Rosemary-Infused Cooking Oil

My rosemary came in for the winter and because of the early season warm weather kept growing, so this week I trimmed it up so it will not be as stressed now that it has gotten very cold here.  I decided to make a fun winter staple here in our home, which we use to marinade meats and vegetables. This simple recipe for rosemary-infused cooking oil is perfect for adding a fragrant herbal touch to your dishes!

Rosemary-Infused Cooking Oil

Ingredients:

• 1 cup olive oil (or another neutral oil like grapeseed or sunflower oil)
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary (washed and thoroughly dried)

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Rosemary:
   Ensure your rosemary sprigs are completely dry to prevent any water from causing the oil to spoil. Let them air dry for several hours or pat them dry with a clean towel.
2. Heat the Oil:
   In a small saucepan, gently heat the oil over low heat until warm but not simmering or boiling. (Aim for about 180°F/82°C, if you have a thermometer.) This helps extract the rosemary flavor without cooking the oil.
3. Add the Rosemary:
   Add the rosemary sprigs to the warm oil. Let them steep in the oil over low heat for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You’ll notice the aroma of rosemary infusing into the oil.
4. Cool and Strain (Optional):
   Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the oil to cool completely. For a more refined look, strain the oil into a clean, dry glass bottle or jar using a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth, discarding the rosemary.
5. Store:
   Seal the bottle or jar tightly and store it in the refrigerator.  Use the oil within 7 to 10 days and discard left overs at that time.

Uses:

• Drizzle over roasted vegetables or salads.
• Make a salad dressing with 2/3 cup oil, 1/4 cup vinegar and 2 Tbls water.
• Use as a dip for fresh bread sprinkled with parmesan cheese.
• Brush onto meats or vegetables before cooking.
• Enhance the flavor of marinades and pasta dishes.

Enjoy this fragrant and versatile oil! Let me know if you'd like tips for other herb infused items!

Spicy Sweet Chicken Kabobs - Weekend Recipe

This weekend I was to be speaking at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, both Saturday and Sunday.  I had prepared my Infusions program for Saturday and Blending Herbs for Tea and Cooking for Sunday.  

Infusions is a program I love doing and created especially for the Chicago Flower and Garden Show about 5 years ago.  I decided to turn it into a book to kick off a series of small books called Herbs R Easy.  My lecture participants have consistently said that I make herbs seem easy and I realized it was a great theme.  So I brainstormed 43 different ideas that I can turn into small easy-to-read books on singular subjects all related to herbs. The books easy to digest and the instructions simple to use, making Herbs Easy.

Until we schedule a book launch, you can pick up a digital copy of my book INFUSION, first in the series Herbs R Easy, on my website. Infusion focuses on making herb flavored items, like honey, compound butter, and herbal wine or vinegar.  If you are interested in my new book, check out this link to a digital version.

This recipe is great if you make an herb infused honey, especially one made with pineapple sage or ginger. 

Spicy Sweet Chicken Kabobs

1 14-ounce can pineapple chunks, drained

1 medium red pepper  

1 Tbls vegetable oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup of honey, plain or herbal

1/4 tsp ginger, powdered

1/2 tsp granulated garlic

1/4 cup pineapple juice

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

Directions:

Cut each chicken breast into 1-inch cubes. Combine oil, soy sauce, honey, pineapple juice and powdered ginger and garlic in a large zip seal bag and add chicken. Marinade the chicken in the sauce overnight.

Dice red pepper and drain pineapple.  Then alternately thread marinated chicken, pepper and pineapple onto skewers.  Brush kabobs with any remaining marinade and discard what is left over. Broil, about 6 inches from heat source, 12 to 14 minutes, turning and brushing. 

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, or Recipe2019 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2020 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Feb 2020 - Footbal Tailgate Favorites (AppFeb)

March 2020 - Kabobs (KabobMar)

April 2020 - Brunch (BrunchApr)

May 2020 - Non-Traditional Pizza (PizzaMay)

June 2020 - StirFry Dishes (StirJun)

July 2020 - Salads with no lettuce (SaladJul)

August 2020 - Pickled things (PickleAug)

September 2020 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2020 - Squash Soups (SquashOct)

November 2020 - Pumpkin (again) (PumpNov)

December 2020 - Turkey Recipes (TurkDec)

Flavored Salt How Tuesday -- and a blog change

With everyone, including myself, at home so much these days, many folks are trying to fill the time with activities and taking advantage of the forced break to learn something new.

I thought I would change the things I had planned for the blog for the next few months to easy recipes, herb activities and even a few herb-related crafts.  With Mother's and Father's days coming, you might even be able to make a gift for someone special.

Today is How to - normally I do these on Tuesday's but yesterday was election day and I was a bit preoccupied as I work as an election judge.

So today I am going to demonstrate how to make an herbed salt.

