According to Charlemagne, an herb is the friend of the physicians and the praise of cooks. History records show that herbs are used mainly for treatment. But with creativity of the masters, herbs became the praise in cooking.
Today there has been a great surge of renewed awareness in herbs. A revival of the culinary arts and various ethnic cuisine has prompted new interest. Health conscious cooks have found that herbs contain no calories or fat - a fact of great importance to those on weight loss diets. Doctors even recommend the use of herbs and spices in salt-restricted diets to enhance flavor without adding sodium content. Adventurous cooks have found that raising their own herbs can be quite fulfilling as a hobby with the end results in cooking as just an added bonus.
Besides helping flavor foods when cutting back on salt, fat and sugar, herbs may offer additional benefits of their own. Researchers are finding many culinary herbs (both fresh and dried) have antioxidants that may help protect against such diseases as cancer and heart disease.
Here are some ideas to help you start combining fresh herbs with your foods.
BASIL - a natural snipped in with tomatoes; terrific in fresh pesto; other possibilities include pasta sauce, peas, zucchini
CHIVES - dips, potatoes, tomatoes
CILANTRO - Mexican, Asian and Caribbean cooking; salsas, tomatoes
DILL - carrots, cottage cheese, fish, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes
MINT - carrots, fruit salads, parsley, peas, tabouli, tea
OREGANO - peppers, tomatoes
PARSLEY - The curly leaf is the most common, but the flat-leaf or Italian parsley is more strongly flavored and often preferred for cooking. Naturals for parsley include potato salad, tabouli
ROSEMARY - chicken, fish, lamb, pork, roasted potatoes, soups, stews, tomatoes
SAGE - poultry seasoning, stuffings
TARRAGON - chicken, eggs, fish
THYME - eggs, lima beans, potatoes, poultry, summer squash, tomatoes
WINTER SAVORY - dried bean dishes, stews
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