke hearts and bake another 10 minutes or until chicken and vegetables are cooked. Serve, garnished with green garlic tops if using.

Italy holds a special place in my heart—I lived there for four months while studying abroad in Florence. When I read about the earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy on April 6, I was overcome with emotions. I looked around my home and felt terrible that I had a roof over my head and there were tens of thousands homeless. According to BBC News, 1,500 people were injured and 90 people have been reported dead. That number is expected to rise.

The tragedy in Italy made me grateful for the beautiful days I had during my study abroad experience. As an art history major with a focus on the Italian Renaissance, I studied abroad to experience the art I had been studyng.

While I was in Italy my taste buds transformed. I went from strongly disliking many vegetables, red meat and garlic to incorporating them into my cooking. Prior to Italy, my cooking consisted of the microwave and a pack of frozen fish sticks!

My Italian apartment was centrally located and close to the old train station, which was converted into a fresh market.

The bottom level offered meats, breads, cheeses, dried goods and coffee; the upstairs offered all the fresh produce you could ever dream of. I picked out my vendor for all of the different food groups and returned to them throughout my time in Florence.

Once I built a relationship with the local street vendors, I asked them for the best way to prepare certain types of food. Eventually they caught on and realized I had no idea what I was doing in the kitchen. Many people, including the butcher and my unfortunate next door neighbor—whose apartment constantly smelled like my burnt cooking—gave me cooking advice. Even though I went to Italy to develop an understanding of its art history pallet, I also came home with a better understanding of cooking.

One of my favorite dishes I made, and finally was successful in pulling off, was Ten Herb Sausages (Salsicce alle dieci erbe). Now I make it whenever I start to miss Italy. Although I’ve prepared it countless times, there still seems to be something missing. It might be the difference in produce, or it might be the difference in meat.

I think it’s missing Italy.

Ten Herb Sausages (Salsicce alle dieci erbe)
Serves 4

• 8 Italian sausages
• Fresh sage, chopped
• Fresh basil, chopped
• Fresh thyme, chopped
• Fresh marjoram, chopped
• Fresh mint, chopped
• Fresh tarragon, chopped
• Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Fresh rosemary, chopped 
• Shallots and celery stalks, chopped
• ½ cup white wine, dry
• 2 tablespoons water

1. Prick small holes into eight sausages to avoid splitting.

2. Place the sausages in a pan with 2 tablespoons of water and cook for roughly 10 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Add herbs, taking it easy on the stronger herbs like rosemary.

4. Add the celery and shallots and allow dish to cook for a few more minutes.

5. Add wine and cook until evaporated.