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You can also use fresh herbs to make wonderful pesto style sauces. Wash tender herbs (such as basil, parsley, cilantro) and put in a blender with some olive oil and lemon or lime juice and a pinch of salt and some freshly toasted nuts (use just oen variety such as almond, walnut, pine nuts or pistachios) and blend until a smooth sauce; if too thick, add a bit more lemon juice and olive oil. Wonderful on freshly grilled anything.
My favorite thing to make with herbs is pesto! You need a lot of basil and parsley. There are many good recipes on the web. The nice thing about pesto is that it can be frozen. A good way to freeze it is to spoon it into ice cube trays. Once frozen, dump the cubes into a zip lock bag and then anytime you need a little pesto, just pull out a cube and throw it into the pan. Pesto is great tossed with pasta, or spread on bread. Also great on pizza. It's also great as a component of a caprese salad. Just layer some slices of fresh mozzarella with slices of nice, ripe tomatoes and then spread a little pesto in between the layers. Top with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil (or balsamic glaze).
Rosemary is awesome in potato dishes. It has a strong flavor, so you don't need a lot of it.
Stir fresh, chopped herbs (basil, parsley, oregano) into homemade marinara sauce at the very end of cooking. Delicious!
Another thing I love is a mojito (cocktail). It uses fresh mint. I am sure there are great recipes on line. I like to make a non-alcoholic version. Fill a glass about 75% full with seltzer. Squeeze in the juice of 2 limes. Toss is some fresh mint (peppermint, NOT spearmint). Sweeten with whatever sweetener you like (I like liquid Stevia). Add some ice cubes.
I grow a small herb garden in containers on my deck during the summer. I love walking out to the deck and grabbing some fresh herbs. I strip the leaves off first. If I don't use a sharp knife to mince the leaves, I use a pizza cutter. The pizza cutter makes quick work of mincing the leaves.
Let me clarify: I'm not talking about equal usage by weight/quantity. I'm more addressing flavor changes between the two, and how it affects usage. Perhaps a bit confusing.
Some herbs lose more flavor when dried, while those of others are intensified. I've found herbs such as parsley, cilantro, and dill to diminish in flavor when dried vs. fresh.
Of course, this will also depend on how fresh the dried herb is when used. You can increase the flavor of some dried herbs by roasting, or grinding.
In making many salads, I've found the flavor of fresh herbs superior to those of dried.
You can also use fresh herbs to make wonderful pesto style sauces. Wash tender herbs (such as basil, parsley, cilantro) and put in a blender with some olive oil and lemon or lime juice and a pinch of salt and some freshly toasted nuts (use just oen variety such as almond, walnut, pine nuts or pistachios) and blend until a smooth sauce; if too thick, add a bit more lemon juice and olive oil. Wonderful on freshly grilled anything.
For long-term storage or if making ahead of time, I also recommend blanching then cold shocking the herbs prior to blending. This will maintain the vibrant green color longer. Or, you can use an acid like lemon/lime juice, as you suggested, but it will change the flavor of the pesto if making the traditional kind.
My favorite fresh herb is basil (I never use dried). My favorite thing to do with it is make pesto. I don't always bother with the garlic and the walnuts (I never use pine nuts). I puree as much basil as will fit in my food processor, then add a thin stream of olive oil through the feed tube while the motor is running. When this is somewhat emulsified, I add grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and mix just until it is blended.
I like this with pasta, particularly stuffed pasta; in chicken salad; and with Caprese salad (mozzarella and tomatoes), but only when tomatoes are good and fresh.
I use rosemary for roasting potatoes.
Thyme is for roasting chicken. Sometimes sage, too. I use sage in stuffing. I use cilantro in salsa, guacamole, chili, lots of things.
I make potato salad with chopped dill, parsley, basil, and tarragon. Same for chicken salad. These can have either a vinaigrette dressing, or one made with sour cream and mayo.
Great feedback, thanks! I didn't mention it, but I also have rosemary. A bush about the size of a small car .
For soups and stews, I just clip a sprig of rosemary and toss it into the pot. After it cooks in, I pull the stem out. When seasoning fish or fowl, I strip the leaves off the stem and use a mortar and pestle to release the oils.
Not sure if anyone has said this yet, but I put fresh herbs in a dish towards the end of cooking, while I put dried herbs at the start.
The fresh seem to be more flavorful if you don’t cook it a long time.
The only exception I can think of is rosemary on roasted meat or poultry. It can stand up to longer cooking.
Also, I prefer to freeze extra, rather than dry it, because it keeps its color.
The only time I wouldn't use it is in recipes that require long simmering (reduces it's flavor)*, or where it may get discolored over time, or where its higher water content (vs. dried) will alter the consistency of the dish.
I disagree. That kind of dish is exactly an excuse to use more. Some at the start, some about 10 mins before finishing and some more to garnish.
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Originally Posted by mingna
If you're growing mint, be sure to either grow it in a pot, or contain it somehow in the ground. It is a notorious spreader, and will overtake your herb garden if not contained.
strongly agree. If you toss some mint in with your garden you will need to study The Art of War to ever get your garden back. Its probably the only herb that will be left after nuclear war.
I sadly learned this first hand after my wife planted some in one of our raised bed gardens. It quickly consumed 1/3 of a 16ft bed in a few years. Was expanding at an alarming rate. I pulled it all out....it came back. I kept it cut down flat to the ground for a full year...it still kept coming back. I reluctantly watered it with roundup....it came back. I ended up digging up all the soil, tossing it and replacing it with new. I am certain that wherever that soil wound up is a big pile of mint.
If you have a lot of fresh rosemary, make a tincture by soaking it in vodka, then dilute it and spray it on meat before grilling. It retards the development of carcinogens in high temperature cooking. It doesn't take much.
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