Nikki Duffy
LATIN NAME
Salvia officinalis
SEASONALITY
All year round
MORE RECIPES
Buttermilk and sage onion rings; Roasted squash with chestnuts, sausage and sage; Oat-coated puffball with sage and pancetta; Roast guinea fowl with onions and sage breadcrumbs; Snipe with swede and bacon; Hare ragu; Saltimbocca; Pear and celeriac stuffing; Cider onion gravy; Crab apple jelly with thyme, juniper and mint
Sage was once seen as a herb for the physic garden rather than the potager, said to help everything from colds to rheumatism, snakebites to infertility. Modern science confirms that sage does possess antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In fact it’s a potent plant that should be used with restraint, and avoided in any quantity when pregnant.
But we’ve learned to embrace this pungent, edgy ingredient for all it can do in the kitchen. Like several other herbs, sage contains camphor and it’s the bitterness from this that sets some people against it. But it’s also this quality that makes sage so fantastic with fatty meats such as pork, and with strong vegetable flavours such as the alliums and earthy-sweet squashes and pumpkins. It’s famously good with onion, and makes a tart apple sauce quite special.
For a reasonably subtle sage flavour, make a sage butter. Infuse finely slivered sage leaves in gently bubbling butter for a few minutes, then trickle over fresh pasta, pork chops – even a poached egg. Fried whole sage leaves, crisped very briefly in hot oil (see next recipe) are likewise delicious, cutting through richness with their delectable, aromatic bitterness. Another way to wield sage well is to cook it for a long time, so it mellows. Use it chopped in stews, soups and stuffings, or, best of all, slow-cooked pulse dishes. Sage is a fantastic seasoning for beans’ creamy, starchy mildness.
Sage is not hard to grow, as long as you choose a well-drained, reasonably sunny location. It’s an evergreen perennial and in the summer casts out plumes of purple flowers – much beloved by bees – but you’ll need to cut them off if you want the leaves to continue growing tender and tasty. The flowers are edible, however, with a lovely, delicate sagey flavour. Sage can be harvested all year round but can become more harsh and bitter in the colder months – still good, but worth using more carefully. Good old Salvia officinalis is the only plant you really need in the kitchen but there are cultivars – everything from pineapple sage to blackcurrant sage, and varieties with purple, white or variegated leaves – which can put on a display in the garden.
TAGLIATELLE WITH LAMB’S LIVER, PANCETTA AND SAGE
This wonderfully quick dish is also good with calf’s, chicken or duck livers. Serves 4
250g dried tagliatelle
300g very fresh lamb’s liver, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil, lard or bacon fat
75g pancetta, diced
1 small garlic clove, sliced
150ml double cream
8 large sage leaves, chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
FOR THE SAGE GARNISH
3 tbsp olive oil
About 24 whole sage leaves
TO SERVE
Finely grated Parmesan or other hard, well-flavoured cheese, such as Berkswell
Put a large pan of salted water on to boil for the pasta.
Meanwhile, prepare the sage garnish. Heat the olive oil in a small pan over a medium-high heat. To test the heat, throw in a sage leaf: it should sizzle instantly. Add the whole sage leaves and fry for about 30 seconds, until crisp, turning them with a fork so they cook evenly. Drain on kitchen paper, season with salt and set aside.
Add the tagliatelle to the pan of boiling water and cook until al dente. Cut the liver into 1cm thick slices.
About 5 minutes before the pasta will be ready, start making the sauce. Heat the oil or fat in a large, heavy-based frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the pancetta for 2 minutes or until it just begins to colour. Add the garlic and fry for 20–30 seconds.
Now add the liver and sauté for about a minute. Tip in the cream and chopped sage, season, turn down the heat and let the mixture bubble for a minute. If the sauce seems too thick, add a splash of water to ‘let it down’ to a nice coating consistency.
Drain the pasta well and divide between warmed dishes. Spoon over the creamy liver mix and grate on some cheese. Finish with the fried sage leaves and a grinding of pepper.
