Herbed Roasted Roots - Holiday Weekend Recipe

Traditional dishes for Thanksgiving are always fun.  So since it is fall the  root vegetable are abundant.  This dish is easy, delicious and nutritious. I do not peel any of the roots, so as to retain all those lovely minerals. Use any combination of herbs you enjoy. I usually use rosemary, sage, parsley and thyme. ♪

 

Herbed Roasted Roots

2 medium beets

2 medium potatoes

2 medium turnips or parsnips

4 or 5 medium carrots

1 medium sweet potato

1 large onion

2 -3 cloves of garlic

2 – 3 tablespoon of fresh herbs or

            2 melted herb cubes (see blog post from 10/1/2013) *

1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and get out a large baking pan. Lightly oil the bottom of the pan. Scrub all the roots real well then cut into sizes that are similar so they will cook evenly. I cut my sweet potato larger because that is one root that cooks faster. Lay them out in the baking dish. Chop up the onion, mince the garlic and herbs then sprinkle over the roots. Drizzle the olive oil over the lovely mess and toss to coat evenly. Bake for about 30 – 40 minutes or until the biggest potato is easily pierced with a fork, stirring once or twice. The house will start to fill with the best aroma ever! Take out and season with the salt and pepper. Serve hot and Enjoy! 

*If you did not make any herb ice cubes, then use 2 Tbls. fresh herbs of 3 tsp. dried herbs.  Any combo of robust herbs like sage, rosemary, thyme and savory are perfect for this dish.

Harvest time How To on Air Drying Herbs

Herbs are tremendously useful in so many ways. So it is late summer now, your herb garden has been planted, watered, weeded, and you’ve watched the plants grow and thrive. Now it’s time to learn how to use those wonderful herbs and it requires only a little bit of work. The first step in using the results of your garden is to harvest them.

Harvesting an herb does not mean removing the entire plant, rather cutting or rimming 2/3 to 3/4 of the plants height. An herb’s essential oils can be dispersed by the wind and the heat, and on extremely wet days, fewer oils are produced by the plants. The best time to harvest your herbs is during mid to late summer, on a calm and dry morning. Harvest them right before the flowers open in the morning and just after the dew has dried from the leaves.  Yes i did say 2/3 to 3/4 they will grow back, I promise and they will be happier if you cut them often instead of waiting until October.

Using fresh herbs right out of your garden is a delight. Make sure to clean the herbs before using them fresh in recipes. To clean fresh herbs, fill a bowl with cool water and place the herbs in the bowl. For a larger quantity, use the cleaned kitchen sink. Add about two tablespoons of salt to the water. Any insects present on the herbs will be driven away by the salt in the water, without damaging the plant. Rinse carefully and allow them to air dry.  You can speed up this drying by  placing the herbs in a salad spinner.

Of course, herbs don’t have to be used at the time they are picked. They can be preserved for later use in three ways by: drying, freezing, or preserving them in salt, butter or vinegar.


I have posted ways to make and use butters and vinegar before, so I will let you look at those posts:



http://herbal-life-style.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-tues-day-making-herbal-vinegar.html

http://herbal-life-style.blogspot.com/2011/08/compound-herb-butters-summers-special.html


I will talk about some other drying methods in the coming weeks as well, but I thought I would start with the easiest -- air drying.  And I have some great photos from this year’s harvesting. This is a very simple way to preserve herbs. It works best with sturdy herbs like sage, lavender, thyme, savory, mints, rosemary and oregano.

Pick herbs in the morning, after dew has dried, but before the heat of the day sets in. Rinse them and pat them dry. Then, try one of these air-drying methods, all of which take about two to three weeks:

• Remove leaves from the bottom of the stem, and bunch four to six stems together loosely. Bundle with a rubber band or string and hang them, upside down, out of direct sunlight for two to three weeks.

• Spread the herbs out on a loosely on a window screen or woven basket tray and dry them flat.

