Fresh Herbs

Fresh Herbs are something that I always have in my fridge and my garden..Don’t you?

Also, I want to show you that it is not time-consuming to give your food that little extra pizzaz…Food should be tempting, it should be fun and enjoyable as well as being good for you…and the occasional treat…Have it! Enjoy it! Safe in the knowledge that most of the time what you and your family are eating is good, healthy food… but never boring!

Some herbs you can grow at home and pick them fresh knowing that they are pesticide free. How satisfying is that???

They are also something that I sometimes forget that I have or keep meaning to use and end up throwing them away. Does the same thing happen in your house?

It is always those tender herbs like coriander, basil, mint, parsley or chives…The hardy herbs are the ones I always keep in the freezer.

Well, no more will I be throwing away my herbs I decided that I would use my herbs more or less immediately or do something with them.

I think herbs always lift an ordinary dish and make it a little bit more special  for example, if you are having a salad just snip a few herbs and toss them in with your normal salad vegetables or if you fancy a salad and have no salad in the fridge then a salad made of freshly picked herbs from the garden or the hedgerow makes a refreshing change.

Freeze some chopped herbs in ice-cube trays and then all have to do is drop one or two into your cooking when herbs are needed.

Or make some lovely herb butter ideal for melting over your fish or dropping in a sauce.

Add mint leaves to that bowl of ice cream see how much more refreshing it is.

Or sprinkle some herbs into that omelette you are making and see what a difference it makes. It suddenly looks so much more appetising.

Mix chopped parsley with some chopped garlic and a little lemon juice and sprinkle it over your steak, chicken or your fish.

 

Now, who doesn’t like a dish of pasta with some lovely fresh pesto drizzled over it so it coats the pasta?

 

Doesn’t that look enticing?

A quick herb pesto made by whizzing coriander, mint or parsley with olive oil, a handful of chopped walnuts and nice hard cheese like parmesan or pecorino takes 3/4 minutes to make.

Much more basil than you can use then make a lovely pesto it will keep in the fridge for at least a week.

 

Green Pesto:

2 cups of fresh basil

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of pine nuts…sometimes I toast mine for a slightly nuttier taste.

2/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan or pecorino cheese.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Wizz all the ingredients in your blender or food processor some people think that a blender makes smoother pesto. Except for a 1/3 cup of the olive oil and the cheese.

Then slowly add the remainder of the olive oil and then pour into a bowl and stir in the cheese and season.

If you are using a pestle then blanch the basil or coriander leaves in boiling water for 5-10 seconds until they are wilted and then put in ice-cold water.

If using coriander add a little lime juice to the pestle and use walnuts.

For Red Pesto add skinned tomatoes with the basil.

If you haven’t tried a beetroot pesto then it’s a must if you love beets. It is awesome on toast as a crostini it is to die for….

Roast two medium beetroots and then skin and chop them.

1/2 cup of roasted almonds

3 tbsp white wine vinegar

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Blitz all the ingredients together.

If you don’t use all your pesto within the week then freeze in ice-cube trays. They can then be popped in a pasta sauce as required.

You should now never have to throw any of those tender herbs away ever again.

I hope this post has given you a few ideas of what to do with your tender herbs so have fun, experiment, use different nuts when you are making pesto, a squeeze of lime juice whatever takes your fancy.

I hope you are enjoying these healthy eating posts from this whimsical English lady who is living her dream in sunny Thailand…Note: I still have to cook and clean…. I love life and laughter and am slightly crazy or bonkers whatever you wish to call me …Oh, and my new handle from a cooking friend who shall be nameless is Wikipedia Carol… Like I know all….I wish…ha ha

If you have any thoughts on anything I would love to hear your comments and will answer you as soon as I can….I just love to talk and make new friends.

Thank you for reading my blog  I hope to see you here again please share or reblog if you think one of your friends would love it…Sharing is caring!

Have fun and laugh a lot …most importantly enjoy your food and have fun with it..experiment….If you love it will become a family favourite and if you don’t ..Well we all have made those dishes..lol so we won’t make that again will we????

—————————————————————————————————————————————–All my photos are taken by me ( Carol) or come from Pixabay and are free to use….