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Herbs - Tips

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Basil

Stir into chopped fresh tomatoes with a dash of olive oil for a delicious bruschetta topping.
Sprinkle over pizzas, roasted vegetables or tomato soup.
Add to tomato sauces for pasta.
Mix with olive oil, tomato purée and garlic to make a salad dressing.
Bake whole baby courgettes in olive oil, chopped tomato and Basil.

Chives

Add Chives to cooked dishes at the last minute to preserve their delicate flavour.
Stir into mashed potato with a little butter and grated cheese.
Stir into cheese sauce at the end of cooking for a delicate flavour.
Sprinkle onto scrambled eggs, omelettes, quiches and potato salad.
Sprinkle over salads and soups as a great garnish.
Stir into soured cream for a tasy dip.

Coriander

Stir into chopped tomatoes with a little lemon juice and garlic for a refreshing salsa.
Great in Mexican dishes such as chilli con carne.
For an Indian raita, stir chopped or grated cucumber, Coriander Leaf, salt and pepper into natural yoghurt.
For a Thai style dressing mix warm creamed coconut with lemon juice and stir in Coriander Leaf, Crushed Chillies and chopped spring onions.
Stir Coriander Leaf, Parsley, fresh green chillies, Garlic and onion into cooked rice to make Mexican arroz verde.
Add Coriander Leaf to breads, stuffings and sauces and sprinkle over spicy or creamy dishes at the end of cooking.

Dill

Stir into a white sauce before serving.
Sprinkle over fish with some lemon juice before grilling.
Stir through cooked new potatoes or carrots with a knob of butter.
Mix with olive oil, vinegar, mustard and honey as a dressing for salmon.
Use Dill as a refreshing alternative to parsley in omelettes, quiches and salads.

Marjoram & Oregano

Add to cream, white wine, stock and chopped onion for a creamy herb sauce for chicken or pork.
Sprinkle olive oil, lemon juice, salt and Marjoram over chicken or lamb before roasting or grilling.
Sprinkle onto roasted vegetables.

Mint

Mix with vinegar and a little sugar to make mint sauce for roast lamb.
Sprinkle onto peas and new potatoes, together with a knob of butter.
Stir into cooked couscous with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Sprinkle Mint onto green salads.
Add to yoghurt with diced cucumber for a refreshing raita dip.

Parsley

Combine with breadcrumbs, grated cheese and garlic, then spoon into flat mushrooms, drizzle with olive oil and bake until golden.
Mix with butter and lemon juice, then stir into cooked vegetables and new potatoes.
Stir into white sauce just before serving.
Stir fry carrots in a little butter and add garlic and Parsley.
Delicious with fish.
Sauté mushrooms in butter, garlic and a good tablespoon of Parsley.

Rosemary

Sprinkle onto lamb or pork before roasting.
Sprinkle onto potatoes and parsnips before roasting.
Make a rich red wine, orange and Rosemary gravy for lamb or duck.
Sprinkle Rosemary over barbecue coals for an aromatic smoky flavour.
Rosemary makes a fresh and flavoursome marinade for meats and oily fish together with olive oil, Garlic and lemon juice.

Sage

Add to finely diced apple and minced pork for tasty meatballs.
Add to apple sauce for more flavour.
Mix with breadcrumbs, chopped onion and butter for a really tasty stuffing.
Sprinkle over pork or chicken before roasting.
Combine with grated cheese and breadcrumbs as a topping for grilled fish.
Add to sausage and leek casserole for extra flavour

Tarragon

Make quick sauces for chicken, fish or pasta by stirring into cream and white wine or into savoury white sauce.
Stir into creamy chicken or turkey soup.
Sprinkle over glazed carrots for a distinctive flavour.
Sprinkle into omelettes or salads.

Thyme

Combine with grated lemon zest, crushed garlic and butter, then spread over chicken breasts and wrap in Parma ham before cooking.
Add to casseroles and stews, such as Irish stew or Lancashire hotpot, for a warm, aromatic flavour.
Sprinkle over roasted vegetables or potatoes.
Marinate chicken or fish in olive oil, lemon juice and Thyme before grilling.

Celeriac Soup

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Ingredients

¼ celeriac, peeled and sliced
small handful of fresh herbs, including parsley, chervil and chives
120ml/4fl oz double cream
120ml/4fl oz hot vegetable stock
For the yoghurt
55g/2oz Greek yoghurt
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped

Cooking Instructions

  1. Bring a medium pan of water to the boil and cook the celeriac for 8-10 minutes, or until tender.
  2. Drain the celeriac and transfer to a food processor. Pulse the celeriac with the fresh herbs and cream to form a smooth liquid/purée.
  3. Pour in the hot vegetable stock to the blender and blend again until smooth and creamy.
  4. Return the soup to the pan and re-heat for a few minutes.
  5. Ladle the soup into a bowl to serve.
  6. Place the yoghurt, garlic and mint into a small bowl and mix together until combined.
  7. Serve a spoonful of the yoghurt on top of the soup.