• Put herbs into brown paper bags and loosely tie or fold over the top.  This is especially good for thyme and chives.

When the herbs crumble to the touch, you can pack the leaves into jars or seal them in plastic bags. Be careful not to crush them yet. Store them whole so that they’ll keep more of their flavorful oils. Keep them from direct sunlight so they’ll maintain their flavor for several months.

Steps to air drying:

Trim the stems until all the herbs in a bundle are about the same length. Place 4 to 6 stems together and bundle with a rubber band.  Some people like string, but since the stems shrink during the drying process, I am more fond of rubber bands which will contract and keep the herbs off the floor.

fresh savory and sage ready to be hung

I also like the fact that the last loop of the band can be placed over the hanging bar and back over the stems to serve as a hanger.  And when I want to remove the herbs.  I just tug on the bundle and the rubber band snaps off the hanging rod.

 

Rubber band looped over rod

 Place the herbs in a dry dark area out of direct sunlight. and give them 48 hours to two weeks to dry.

Quick and easy drying rack using paper tube wire hangers

Once the herbs pass the "crumble test," they are done and can be stored until you are ready to use them in a sealed jar or container.  I place bundles whole in glass jars or zip seal bags until i am ready to strip the stems into my still room jars for use in blends.

 

Savory crumbling perfectly

Sage perfectly dry

When I dry sage, I like the use the leaves with the best color to make rubbed sage.  So I will sort through the leave and separate out the leaves I like.  I crumble them in my hand to a coarse consistency.

Then I place them on a paper towel and using the balls of my fingers rub in gentle circles until I create a clumping powder.  

There are those who run sage leaves in a blender or grinder to make rubbed sage, but I think this lets too much essential oil escape and I prefer the hand method.  It does not take any longer and you have no extra cleanup!

rubbed sage ready for bottling

Roast Pork with Sage & Pecan Pesto - Weekend Recipe

This is a make ahead recipe that you can serve to guests and family for rave reviews.

Roast Pork with Sage and Pecan Pesto

2 quarts apple cider
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup, plus 3 Tbls. fresh sage, chopped and divided.
1 tsp. pepper
2 Tbls. olive oil
fresh sage and pecans for garnish

Combine cider, 1/2 cup sage, and salt.  Stir until salt dissolves.  Place Pork in plastic zip seal bag add cider mixture.  Seal Bag and chill for 12 to 24 hours.

Remove Pork from brine and pat dry with paper towels.  Sprinkle pork with pepper.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat; add pork. Cook 6 minutes or until browned on all sides, turning pork occasionally. Place pork on a rack in a lightly greased roasting pan. Sprinkle remaining 3 Tbsp. sage over pork.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 25 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of roast registers 150°. Remove from oven; cover and let rest 10 minutes or until thermometer reaches 160° before slicing. Garnish platter, if desired. Serve with Sage and Pecan Pesto.

Sage & Pecan Pesto
Do not over process this, it is best with some granules and texture.

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup firmly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup firmly packed fresh sage leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1        garlic clove, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt 

Combine all ingredients in a food processor; process until ingredients are finely chopped.

Pineapple Sage - Herb of the week

I have been admiring the Pineapple Sage I brought into the house this fall because it was still flowering when frost hit.  As as a result, today's

 Herb of the week is: Pineapple sage, Salvia elegans

Belonging to the mint family Labiatae, it is indigenous to high altitude regions of Guatemala and Mexico. Despite its name, this perennial flowering plant is not related to pineapple. It is so called with reference to the scented leaves, whose sweet fragrance resembles that of the pineapple fruit. Similar to the growth habit of common sage, pineapple sage plant is a shrub of about 4-5 feet.  It will begin flowering in Mexico in August, but farther north it may not flower until much later in the fall.

Including pineapple sage in your garden will allow you to enjoy lovely butterflies and humming birds visiting this fragrant plant. Harvest the leaves occasionally and enjoy them yourself or dry them for later use.

