I remember the first time I ever smelled sage in a wine. Not just a little hint, but plunged my nose into the glass and immediately felt as though my entire nasal passage was filled by the smell of fresh sage. (The wine was 1997 Beaune 1er Cru Greves "Vigne de l'Enfant Jesus, Bouchard Pere et fils).
While I've always been a huge fan of sage, across the board I love all fresh herbs. They are highly under-utilized by the home chef, who can add just a touch to almost any dish and improve its flavor and expression immensely. Since my plants are finally coming up, I thought I'd pass on some quick and easy ideas for what to do with your herb garden. If you DON'T have an herb garden, consider it this year. For the price of a handful of plants ($10), a few flower pots ($15) and some soil ($7) the results are, to steal a phrase, priceless.
Rosemary - cut up new potatoes, douse heavily in olive oil, garlic salt pepper and finish with fresh rosemary. Put it under the broiler. A great side for your next cookout. Or get some baker's yeast, flour, water and olive oil, mix in some fresh rosemary and put your choice of olives, sund-dried tomatoes, etc on top for easy foccaccia.
Basil - Insalata Cabrese is a favorite. Fresh buffalo mozzarella, slice tomato, and basil leaves drizzled with olive oil. Or ender fat from pancetta, sautee garlic and shallots, add whole tomatoes and basil and cook low, slow and long for a great pasta sauce.
Sage - one of my all-time favorite appetizer/first courses, from David Rosengarten: Sausage-Stuffed Radicchio Cups.
Parsley - Add chopped parsley, capers and a bit of dry mustard to Chopped Tuna for the best tuna tartare.
Send me your ideas if you have more to add, we'd love to add it to our recommendations.
(My mint is still coming alive, but you can be sure that when it does, I will be mixing up a mint julip and doing some sun tanning).
I have some interested wines to taste later in the week, and hope to explore a much discussed question, to age or not age in my next post...
While I've always been a huge fan of sage, across the board I love all fresh herbs. They are highly under-utilized by the home chef, who can add just a touch to almost any dish and improve its flavor and expression immensely. Since my plants are finally coming up, I thought I'd pass on some quick and easy ideas for what to do with your herb garden. If you DON'T have an herb garden, consider it this year. For the price of a handful of plants ($10), a few flower pots ($15) and some soil ($7) the results are, to steal a phrase, priceless.
Rosemary - cut up new potatoes, douse heavily in olive oil, garlic salt pepper and finish with fresh rosemary. Put it under the broiler. A great side for your next cookout. Or get some baker's yeast, flour, water and olive oil, mix in some fresh rosemary and put your choice of olives, sund-dried tomatoes, etc on top for easy foccaccia.
Basil - Insalata Cabrese is a favorite. Fresh buffalo mozzarella, slice tomato, and basil leaves drizzled with olive oil. Or ender fat from pancetta, sautee garlic and shallots, add whole tomatoes and basil and cook low, slow and long for a great pasta sauce.
Sage - one of my all-time favorite appetizer/first courses, from David Rosengarten: Sausage-Stuffed Radicchio Cups.
Parsley - Add chopped parsley, capers and a bit of dry mustard to Chopped Tuna for the best tuna tartare.
Send me your ideas if you have more to add, we'd love to add it to our recommendations.
(My mint is still coming alive, but you can be sure that when it does, I will be mixing up a mint julip and doing some sun tanning).
I have some interested wines to taste later in the week, and hope to explore a much discussed question, to age or not age in my next post...
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