Cooking with Sage

Sage is a herb I often combine with other herbs such as thyme, rosemary, basil, sometimes mint or oregano to spice up roast chicken, lamb or pork.

It is can be combined with other herbs, mainly thyme and beans in soups. It is used to add flavour to potato and vegetable dishes, having a strident, bitter flavour. Of course, it should not be overdone, or all you will taste is the sage.

Sage blends well with mild cheeses; a little sage is a delightful addition to a grilled cheese sandwich made with fontina cheese and wholemeal bread

Ofcourse its famous use is in in stuffing. It would be hard to find a stuffing that does not include sage as an ingredient.

Other than that, sage is not to everybody's liking. It has a strong distinctive flavour and aroma and should not be overdone.

The herb can be readily dried and it is the dried herb that is most commonly used in cooking. The dried herb can be chopped (cut) into pieces to yield "whole" sage or finely ground, (which you can do yourself be merely rubbing the dried herb between your fingers) yielding - you guessed it - "rubbed" sage.

But, when I cook with sage,I enjoy the appearance and smell of the fresh leaves; they make a wonderful aromatic garnish for salads. Also, the flowers are edible, as well as beautiful, and have a more delicate flavor than the leaves.

Sage also freezes well; just pop it in an airtight bag and freeze for later use. It should last well over winter (especially here in Queensland, Australia –– we don't have a real winter!)

At the barbeque - or grilling indoors - the stems or leaves can be tossed onto hot charcoal where they will add a wonderful aroma to grilled dishes.