How to Grow

Considered a tender perennial, Pineapple sage is best adapted in USDA zones 8-11, so here in Illinois I am forced to grow it in a pot if I want to keep it from one year to the next. The ideal growing conditions are optimal sunlight exposure (at least 6 hours a day), well-drained and fertile soil, and regular watering. Based on your plan, it can be included in container gardening or grow directly in garden soil. Planting is best done in spring with stem cuttings. Prepare potting media or garden soil in early spring and purchase already rooted plantlets from the nursery, and plant in the regular way as you do for other bushy herbs. Pineapple sage is easily propagated from stem cuttings rooted in potting soil or a mixture of sand and peat moss.  Pinching the tops of newly rooted cuttings reaps dual benefits: it promotes a bushier plant, and you can use the tasty young leaves to flavor a fruit salad or dessert.

The pale yellow-green leaves are veined, and covered with fine hairs. Six to twelve scarlet flowers grow in whorls, with a long inflorescence that blooms gradually and over a prolonged period of time. Scarlet colored flower buds in long tubular shapes appear in the late season, usually after everything else has bloomed. The buds bloom in a specific pattern, with the base flowers opening first. For regions with short fall or an early frost, transfer the plants indoors to lengthen their blooming period. This year I brought mine inside in October and it bloomed up until Christmas.  Remember that it cannot tolerate prolonged dry spells and cold temperature, so you must water it regularly if you bring it indoors or the leaves with turn brown on the edges.
Because it’s a tender perennial, the way you grow pineapple sage depends on your climate. In the South, it is treated as a perennial, in the North as an annual. Either way, it develops into a graceful mound of fragrant foliage, equally at home in a formal herb garden or a casual herbaceous border. An established plant in the South needs a space about 41/2 feet in diameter, preferably at the rear of a border or in the center of an island bed where it will not obstruct the view of foreground plants. When placing pineapple sage among other ornamental flowers, consider the colors of its fall-blooming neighbors; for example, white or lavender asters might be a better choice than vivid magenta ones. If you grow pineapple sage as an annual, think of it as a foliage plant, as it may need to be brought indoors before it flowers. To facilitate the transition, you can grow it in a large container. This guarantees a satisfactory root system for it to carry on indoors and minimizes the shock of moving it when its season in the garden is over.

For easy maintenance, consider laying a mulch layer around the stem. This will reduce soil moisture evaporation and weed growth. If required, stake the plants to protect from strong winds, they can get tall and the stems are not woody, when you trim them they will bush out. The maximum height for pineapple sage is about 3 to 4 feet in the first year.  If you live in the right zone they you can winter them over and get higher growth the following year.

Pineapple Sage Uses

The pineapple sage is a well-known multipurpose herb, prized for its versatile application. It is used as a curative plant, a flavorful herb for garnishing dishes and a specimen plant for avid gardeners.  Pineapple sage leaves are edible and can be steeped in hot water to make an herbal tea or jam. It is also used in perfumes.

Cut them freely; buds on the lateral shoots will develop in abundance to produce a steady supply of flowers for your garden. The dried leaves and flowers impart their delicate, fruity bouquet to potpourri—it is hard to use too much. Entire stems can be dried for use in herbal wreaths.

In the kitchen, fruit salads are enhanced by the fruity, piquant flavor of the fresh flowers and leaves. This flavor is very different from that of garden sage; although there is a sagey element, it’s very subtle, and pineapple sage doesn’t substitute for other culinary sages. The flowers add visual sparkle as well. Even without flowers, a fresh leafy stem of pineapple sage is the perfect garnish for tall summer drinks.

