Main ingredients
Fresh herbs recipes
Added at the end, in quantity.
Herbs divide into the soft and the hard, and the division decides when they go in. Soft herbs — parsley, coriander, basil, chives, dill — carry volatile aromatic compounds that are destroyed by sustained heat, so they belong at the end or off the heat entirely. Hard herbs — rosemary, thyme, bay, sage — are woody and resinous and want time and fat to give up what they have, so they go in at the start. Almost every recipe that tastes of nothing much has put a soft herb in early. The recipes here are explicit about the timing, and about the stalks, which in coriander and parsley carry more flavour than the leaves and are usually thrown away.
11 recipes
Roast Squash and Sage Soup
Squash roasted until the cut faces caramelise, then blended with stock and sage, which gives a depth that simmering raw cubes never reaches.
Roast Chicken with Lemon and Thyme
A whole chicken salted and left uncovered in the fridge before roasting hot then moderate, so the skin crisps and the breast stays juicy.
Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter
Baked potatoes riced while hot and bound with as little flour as they will take, which is the difference between light gnocchi and bullets.
Lemony Chickpea and Herb Salad
Chickpeas dressed while they are still warm so they drink the lemon and oil, then turned through parsley, mint and dill by the handful.
Green Curry with Chicken and Thai Basil
Cracking the coconut cream before the paste goes in is the step most recipes skip, and the one that decides whether this tastes fried or boiled.
Braised White Beans with Sage
Dried beans soaked in salted water and held at a bare simmer, so the skins stay whole and the liquor turns silky.
Mojito
Mint pressed rather than pounded, with white rum, lime and soda over crushed ice, so it tastes of the leaf and not of the stalk.
Roast Squash with Sage and Chilli
Squash roasted in thick crescents with the skin left on, finished with sage crisped in oil and sliced red chilli.
Roast Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary
A bone-in leg studded with garlic and rosemary, roasted hot then moderate and pulled off the heat pink, with gravy made in the tin.
Beef and Ale Stew with Herb Dumplings
Chuck steak simmered in dark ale until it gives, with suet dumplings steamed on the surface of the pot for the last half hour.
Basil Pesto
Basil, pine nuts, garlic and cheese pounded to a coarse sauce, kept cold throughout so the leaves stay green instead of bruising brown.