Herbs - How Do You Prepare Yours ?
You can't beat using fresh herbs in a recipe ... but how do you prepare these herbs. Do you use your fingers, some scissors, a knife ... which is the best and easiest way? Well here is a simple knife trick that makes chopping herbs so much quicker and easier, and is quite possibly the quickest way to de-stalk herbs! This trick comes in particularly handy when a recipe calls for just the leaves of coriander, parsley, or another flat leaf herb – you'll never be left picking out the stalks again.
Take a bunch of herbs by the stalks in one hand, with the leaves pointing down, and slide your knife down the stalks and away from you to shave off the leaves with each cut.
The leaves will fall to the chopping board, and you can either use them whole or give them another quick chop for finely diced herbs.
... and keep the stalks for your homemade stock.
Handy tip above came from here
Coriander
It is interesting to note that Coriander (cilantro) has only been grown commercially in Britain since the 1970's, and has overtaken more traditional favourites to become the most popular fresh herb. More than 30 million packs and bunches were sold in the last year as home cooks grew more confident. Parsley came in second, with 23 million sales, and basil was third at 19 million, according to a report by herb producer Vitacress.
... and if you are looking for a nice recipe using coriander these Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps may fit the bill. What do you think?
12 comments:
I cut the parsley with a knife as you showed. My kitchen shears have a special area to strip the thyme, dill, and other herbs. It's very handy.
Good tip and that recipe idea looks very nice too.
Nona
Fresh herbs are great but sometimes I use dried herbs from my larder. Herbs just make a difference to the taste :)
I'm growing several herbs this summer. That's a good tip about cutting fresh herbs. I have never tried cilantro. I'm not much into spicey but I might give it a try, just a light sprinkling to start and see how it tastes.
This is so beautiful! ♥
xoxo ♥ www.beingasanmonica.blogspot.com
That plate looks so delicious.
Eye For An Eye: The photo/art was the prompt. We write from that picture. After I wrote the blog story I sat down and hand wrote another fourteen pages of the same story. On page fifteen I asked Why? I didn't know the answer so I laid the paper down. Thank you.
Oh, nooooo. I never de-stalk because there's far too much flavour in the stems. I love those things. I also stir-fry the stems, as well as use them in juicing, stocks and for the pups to gnaw on. Wait, I don't know if I spelled gnaw correctly. Either way, YUM!
Many thanks to you all for your thoughts and comments.
'NC' your kitchen shears sound a very handy tool - I must look out for some, and give them a try.
Nona, many thanks for your kind comment, hope you get a chance to try out the recipe idea.
Anonymous 18.47, yes fresh herbs are great and I think many of us do keep dried herbs in our larder and they can give a good flavour to many dishes.
Roses and Lilacs, it is so nice when you can grow your own fresh herbs. Good to experiment with different tastes. Enjoy your cilantro.
Mon Khaai ... welcome to the blog, and thank you for your comment.
Gail, yes that plate of food (or one similar) tasted great. Your 'eye for an eye' post on your blog was so well written. I didn't realise you took the story from the picture ... good idea. It was such an excellent piece you wrote and to write another fourteen pages ... well done. I think your final question 'Why' could be the way to end it as we can all think further on the story. Who says stories / writing have to have an infinite end? Just my view.
Ivy, so many people do not use stalks - which is a shame. Your ideas fr them sound good to me including the pups gnawing on them. I think we both get 10/10 for spelling that right !!
Thanks again to all who have read and continue to read this post.
Have a great summer (or winter if you are in the southern hemisphere) and enjoy your herbs.
All the best Jan
I was raised to use EVERYTHING.
Hi Ivy ... " I was raised to use EVERYTHING. "
I can remember my dear mum always used to say 'Waste not want not'. I think we can quite often discard the best things - but not any more!
All the best Jan
I can't discard anything like that. Even the ends of garden-fresh organic string beans find a home.
Today, sadly, I find many don't even know what a peach looks or tastes like, let alone what to do with the stone.
Headed out shopping soon. Have a great weekend and boogie boogie.
Hi Ivy ... do agree with you - it's so important to encourage people to use whole fresh foods, and perhaps more importantly to talk to and encourage the younger generation to as well.
Happy Shopping - Happy Weekend
All the best Jan
Post a Comment