For food lovers, pineapple sage recipes are perfect for including a flavorful dish in the meal menu. From sweet banana smoothie to bread, fritters, salsa and chicken recipes, the sweet scented leaves complement nearly all types of dishes that call for a rich flavor.  Try mixing the minced leaves and flowers in cream cheese for a delightfully fruity spread, or knead a handful or two of chopped leaves into raisin bread dough. Steeping the leaves in hot apple juice and using the juice to make jelly is an easy way to preserve the pineapple sage flavor. You can preserve the sweetness in herbal sugar too by layering the leaves in sugar and allowing to infuse for a day or 5. The dried leaves can be brewed for a satisfying winter tea; however, the fruity element is lost in drying.

The purported health benefits of this herb include calming the nervous system, serving as a general tonic, improving the digestive health and treating heartburn. Pineapple sage is extensively used in Mexican traditional medicine, especially for the treatment of anxiety, and also for lowering of blood pressure. Although scientific information about these medicinal properties is scarce, a preliminary study on mice found support for the plant potentially having anti depressant and anti anxiety properties.

Recipes

Pineapple Sage Smoothie

1/3 cup skim milk

3/4 cup vanilla yogurt

1/2 banana

1 tsp honey

1 1/2 tbls pineapple sage packed and chopped

Place ingredients in blender in the order ingredients are listed. Process until smooth.

Pineapple Sage Pound Cake

I adapted this recipe from a pineapple and sage pound cake and I find it is much sweeter less savory with Pineapple sage.

1 cup butter (room temperature)

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup honey

5 eggs

2 tbls pineapple sage leaves, chopped

3 tbls pineapple sage flowers, coarsely chopped

1 tsp grated lemon rind

4 tbls crushed pineapple, drained

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour four miniature loaf pans Cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Beat in the honey. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure to beat for one minute after each addition. Beat in the sage leaves, flowers, lemon peel, and crushed pineapple. Stir the dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture. Fold these together gently, until just blended. Pour into loaf pans. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until golden brown (wooden pick inserted into center will come out clean). Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out of pans and continue to cool.

*I used a regular size loaf pan just bake a little longer till brown and cake tester comes out clean.

Pineapple Sage and Ginger Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pounded to 1/3 inch uniform thickness)

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup flour

grapeseed oil

butter  

1 bunch of  fresh pineapple sage leaves, washed and chopped)

2 tbls ginger puree

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup chicken broth

1 lb pasta (gemelli or fettuccini)

whole pineapple sage leaves for garnish

Preparing the chicken: If you have a little time before cooking dinner, lightly salt and pepper the chicken breasts. It's great if you can do this the night before, but it's not necessary. Mix about a half teaspoon of salt in with the flour along with a little pepper. Dredge both sides of the chicken lightly in the flour. Heat a large heavy skillet (with a lid) over medium high heat, with a little grape seed oil and about half a tablespoon of butter. Quickly sear both sides of the chicken breast until just faintly golden; you don't want the insides to cook much at all. Cover tightly and turn the heat down very low. Cook for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. Remove from the heat and let sit for another 10 minutes, still tightly covered. Transfer chicken to warming plate, tented with foil to keep it warm.

 Whisk the ginger puree into the wine. Heat the skillet with the pan juices and fat, scrapping up any fond (brown bits) from the bottom of the pan, and sauté the sage leaves just until wilted. Deglaze the pan with the wine and ginger mixture, letting it bubble until slightly reduced. Add the broth and cook until reduced by half. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted boiling water according to package instructions. Drain and toss with the ginger sauce. I saved a little bit of the ginger sauce to pour over the chicken. OR: Place the pasta on the platter, then the chicken and pour all the sauce evenly on top of the mixture. Serve the chicken on top of the pasta. Garnish with a few whole pineapple sage leaves. Serving suggestion: steamed vegetables and/or a tossed salad using seasonal produce. Basmati rice or jasmine rice is another option instead of pasta.

*To make your own ginger puree, finely grate 1 tablespoon fresh ginger and stir in about 1 tablespoon softened honey (or cane sugar). Do not substitute dry or ground ginger in this recipe as it will be overpowering in flavor and strength.