How To-sday - Making Rosemary Oil

Rosemary is a symbol of friendship, loyalty, and remembrance, which makes it a very special gift for a friend, especially those close to your heart.  This is a great housewarming gift but it must be kept in the refrigerator.  Although there are those that say this can be kept for up to 3 months.  I recommend keeping it only for 3 weeks. I've given you some recipes so you will have not trouble using it up!

You'll need:

• 1 cup fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 cup or so of good quality olive oil or grape seed oil
• A sterilized wide mouth pint jar

How to make it:

1. Let the fresh rosemary leaves wilt slightly, then strip from the stems and crush them with a rolling pin.
   
2. Then crush them with a rolling pin.
   
3. Put the leaves in a saucepan with oil and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
   
4. Remove from heat and pour into a canning jar or other heat resistant glass container and let cool to room temperature. Top off with any extra olive oil if needed.
   
5. Taste the oil and if the flavor is not strong enough repeat the process with fresh herbs.
6. If the flavor is strong enough you can strain the oil though a paper or muslin filter and press the herbs to extract all the liquid.
   
7. Pour in a sterilized bottle, seal, label and decorate.
   

Keep refrigerated. 

Use your Oil

Serve with sliced baguette for dipping. or use in these great recipes. It is great in an Italian dressing and used with vinegar as a beef marinade.  Experiment to discover other uses of the tasty oil. Rosemary is a good treatment for arthritis too, so put a few Tablespoons in a bath and soak.

 

Rosemary Bread

2 eggs

½ cup walnuts

¾ cup white wine or apple juice

Vegetable cooking spray

1 Tbls. lemon zest

¾ cup sugar

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ cup rosemary oil

¼ tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly coat a loaf pan with vegetable cooking spray. Stir together flour, sugar, walnuts, baking powder, salt and lemon zest in bowl. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, wine, and rosemary oil, then stir into dry ingredients. Transfer the batter into pan and smooth the surface. Bake 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

10 to 20 small red skin or yukon gold potatoes

10 cloves garlic minced (we love garlic so feel free to use less)

2 tablespoons rosemary oil

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

freshly ground black pepper

salt

Scrub potatoes well, and toss into a baking dish with the garlic and the oil. Roll them around so they are well coated. Season generously with salt and pepper and sprinkle on the rosemary and vinegar. Roast in oven 450 degrees F for at least one hour until potatoes are golden and cooked through.

Making Parsley Oil

Parsley is a biennial herb.  The second year it really just focuses its energy on making seed, so the quality of the leaves are greatly diminished.  For that reason I generally treat it as an annual and at the end of the season, I cut the plant off at the ground, or yank it out by the roots. 

Drying parsley is often not the easiest thing to do (it is one of those herbs that turns brown if drying conditions are not perfect.)  As a result I try to preserve it different ways.  One of the best for preserving that bright, green flavor of both curly and flat parsley is to make parsley oil.

Making Parsley Oil

2 cups (500 ml) parsley leaves

½ cup (140 ml) vegetable oil

1.                  Bring a pot of water to boil and season with salt.

2.                  Blanch the parsley. (Allow parsley to remain in boiling water for only 2 minutes, then remove.)

3.                  Place the blanched parsley on a tea towel.  Ball up the edges of the tea towel and twist them into a knot to squeeze all the water from the herbs.

4.                  Place the squeezed parsley into the blender and add half the oil.  Puree for a few seconds and then add the other half of the oil.  Pulse the blender rather than letting it run continuously as the heat generated will darken the oil.  Continue to purée until the oil becomes bright green.

5.                  When green, empty the oil into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight.

6.                  The following day, place cheesecloth in a strainer placed over a bowl and pour the oil into the cheesecloth.  Allow it to drip until the oil is strained.  Do not force the oil through the cheesecloth or this will make the final oil cloudy.

7.                  Bottle the oil for use.  Keep it in the refrigerator.  It will only hold for a few days, but can be frozen for slightly longer storage.

8.                  Now you can have some fun. 

a.       Use the oil to decorate serving plates with a few drizzles; you can be like Martha Stewart!

b.      It can now be used in any dish where you would use plain oil.

c.       It is good tossed with spaghetti or shaped pasta and blanched vegetables.

d.      Make a vinaigrette salad dressing with 2/3 cup oil and 1/3 cup vinegar. You can really play with the flavor by mixing it with herbal vinegar, like basil or lemon. 

The Backyard Patch does not make oils for commercial sale, however we do have herb blends that mix with your own canola, olive or vegetable oil.  Check them out at http://www.backyardpatch.mysite.com/small_photo_page.html  (look for the link called Herbs for Oil)