I’ve always viewed cooking as an art — the creative mixing of ingredients, flavors, and textures to build even just a single bite, or a full-course meal. When I cook, I feel both like a scientist and an artist, combing what I know goes well together, and experimenting with new combinations to achieve (what I hope will be) something delicious. The way that an artist combines her paints, a cook combines her ingredients. With the extra time at home these days due to the largely worldwide stay-at-home orders in place, I’ve had more time to experiment in the kitchen (my ‘art studio’) and really expand the art meets food idea in new ways, and most recently, through focaccia bread (my ‘canvas’).

When I set out to build my first focaccia garden, I wanted to make sure first and foremost that the end product would taste good. As much as I love presentation and appreciate a lovely looking meal, I value taste above all (if it tastes good, I’m sold; if it looks beautiful, that’s a bonus). Because focaccia is an olive oil-rich bread, I turned to herbs (parsley, rosemary, chives, and tarragon), colorful veggies (baby bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and red onions), and a variety of olives that would all marry nicely together into a lovely, delicious bread.

When it came time to assemble the ingredients, I tried to think as an artist would, varying colors, textures, and shapes. I drew inspiration from all of the beautiful flora we’ve been seeing on our neighborhood walks, and tried to mix up the variety.

The end result was both beautiful and delicious, and made for some lovely snacks, soup accompaniments, sandwiches, and flatbreads (topped with mozzarella, basil, and sliced tomatoes, and popped in the oven, yum). The best thing about building a focaccia garden, though, is that there are no rules. You can use whichever ingredients you have on hand, and you can design something simple or elaborate. The mixture of olive oil, herbs, and roasted veggies is perfect in any combination. So go forth, and create!

As always, happy cooking, stay healthy, and be well.

xo Ash