Herbs forward - sage, oregano and thyme

[shain]

I'm thinking dishes that star those herbs that are often playing a background role - sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary and the like. I'm thinking of those herbs in their fresh form.

Sage and butter sauce is one example, rosemary on focaccia is another. I recently had some tomato salad with nothing but fresh oregano and olive oil.

Any other dishes that you like?

Edited November 4, 2021 by Smithy
Corrected title spelling (log)

[Alex]

Soft-scrambled eggs with salt, white pepper, and oregano.

[heidih]

Green apple salad with lots of lemon verbena. Slightly different would be the use of the flowers. Fried oregano blossom clusters are very nice.

[blue_dolphin]

This White Bean Spread with Rosemary and Toasted Almonds from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day is a favorite of mine.  I use a generous amount of rosemary and garlic and warm them gently for quite a while before straining.  The flavors infuse into the oil but no harshness. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

23 minutes ago, heidih said:

Green apple salad with lots of lemon verbena. Slightly different would be the use of the flowers. Fried oregano blossom clusters are very nice.

As are fried sage leaves.

[shain]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

Green apple salad with lots of lemon verbena.

 

How do to use it in the salad? Lemon verbena is not particularly edible. The flavor combination sounds great. I'd love to try it.

 

[shain]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

This White Bean Spread with Rosemary and Toasted Almonds from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day is a favorite of mine.  I use a generous amount of rosemary and garlic and warm them gently for quite a while before straining.  The flavors infuse into the oil but no harshness. 

 

Sounds lovely. Added to my notes.

[heidih]

14 minutes ago, shain said:

 

How do to use it in the salad? Lemon verbena is not particularly edible. The flavor combination sounds great. I'd love to try it.

 

It is my plant (or was before drought) so harvesting young leaves easy. Not tender like cilantro but not chewy. I'd advocated propagating it at the botanic garden for sale so I had to be able to upsell its wide range of uses.  I've not used lavender in food though it seems to be somewhat trendy. Sister planted one so we shall see. Not the variety I'd have chosen for culinary use - blooms nice sleep aid in pillow cover

[shain]

9 minutes ago, heidih said:

It is my plant (or was before drought) so harvesting young leaves easy. Not tender like cilantro but not chewy.

 

We have a plant, but we only use it for infusions, herbal tea and rarely in simple syrup. I'll give some young leaves a fine chop and try it. What else goes in the salad?

 

11 minutes ago, heidih said:

I've not used lavender in food though it seems to be somewhat trendy

 

I'll have to give this a pass. I don't really enjoy lavender - I find it dusty and acrid.

[heidih]

4 minutes ago, shain said:

 

We have a plant, but we only use it for infusions, herbal tea and rarely in simple syrup. I'll give some young leaves a fine chop and try it. What else goes in the salad?

 

As I recall it was olive oil, red onion, citrus (maybe tangerine or whatever was nice on trees), salt or fish sauce. We had it a couple times with wonderful Alaskan salmon (not Copper River but adjacent). So simple.  As to lavender - never tried so I'll play at least once. 

[kayb]

Tarragon in green beans. Chicken salad. Scrambled eggs. In pretty much anything.

 

[heidih]

1 minute ago, kayb said:

Tarragon in green beans. Chicken salad. Scrambled eggs. In pretty much anything.

 

Trader Joes used to sell a chicken and artichoke salad (dark meat) with a creamy tarragon pesto . I really enjoyed it.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I have previously, and probably more than once, touted this fresh herbal green sauce.    It is truly incredible.   I have used parsley, chive, tarragon, savory and thyme, in varying proportions, all fabulous.    Try on meats (hot or cold), fish, eggs, potatoes, cardboard, paper towels, all delicious!

[heidih]

22 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I have previously, and probably more than once, touted this fresh herbal green sauce.    It is truly incredible.   I have used parsley, chive, tarragon, savory and thyme, in varying proportions, all fabulous.    Try on meats (hot or cold), fish, eggs, potatoes, cardboard, paper towels, all delicious!

Sort of a Green Goddess. I do something similar though usually with a touch of tart yogurt. So nice to add here and there as you described. Have not embarked on preserved lemon train yet. Maybe the old tree will come through this season and I'll be ok with diverting some.

[heidih]

Actually a lot like Vivian Howard's Little Green Dress(ing) - quite popular here.  Though olives feature there. Recipe https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/the-condiment-that-vivian-howard-would-save-in-a-fire/

[Margaret Pilgrim]

25 minutes ago, heidih said:. Have not embarked on preserved lemon train yet. Maybe the old tree will come through this season and I'll be ok with diverting some.

I use Wolfert’s super easy recipe that takes only 2 lemons for a tight half pint.   Surely you can spare 2?

[heidih]

22 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I use Wolfert’s super easy recipe that takes only 2 lemons for a tight half pint.   Surely you can spare 2?

We shall see. Wish I was still working with the woman who had the hyper prolific Meyer. Thanks for the Wolfert tip.

[Annie_H]

Endlessly surprised what a few slivered garlic cloves with sage leaves in a low and slow shallow olive oil bath makes a gem of a fried golden pair with ravioli. Lightly fried sage is heavenly.

[robirdstx]

I have enjoyed a couple of the recipes found in this topic.

[liuzhou]

This is my latest find Flowering Chinese Chive sauce / dip. It comes from Inner Mongolia and contains the chives, water and salt. End of story. Very oniony in a good way. It would be easier and cheaper to make it myself, though.

 

 

Flowering Chinese Chives - 韭菜花 (jiǔ cài huā)

[kayb]

Speaking of sage -- my plant has gone berserk and threatens to choke out neighboring herbs.

[cdh]

57 minutes ago, kayb said:

Speaking of sage -- my plant has gone berserk and threatens to choke out neighboring herbs.

Wow-- I'd not recognize that as sage.  Around me the sage that grows has more oval leaves and purple flowers.  The salvia genus is really broad. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgilmour.com%2Fgrowing-sage&psig=AOvVaw02ElCvBOutMmcz3jEdlzc8&ust=1636248186774000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCIi-rtrJgvQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

I presume that photo of yours is of scarlet sage?

Edited November 6, 2021 by cdh (log)

[heidih]

22 minutes ago, cdh said:

Wow-- I'd not recognize that as sage.  Around me the sage that grows has more oval leaves and purple flowers.  The salvia genus is really broad. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgilmour.com%2Fgrowing-sage&psig=AOvVaw02ElCvBOutMmcz3jEdlzc8&ust=1636248186774000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCIi-rtrJgvQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

I presume that photo of yours is of scarlet sage?

You are right - salvia family is huge. Not all tasty I like a tisane sometimes with pineapple sage which looks more like @kayb's. I've grown and sold many many varieties. A fun bunch. The typical culinary sage is what you describe.  My pineapple one from when I blogged - the flowers popping through are a rose and a milkweed in the bed. The flowers are like kay showed 

[kayb]

14 hours ago, cdh said:

Wow-- I'd not recognize that as sage.  Around me the sage that grows has more oval leaves and purple flowers.  The salvia genus is really broad. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgilmour.com%2Fgrowing-sage&psig=AOvVaw02ElCvBOutMmcz3jEdlzc8&ust=1636248186774000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCIi-rtrJgvQCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

I presume that photo of yours is of scarlet sage?

 

This is pineapple sage, which I did not realize until I got it home and started to plant it.

[paulraphael]

Thyme ice cream and sage ice cream.