This dish has rich layers of thinly sliced redskin potatoes with savory cream cheese, garlic salt, thyme and a Parmesan-breadcrumb crust. To be really different, spring a roasted vegetable medley on family or guests. Roast baby carrots, onion wedges and shallots with thyme and garlic. This is a unique side dish in both color and flavor, and the vegetable combo is outrageously nutritious due to a favorable mix of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Being part of the mint family, thyme also has a sweet side.
Chefs add thyme to apple tarts, poached pears and lemon desserts.
Lemon Thyme Bars have a buttery crust charmingly speckled with thyme leaves, an interesting foundation for a smooth lemon filling spiked with ginger. Take these bars along on an elegant spring picnic of one Cornish game hen and a whole globe artichoke per person. If it's a backyard picnic, consider planting thyme outdoors as soon as the soil warms enough for the seeds to germinate. It will enhance the view as well as the food. Thyme is a dainty perennial that grows about 18 inches tall with very small leaves.