This part of the site deals with herb recipes, or, rather recipes that include herbs, and the art of effectively cooking with culinary herbs to promote healthy eating and a healthy diet.
There are certain conventions in the use of herbs in cooking, but no rules. Most decent recipes include a herb or selection of herbs to add flavour to the meal, and, if you are a beginner following such a recipe is a good way to start. But then - experiment. Taste your dish as you go along if you can; you can always sprinkle a little more in. Try a different herb next time.
Much of cooking with culinary herbs comes with experience. Many recipes don't call for the addition of herbs. Add some anyway; just a little, then a little more if you think so. I can't imagine roast potatoes without a sprinkle of rosemary, pizza without oregano maybe plus a few of its friends. The world would be a such a sadder place without basil for pesto sauce, fennel or dill for baked fish, peas without mint; stuffing without sage; parsley garnish to sprinkle over......just about anything. Once you start cooking with herbs you never look back. And, hopefully, you never stop experimenting and developing your own herb recipes.
And so I've tried to include recipes for every culinary herb the site deals with, for meat dishes, vegetarian and vegan dishes, and salads. I've had to do a bit of scouring around in my old recipe folders and elsewhere because much of what I do I make up as I go along. Many of my old herb recipes proved pretty worthless for reproducing here; I doubt whether a "dollop" of this a "sploosh" of that a "liberal sprinkle" of the other would mean as much to my readers as they do to me.
I hope you find the recipes clear and easy to follow. Where I know the source of the recipe I include a reference to it, but, at this stage they are largely my own, or mum's, or from unknown sources - and have probably changed over time.
By far it's best to use home grown fresh culinary herbs (and vegetables) because, if you are into eating healthy- and aren't we all - you know they are free from chemicals. It's also very satisfying to use something from your own garden. I also keep and use a complete range of dried herbs, mostly bought. Drying culinary herbs is fun but you have to be careful. If you don't get rid of all the moisture they are likely to go mouldy and if you dry them for too long or get them too hot you lose some of the essential oils and, consequently, flavour.
If you have a favourite herb recipe you'd care to share, please do so using the form opposite (but not material under copy write, please, i.e. downloaded from the Net or copied straight out of a cook book or you'll get me into trouble). I've got a hungry 15 year old in the house who also believes in eating healthy and is as enthusiastic about new, tasty and interesting food as I am (and very honest about what doesn't work!).
So...cheers ..here's to successful cooking with herbs and a healthy diet!