Chapter 15

Ten (Or so) Herbs You Should Know

In This Chapter

Discovering the essential herbs that can add magic to your cooking

Knowing which foods are the best match

Adding herbs to your favourite recipes

Herbs are an essential flavouring ingredient, and can completely transform a dish. Knowing how to use them and what foods to match them with can make all the difference if you want to really make an impact with your cooking.

This chapter is devoted to ten (or so) herbs that we think you should be familiar with if you want to create truly tasty and satisfying food. (See Chapter 3 for more on the must-have herbs.)

Basil

With a pungent, sweet/peppery flavour, basil is usually available as fresh sprigs, and often supermarkets stock basil plants so you can grow your own (although they are notoriously difficult to keep alive). You can also buy the dried version in flakes. It’s an essential ingredient to Mediterranean cooking, especially Italian and French cuisine, and is particularly well-matched with tomatoes, eggs, pasta, poultry, fish, and green salads, and in vinaigrettes.

Bay Leaf

Bay leaves have a strong herbaceous taste. They are usually sold in packets of whole dried leaves, and are excellent in long-cooking dishes like soups, stews, poaching liquid, marinades, roasts, rice casseroles, stuffing, and barbecue sauces. If you’re lucky enough to find fresh bay leaves they should ideally be used 3 to 4 days after they’ve been picked.

Remove bay leaves before serving the dish – the leaves aren’t palatable and chewing on one is likely to ruin your dining experience!

Chervil

Quite aromatic, with a delicate liquorice-like flavour, chervil is available as fresh sprigs (mostly in summer) or crumbled dry. Use with fish and shellfish, eggs, chicken, tomatoes, asparagus, aubergine, herb butters, sauces, green salads, and soups.

Chives

Chives have a delicate mild-onion flavour (no surprise really, as they’re a member of the onion family). Sold in thin fresh stalks, chopped, or dried, they are wonderful in cream sauces or soups, with chicken, eggs, shellfish, or marinated salads, or as a plate garnish (they look very pretty!).

If used for decoration, chives are best cut using scissors to avoid bruising. Sprinkle 2-centimetre (3/4-inch) strands over your dish just before serving.

Coriander

Sold in fresh curly-leafed bunches, and sometimes as a whole plant, coriander is pungent and aromatic. It has a strong flavour and so suits, and is most commonly found in, flavoursome cuisines such as Mexican and Asian. It works really well with rice, fish, pork, ham, salsa, avocado, and tomato.

Dill

Fresh dill – sold in feathery bunches – is most commonly used with fish and shellfish, omelettes, chicken, turkey, dressings and vinaigrettes, cold salads and marinades, fish mousses, and pâtés. It is also often combined with yoghurt and sour cream to accompany savoury dishes. Dill can also be bought as dried seeds which are used mainly in pickling recipes.

Marjoram

A little like oregano in taste, but much milder and sweeter, marjoram is an extremely versatile herb. There are three varieties, with the ‘sweet’ variety being the most common (the other two are pot and wild, if you’re interested). It’s sold fresh or crumbled dry and can be added to almost any vegetable dish. Marjoram is especially good with sweet potatoes, tomatoes, stuffing, stews, omelettes, soups, herb butters, rice, pork, lamb, beef, poultry, or any fish.

Mint

We’re sure you know all about this one! Fresh scented with a sweet, pungent flavour, the most common varieties of mint are standard peppermint and spearmint (although there are over 40 varieties of mint altogether!). Sold in fresh bunches or crumbled dry, it’s terrific in cold grain and rice salads, with fresh fruit, in cold fruit soups and sauces, and with marinated vegetable salads of cucumber or tomato; it’s also good with grilled chicken, pork, lamb, and shellfish and in cold drinks like iced tea. It’s one of the few herbs that’s as suitable to sweet dishes as savoury. Mint tea is also meant to be very good for digestion.

Oregano

Best known as an essential ingredient in Italian and Greek cooking, oregano has an intense flavour, so use it with caution as a little goes a long way (particularly the dried variety). It’s best used with poultry, tomato sauces, egg dishes, vegetable stews, and stir-fries.

Parsley

Fresh-flavoured and slightly tart, parsley is available year-round in fresh bunches or crumbled dry. Two common fresh varieties are the stronger-flavoured Italian flat leaf and the curly leaf. An all-purpose herb; use in savoury soups or stocks in bouquet garni, stews, dressings, stuffing, and frittatas, with fish, poultry, beef, pork, lamb, veal, game, and all vegetables. It also makes a pretty plate garnish, if you want to be really fancy!

Rosemary

Rosemary is very aromatic, and has needle-shaped leaves that smell a little like lemon and pine. You can buy it as fresh sprigs or dried, but, like oregano, you should use it sparingly as it is powerful. It’s good with vegetables and in stuffing, rice dishes, and stews and excellent with game, meat (especially grilled and roasted), chicken, lamb, halibut, salmon, tuna; in herb breads; or to flavour oils and marinades.

The stem of the rosemary herb is tough and woody. Pull the needles or leaves off the stem, and chop them finely before using, before discarding the tough stem.

Sage

Sage has green-grey or purple oval leaves and a slightly bitter mint taste. You can buy it in fresh sprigs, crumbled dry, and ground. Most commonly used in European cuisine, it’s best known as an ingredient in stuffing (you can’t beat a bit of sage and onion!). It can also be used in pâtés, fish and chicken stews, chicken salads, and herb butters, with halibut and salmon, and for seasoning meat and poultry roasts. It’s strong, so take care not to use too much as it can overpower other flavours.

Tarragon

Tarragon is aromatic with an assertive liquorice-like flavour. Fresh tarragon, widely available in the summer months, has the most subtle flavour but it can also be bought as crumbled dry, and whole dried leaves. Use with chicken, pork, lamb, veal, fish, shellfish, omelettes and other egg dishes, dips and dressings, mayonnaise, vegetable casseroles and salads, herb butters, and as flavouring for white vinegar and hot or cold potato dishes.

Thyme

Thyme is very distinctive as it has tiny leaves with a minty aroma and tea-like taste. Fresh varieties include lemon, orange, and French (the most common variety). You can also buy it dried. Add to vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, egg dishes, soups, stews, cream sauces, meat loaf, pâtés, chowders, stuffing, and bouquet garni.