As you pass by the Herb Garden @Oak Hollow Park, you can’t help but notice the Tuscan Blue Rosemary that takes center stage. She’s a grand bush reaching upward as opposed to the Prostrate Rosemary bushes you'll see trailing in landscapes throughout the neighborhood. Both are great edible varieties for cooking; however, the Tuscan Blue Rosemary has long woody stems perfect for using as cooking skewers.
This idea of rosemary skewers reminded me of a fabulously simple meal of rosemary skewered chicken on paprika risotto in a quaint Austrian restaurant several years ago. The restaurant's name escapes me, but the memory of the meal never will!
I’ve found that trying to recreate a meal is almost impossible, but a search began for a recipe that would do my memories justice using simple seasonal ingredients. I settled on Rosemary Lemon Chicken Skewers from Tory Avey and cooked the chicken on my panini press for 4-5 minutes at 450 degrees. I didn’t see the need to reskewer the meat onto fresh rosemary stems (not simple) and served them (without the sauce) with a side of roasted vegetable orzo.
For more information on growing rosemary in Texas see the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension website for a concise rosemary fact sheet.