Cilantro bolted early this year. At the herb gardens both at my house in Mattituck and at Comtesse Thérèse Bistro, the cilantro skipped the low leafy stage and gone directly to the tall, feathery, flowering stage. When I went outside to get some cilantro leaves, there were hardly any leaves left and the flowers were already setting seed pods (which, dried, are called coriander). A shame, since I wanted lots of cilantro with my black beans.  But there was plenty of oregano, so I decided to mix that in with the few cilantro leaves I could muster.

Similar to the cilantro, the oregano is also unusually tall and flowering heavily and early. The Russian sage did the same thing a few weeks ago – very tall with heavy flowers. Mint is also very tall. Thinking about what may have caused this phenomenon, I would say that it has been warm season so far, with a lot of rain. I haven't fertilized or watered my herb garden in Mattituck all season, so it must be the natural conditions, not anything I did. The vineyard is, of course, a jungle this time of the year.

You don't need a lot of herbs for this dish – just a little touch.

Ingredients

• Can of black beans
• 2 tbsp of good olive oil
• Chopped fresh cilantro, 1 tbsp
• Fresh oregano, 1-2 tbsp
• Very small pinch of salt
• Fresh black pepper

Drain and rinse the black beans, stir in the olive oil, toss in the herbs. Add only a tiny little bit of salt, since the canned beans are already salty.