Have you been doing a lot of cooking this week? I’ve been on the run with helping my parents along with helping my two oldest move. So, the home cooked meal has been more a week of eating leftovers and sandwiches.
It’s Sunday and it’s time to talk about another spice. But before we do, let’s take a moment to listen to this old Simon and Garfunkel hit.
So what four spices are they singing about? Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: four spices that you will find in every standard spice rack at the store. However, when I ask people about these four herbs, I usually hear, “Yea, I’ve heard of these but I have no idea how to use them”. We talked about thyme in June and today we’re going to learn about another one of these goodies: Rosemary.
The rosemary plant is an evergreen plant which means it can be used fresh year round. You use the leaves of the plant, which are like pine needles. Once you strip the leaves off the stem, you can actually use the stem as a skewer to impart a subtle rosemary flavor into kabobs.
Rosemary is also an herb that is wonderful used dried. However, remember the leaves are like pine needles so dried they are even harder. So, when using it dried, you need to crush this herb to make it in smaller pieces along with releasing the oils. When steaming vegetables, you can place some dried rosemary into the water beneath your steamer basket to infuse your veggies with flavor.
When making substitutions with rosemary, the following formulas work well.
Rosemary combines well with any of the following herbs: bay, chives, garlic, lovage, mint, oregano, parsley, sage, savory and thyme.
Foods rosemary pairs well with include: apricots, breads, cabbage family, eggs, fish, lamb, onions, oranges, parsnips, pasta, pork, potatoes, poultry, squash and tomatoes.
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