Panfried Fish with Beetroot Salsa

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 07:28AM
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Ingredients

  • 4 small diced cooked beetroot
  • 8 chopped spring onions
  • 1 seeded and chopped red chilli
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 5 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 fillets of unskinned firm white fish
  • a little plain flour
  • 25g butter

Method

  1. Put the diced cooked beetroot into a bowl. Add the chopped spring onions, seeded and chopped red chilli, chopped fresh mint, lemon juice and olive oil. Season and stir well.
  2. Dust the fillets of unskinned firm white fish with a little plain flour. Melt the butter in a large pan with the olive oil. Fry the fish fillets on each side for 3-4 minutes until just tender. Serve with the beetroot salsa.

Lettuce Soup

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Ingredients

50g Butter
8 Spring onions, trimmed and chopped
6 small butterhead lettuces
800ml chicken stock, or half milk, half stock
small bunches soft herbs, (mint, basil and chervil)
good squeeze lemon juice
2 tbsp double cream

Cooking Instructions

  1. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan and sweat the spring onions for about 5 minutes, until completely soft.
  2. Trim the base off each lettuce then slice or tear it and add it to the buttery onions. Heat the lettuce until it wilts and softens in its juices.
  3. Add the herbs and warm stock. Season and blend to a smooth soup using a stick blender or in a food processor. Taste and add lemon juice, seasoning and add the cream if you want to use it.
  4. Serve either hot or cold.

Serves: 4

Roast Squash with Baby Onion, Ginger and Chilli

Saturday, January 1, 2005 at 09:20PM
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Ingredients

1kg squash
250g pickling onions, skinned (or ordinary onions, quartered)
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon chilli flakes)
1 teaspoon root ginger, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Balsamic vinegar for sprinkling (optional)
As a main course, this roast squash is good with white rice and brown lentils. For a starter, it can be served with hot pitta bread and a bowl of thick yogurt mixed with a generous amount of chopped mint.

Cooking Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Quarter and deseed both varieties of squash - don't bother to peel them if the skins are tender (to test this, shove in your nail). Chunk into bite-sized pieces and spread in a single layer in a roasting tin along with the onions. Toss with the oil, chilli, ginger, cumin, salt, pepper and a little sugar just to help the browning. Bake for 45-50 minutes, turning occasionally, until the vegetables are perfectly soft and deliciously caramelised. Serve and have the balsamic vinegar to hand at the table, to be sprinkled on if desired - it's nice to find something good to do with those ferociously expensive little flacons.

How to Dry Herbs

Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 10:51AM
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Whether you grow your own herbs, or bought more from the market than you can use at one time,
drying herbs can be an easy and practical way to store them for later use.  

Below is a list of many common herbs that can be air dried using the following simple instructions.

Harvesting
There are a wide variety of herbs that can be dried, and of course they all have different recommended stages at which they should be harvested. To make it easy for you, a chart that shows this information is available by clicking on How to Harvest Herbs

Using a very sharp knife or garden scissors cut your stems.  Do not pick them as it will cause bruising on the stem and a place for decomposition to start.  Leave an extra inch or two at the bottom of your herbs for bundling. Harvest your herbs in the late morning when all the dew has had a chance to dry. This helps to prevent mildew. Visually inspect the herbs.  Remove any bugs or damaged leaves or flowers with your sharp knife before drying.

Bundling

Open Method
Using a rubber band near the cut end of the herbs, gather 5 to 7 stalks together and attach together. You want your bundled end to be very secure as stalks shrink during the drying process. Yet you want the other end loose enough to ensure air flow through out the bundle.
*Note:  Green Onions and Garlic are hung by the tops with the bulbs hanging down.  The tops can be braided together for hanging.

Anise
Basil
Bay Leaves
Celery Leaves
Chervil
Chili Peppers
Chives
Cumin
Dill
Fennel
File Powder (Sassafras)
Garlic
Green Onions
Marjoram
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Savory
Tarragon
Thyme

Drying
Hang your herbs by the rubber band or string onto your drying rack. Drying times vary from a few days to a couple weeks.  You will know your herbs are dry when they crumble easily.

Locate your drying rack in a dark warm room, garage or walk in closet.  Or you may place your herbs in a covered porch or patio if herbs are bundled in paper bags even out side under a shade tree will work if you are willing to bring them inside every evening.  Your goal is to keep herbs out of direct sunlight yet in a place with good air circulation.

Your herbs are dry when the leave easily crumble.  

Seeds will be released during the drying process place newspaper under your drying rack to keep seeds off the floor and to make gathering easier for next years garden.  

If you dried your herbs by the bag method your seeds should be already collected for you in the bottom of the bag. Simply cut the sides off your bag where the wholes begin. Fold the bottom of your bag together.  Tape your bag closed and label your bag for easy storage and planting next spring.

Storing
Store your herbs in small glass jars with tight fitting lids.  Keep the jars out of the light, away from heat and out of your refrigerator.