How can we get the most from herbs to provide us with one of the easiest, least expensive, and tasty ways to add variety to our dishes in the coming weeks?
Herbs are so much more than just a flavour and garnish, they also contain lots of health benefits, so it’s well worth looking at how to get the most from these versatile plants at this time.
Over the coming days, we’ll be offering helpful tips on food storage, freezing, and preparation. We’ll be recommending recipes to cook in bulk, at times with limited resources, perhaps for sharing with others, and always to bolster our immune systems.
It’s our aim to help you to make the task of cooking as nutritious, time-saving, and as practical as possible. Using herbs in our cooking is a great way to achieve all 3!
Growing your own is an easy and super cheap way to have a variety of flavours to hand.
Planting herbs is easier than starting from a seed, but if on a tight budget, starting herbs from seeds is not difficult. It’s also something educational and fun to keep children busy and active. They will love learning about them, watering them, and taking pics as they grow.
Now is the best time to grow your own herbs from seeds. Chives, mint, parsley, oregano, thyme and basil are among some of the easiest to grow indoors and are perfect for adding some extra flavour to your Unislim recipes, such as our Herby Fish Cakes.
Find lots of herb garden ideas and earn some extra bites while enjoying a new activity. By starting now, you’ll have a range of fabulous multipurpose herbs to add variety to your garden, and your meals in no time.
To get the most out of your herbs, all you have to do is freeze them into single serve portions.
Simply, chop up your herbs and place them in an ice cube tray, cover with water and freeze.
This way, when you need to add some herbs to a dish you can just grab an ice cube and it will thaw out almost immediately.
This means you’ll always have some healthy herbs at hand.
Make the most of your herbs by trying out some of our favourite spring recipes, such as our Herbed Rack of Lamb – it’s a real crowd pleaser, with a short preparation time too!
If you do buy fresh herbs in the shop, here’s how you can get the most out of them.
Roll thyme and rosemary in a moist kitchen roll and then store them in the fridge until they’re ready to be used.
Place coriander and parsley upright in a jar with about 1 inch of water, cover with zip lock bag and secure with rubber band and put in the fridge. This should keep them for 3-5 days.
Store basil in a jar with 1 inch of water, outside the fridge at room temperature.
Just like that, your herbs will stay fresher for longer.
We think you’ll enjoy these herby wedges to add variety to potato dishes – an easy-to-cook, yet filling lunch for all.
When cooking using dry herbs, the quantity you need to use is always less – as dried herbs are more concentrated.
A good rule of thumb is to use three times the amount of fresh herbs as dry.
Always add your herbs in small doses, so you can taste and adjust accordingly.
Use fresh or dry sage and rosemary to add additional flavour to our tasty Lemon and Herb Chicken recipe while filling the kitchen with an uplifting fragrance at the same time.
To chop sage leaves, take all the leaves off the stem, wash thoroughly under running water, lay then one-on-top of the other in a pile and chop.
To quickly remove the leaves from thyme and rosemary, use a sieve. Simply pull the sprig through the sieve and it should remove all the stalks. Wash the remaining leaves gently.
This Rosemary Chicken Roast is one of our favourite one-dish nutritious family meals. Dried or fresh Rosemary will do the trick.
When cutting Basil, prepare as with Sage; pile the leaves on top of each other, then to get those lovely Basil ribbons, roll them together and slice through with your knife.
For some tasty dishes to brighten up with seasonal herbs, try our Salmon with Lemon and for a delicious and nutritious dinner.
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