Herbs - whenever you need them

Nowadays, many recipes call for fresh herbs. Fresh herbs are wonderful but unless you grow them yourself, they are expensive and quite perishable. We at the School of Eating Good try to use fresh herbs when we have them - we grow them in our gardens and have small pots of them in sunny windows for winter use. But, we realize that many people don't have access to fresh herbs. Therefore, we give you an alternative to fresh herbs, either with dried or frozen herbs, in our recipes.

The basic conversion rate for fresh to dried herbs is 3x fresh =  1 dried herbs. If a recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon fresh herbs, use 1 Teaspoon dried herbs. Frozen herbs need no conversion. Certain herbs such as cilantro and chives do not dry well but they freeze quite well. Other herbs such as basil, thyme, oregano, Italian parsley, and rosemary also freeze well. Give them a rinse, allow them to airdry, then freeze them in a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, put them in a plastic bag for storage in the deep freeze. When you need some, just take out what you need and use like fresh. Since packages of fresh herbs at the market usually contain more than you'll need for a single recipe, this is also a great way to get the most out of those expensive fresh herbs.

Dried herbs have a long storage life but it's not forever. After about 1 year, they lose a lot of flavor. You should try to buy just a little at a time. Some supermarkets now sell dried herbs and spices in the bulk section where you can buy much less than a whole jar for a reasonable price. If you can only buy herbs in a full jar,  have a herb swap with your friends. Have a group of friends each buy a jar or two of dried herbs. Get together and divvy up the each jar among the group. Now you all have a little bit of all the herbs rather than each of you having a big jar of one herb that you'll never use up before it loses its punch!

Homemade Vinaigrette - you'll never want store-bought salad dressing again!

Vinaigrette is an emulsion of oil and vinegar, often flavored with herbs, spices, and other ingredients, such as shallots, raspberries, and cheese.  The basic recipe is to slowly add 3 parts oil at room temperature to 1 part vinegar, using a whisk, until it emulsifies into a creamy sauce.  Salt and pepper are added to taste and the addition of a small amount of mustard can help the keep the oil and acid in an emulsified state.  The typical amount per serving is 1 ½ - 2 Tablespoons.  I like to make up about a cup of vinaigrette and keep it in the refrigerator.  Basic vinaigrette will stay in the refrigerator for a couple weeks before the emulsion breaks down.  Here are my favorite recipes. 

But wait, here’s a trick!  Dampen a paper towel and put it on your counter under the bowl you are going to use to make the vinaigrette.  It will help keep the bowl from whirling around while you pour the oil with one hand and whisk with the other.

Basic Vinaigrette: put 4 Teaspoons Dijon mustard in a small bowl with ¼ cup vinegar (I'm a fan of white balsamic).  Slowly whisk in ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil until it emulsifies. Mix in salt and pepper to taste.

Pomegranate Balsamic Vinaigrette:  put 1 Tablespoon pomegranate molasses in a small bowl with 3 Tablespoons dark balsamic vinegar. Whisk in ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil. Mix in salt and pepper to taste. Note: this makes a fantastic fall dinner salad with arugula, chunks of roasted sweet potatoes, chicken or turkey, pomegranate seeds, and shaved parmesan cheese.  Did you know you can freeze pomegranate seeds?  I do it every fall, so I can eat this yummy salad all year long!

Asian Sesame Vinaigrette: put ¼ cup toasted sesame oil, 2 Tablespoons soy sauce and 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes in a small bowl.  Whisk in ¾ cup canola or vegetable oil.

Fish and Mushrooms in Foil

Quick. Easy. Tasty. Clean-up is minimal since the fish cooks in a foil packet. You can make a single serving but we recommend making a few servings. Leftovers heat up well and taste great.

This recipe doesn't look easy because there are a lot of steps but it's really just about building up the parts in the packet. All the steps are very simple and quick.

This recipe uses tarragon. Tarragon has a distinctive flavor of licorice. If you don't like that flavor another herb such as basil or thyme can be substituted. Fresh parsley is good too.

For each serving:
6 oz boneless white fish fillet, such as sole, catfish or tilapia
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
4 medium button mushrooms
1 Tablespoon + about 1 teaspoon butter
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped OR 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon, crushed
1 teaspoon minced fresh OR frozen chives, optional (see note)
black pepper
salt

1 12" x 12" square of foil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle fish fillet with lemon juice and let stand while you do your prep.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Add tarragon to butter and garlic. Set aside.

Slice mushrooms and set aside.

