Fresh herbs or dried for your recipes?

butterfly123 · ‎06-27-2013

I love to use fresh herbs in the summer for salads, pasta and other recipes. DH and I will be going to the greenhouse to pick out some herbs tomorrow.

millieshops · ‎03-09-2010

I have fresh basil, parsley (sometimes 2 or 3 kinds, oregano, and various mints all year round.

I don't cook a whole lot, but when I do, I want those herbs to be fresh.

Brooklynny · ‎07-08-2010

I use fresh and dried herbs depending on the recipe, but mostly fresh. I'll be shopping for fresh herb plants for my back patio in a couple of weeks. I routinely buy rosemary, thyme, sage, Italian oregano, tarragon, and basil. Last year I bought an entire flat of basil and made a ton of pesto to eat fresh and froze the rest. I was still enjoying it almost up to Christmas.

butterfly123 · ‎06-27-2013

@Brooklynny wrote:
I use fresh and dried herbs depending on the recipe, but mostly fresh. I'll be shopping for fresh herb plants for my back patio in a couple of weeks. I routinely buy rosemary, thyme, sage, Italian oregano, tarragon, and basil. Last year I bought an entire flat of basil and made a ton of pesto to eat fresh and froze the rest. I was still enjoying it almost up to Christmas.

@Brooklynny

May I ask if you would share your pesto recipe please?

Brooklynny · ‎07-08-2010

@butterfly123 wrote:
@Brooklynny wrote:
I use fresh and dried herbs depending on the recipe, but mostly fresh. I'll be shopping for fresh herb plants for my back patio in a couple of weeks. I routinely buy rosemary, thyme, sage, Italian oregano, tarragon, and basil. Last year I bought an entire flat of basil and made a ton of pesto to eat fresh and froze the rest. I was still enjoying it almost up to Christmas.
@Brooklynny
May I ask if you would share your pesto recipe please?

@butterfly123, Sure. My ingredients include the basil, of course, fresh garlic, Parmiggiano Reggiano, a good olive oil (I use Colavita), pine nuts (pignoli), and a bit of salt. The Parm is on the salty side, so you don't need to add much extra salt. If you google "Basic Pesto Recipe," you'll get the quantities of the above ingredients you need to use, or you could check foodnetwork.com. I've been making it for quite a while, so I basically eyeball it. I use my Vitamix on a low speed. You want some texture, not a smooth paste, unless you like it that way. You can also use a regular blender. Whichever way you make it, your kitchen will smell like heaven! Last year, I bought a dozen of tiny Mason jars on Amazon to jar and freeze the pesto. They're the perfect size to hold enough pesto for two people.

One word of warning: fresh (not supermarket jarred) pine nuts are VERY expensive, especially the imported Mediterranean variety that I prefer. We buy them at a well-known and popular Middle Eastern grocery (Sahadi's) in Brooklyn which is also a wholesaler, so their prices are just a bit better. They can also be purchased from nuts.com. Mediterranean pine nuts are now selling (don't fall off your chair) for $48 a pound at Sahadi's. When I saw that price, I was in total shock! The price seemed to have skyrocketed in less than a year. When I told the clerk I wanted a half pound, he pointed to the sign on the jug and asked me if I were sure that's what I wanted. They used to be around $10-15 a pound, but no longer, so now I buy no more than a half-pound at a time, and I use them carefully in my cooking.

When it's time to make my pesto this summer, I'll have to bite the bullet and get the amount of pine nuts I need. FYI, you might see Chinese pine nuts for much less, but they taste awful. I tried them once, and threw them away. Not worth spending your money on them. Some people like to substitute walnuts, but I really don't like them in pesto. Good luck and enjoy!

butterfly123 · ‎06-27-2013

@Brooklynny

Thank you for the recipe and all the helpful information. I appreciate your suggestions.

I am pondering growing more than one type of basil this year. Do you use more than one type of basil?

Brooklynny · ‎07-08-2010

@butterfly123, you're welcome! I hope you enjoy making it and eating it most of all. It's certainly addictive! I plant the basil known as "Genoa" or "Genoese" because it has large leaves that are perfect for pesto or tossing whole into a fresh tomato salad. There are other large-leafed varieties, but I find the Genoa to be very flavorful and that fragrance is to die for. I think the best place to find it is at farmers' markets. I get mine at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC, but I sometimes find it at the Ace Hardware nearby because I live in an Italian neighborhood. I've never tried other basil varieties though, but not for any particular reason other than I wouldn't know what to do with it...LOL. As David Venable says, I'm a home cook, not a chef

I might also add that if you can't get the Parmiggiano Reggiano, the Grana Padano variety is a very good substitute (and it's a little less expensive). The Reggiano goes for about $18.99 a pound in my neighborhood. I buy it by the approximate half-pound chunk, and I use it judiciously. Depending on what I'm making or how much grated cheese I need for a recipe, I sometimes substitute Grana Padano, but Reggiano is my preference.