Rub about 1 teaspoon butter onto center of foil square. Place fish and lemon juice on top of buttered section. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Arrange mushrooms slices on top of fish. Drizzle with melted butter/garlic/tarragon.

Sprinkle with another pinch of salt and pepper.

Fold up long sides of foil and tightly crimp it to seal. Seal ends by rolling up. You want a good seal because a) it prevents leaks which are messy, and b) the fish steams better if you have a good seal.

Place foil packet on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.

Cut open foil packet and spoon fish with sauce onto a plate. Can be served with anything that will soak up the sauce - rice, noodles or bread.

Note: Chives freeze exceptionally well. Since you always get more than you need in a supermarket package, you'll want to preserve the extra. Clean out any dried or brown chives and freeze them on a plate or cookie sheet. Once they are frozen, you can put them in a small plastic bag. To use, no need to thaw, snip them with scissors (the easiest way) or chop with a knife.

Quick Summer Pasta - Good All Year

Summer is winding down. Fall arrives on Friday but we can still enjoy the bounty of summer, even into the winter. This recipe uses pesto and cherry tomatoes, foods associated with summer. But, you can make this year round because cherry tomatoes are available in winter and decent pesto is sold in most supermarkets. Try to find the pesto sold in the refrigerated case because it is far superior to the pesto sold in shelf-stable jars.

Bowties with pesto
(serves 4)

1 lb. regular or multigrain bowtie pasta
8 oz. container pesto
1 pt. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and while warm, add the pesto, tomatoes, and feta cheese and stir.

Variation: to bulk this up, cut 1 large cooked boneless chicken breast (about 8 oz) into bite-sized pieces and add it at the same time as the pesto. See our post on Curried Chicken Salad on how to quickly cook chicken breasts in the microwave.

That's peachy!

It's still peach season here in Colorado. Beautiful peaches are available everywhere. A really ripe peach is a summer joy. You know the kind - you need to eat it over the sink. But, peaches are a great year-round treat because they freeze so well. You can pick up a bag of frozen peaches at the supermarket and keep them stashed for smoothies, peach sauce - great on pancakes, and peach desserts like crisps or cobblers.

Here's a peach topping that is so easy. You use the microwave to cook the peaches in a simple maple syrup flavored sauce. Real maple syrup is expensive, but this extends that luxury by mixing it with peaches. Imitation maple syrup works too if real maple syrup isn't in your budget.  The peaches are good on pancakes, pound cake, ice cream, or frozen vanilla yogurt. It's a fruity way to sweeten plain yogurt too.

Peach Slices with Maple Syrup
(adapted from Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving)

1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
4 large peaches, peeled and sliced OR 3 cups thawed frozen peach slices

Combine maple syrup and sugar in a 4 cup microwavable container. Microwave on high for 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved.

Add peach slices, cover and microwave for 3 additional minutes. Let stand, covered, for 2 additional minutes.

Use hot, cool in the refrigerator or freeze in plastic containers if not using in the next week.

Note: 2 Tablespoons of Amaretto or Sherry can be added when peach slices are added, if desired. Amaretto, an almond liqueur from Italy, and peaches are a particularly tasty combination.

Tuna alla Puttanesca

Here's a quick end-of-summer pasta dinner. Packs a lot of flavor and uses the bold ingredients of Pasta all Puttanesca: capers and olives. If you have ripe summer tomatoes, use them. The rest of the year, you'll get better flavor from canned tomatoes. This recipe is plenty tasty with any canned tuna but if you want to get decadent, use imported Italian tuna packed in olive oil.

Tuna alla Puttanesca
(from The Tuna Council of The National Fisheries Institute)
4 servings

2 cans (5 ounces each) tuna in water or oil OR 10-12 oz Italian tuna packed in olive oil

1 lb. farfalle pasta

4 Tablespoons olive oil (or use the oil from the tuna can/jar, if using tuna packed in olive oil)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 medium onions, cut in ¼“ slices

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice or 2 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup dry white wine

3 Tablespoons capers, drained

1 Tablespoon rosemary, chopped

½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and cut in quarters

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Salt to taste

1 Tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped

Drain the tuna, reserving the oil if using tuna in olive oil. Flake the tuna. Set aside.

Prepare pasta according to package directions.  Set aside.

Place oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and onions and sauté about 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes and juice, wine, capers, rosemary, olives, and pepper.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

Raise heat to medium and cook another 3 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.  Add salt to taste (careful: there is a lot of salt in the capers and olives).

Combine tuna, sauce and parsley with pasta.

Serve.