I've shown in the past how to make Herbed Sugar, but this technique is a bit different.  For this you need fresh herbs and some salt.  Sea salt or kosher salt will work equally well.  I avoid regular table salt because it sometimes had additives, but it will work in a pinch.  You can use any combination of herbs you want, but I always recommend using the herb blending rules which say you sort herbs into three categories, sweet, savory and pungent, then start with groups of three to find your blending basics in terms of flavors.

For this infused salt I actually used five herbs and broke one of my cardinal rules using two pungent together.  I could get away with it because I added a second savory as well.  The reason I used two savories, is I wanted the salt for using on grilled meats, so I needed more pungent herbs.  However, you can choose to leave out one of the pungent herbs if you don't like stronger flavors.

Making Herbed Salt

Ingredients:
Kosher Salt
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Chives
Fresh Oregano
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Sage

Materials:
Parchment paper
Baking sheet

Directions:
Step 1 - Line the baking sheet with parchment and cover with salt, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep.

Step 2 - Snip, chop or mince the herbs over top of the salt.

Step 3 - Stir herbs into salt and allow to infuse for about a week.

Step 4 - Sift out the herbs and enjoy the flavored salt.

Here is the How to:

Spread the salt then begin to chop the herbs into the salt.  How you chop up a fresh herb depends on the herb.

Chives, which are long thin and hollow are best cut with a sharp pair of scissors.  Using a knife tends to crush or bruise the chives making them mushy.

Thyme leaves are small the fine stems are not very tasty, so all you need to do is strip the leaves from the stem and can use them whole.

Oregano can be minced with a knife, but I like to use my garden scissors instead.  I chopped the leaves and the soft stems because both are flavorful.

For rosemary, you first need to remove the fronds or needles from the stem.  You can use a mezzaluna rocking knife to chop them fine.  A chef knife and use the hold the tip and move over the needles method of chopping.  Since I already had my scissor out I just snipped them into the salt.

To cut the sage you use the same methods you would use for basil leaves. You create a chiffonade.
To do that you stack the leaves and roll them into a coil.

Then lay the coil on the cutting board and chop the coil of leaves into thin strips.  Take the strips and chop those in the other directions to make a fine mince.

Sorry to take the photo I just grabbed the first knife I touched and it was serrated.  You should not cut herbs with a serrated blade.  Always use a flat blade.

Then stir the herbs into the salt.  I used my fingers.  Let it sit out with a piece of parchment over the top and stir again very day or so for about a week.

Once the herbs are dry , sift out the herbs to get a clear white salt with all the flavor of the herbs you stirred in.

What struck me the most about the drying process is the herbs are dry to the touch, but still the same bright green color as fresh herbs.

So grab a few fresh herbs from your garden or grocery store and a box of salt (I think they still have these two items in stores) and get chopping and stirring.

And jar some up for Dad for Father's Day as this is the perfect for the grilling specialist in your family!

How Tuesday - Making Lavender Infused Brownies

My recent edible flowers program talked about using lavender in both savory and sweet edible dishes.  One of the most popular flavored items was Lavender Infused Brownies.  The flavor of the lavender is infused into these in two different ways.  You can make them in a pan, but I recommend making them in mini muffin cups so you can share them or freeze them for later.

How to Make Lavender Infused Brownies

Step 1 - you can use an herbal sugar one of two ways.  Blend 1/3 cup lavender and 3 cups sugar in a blender and pulse until the lavender is pulverized and has imparted its scent to the sugar (about 2 to 3 minutes.)  You can also make the sugar in advance by layering granulates sugar with 1/4 cup lavender buds in alternating layers with about 2 cups of sugar and allow to infuse the scent and flavor gradually over a week to two weeks.  Sift out the lavender and used the infused sugar to create this recipe.

Step 2 - gather your ingredients.

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

3 tsp lavender flowers (dried)

1 cup cocoa powder

2 cups herbal or regular sugar (lavender sugar is amazing in this!)

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Optional 1 cup chopped nuts 

Step 3 -- Pre-heat oven to 350 F.  Either line bottom and sides of 9x12 baking pan with parchment or line mini muffin tins with papers. 

Step 4 -- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Step 5 -- Melt the butter in a small pot over very low heat. When melted, add the lavender flowers. Stir gently to cover all flowers. On very low heat, allow the flowers to impart their flavor into the butter.

 

After about 8 minutes, remove the pot from the heat. Strain the butter into a medium sized bowl, removing the lavender. 

Step 6 -- Stir in the cocoa. 

Step 7 -- Blend in the sugar, eggs and vanilla.

Step 8 -- Add the dry ingredients (and nuts if you decide to use.) 

Step 9 -- Blend all together and spoon into the mini muffin tins (or the 9 x 12 pan)  

To make it easier to fill mini muffin tins, I recommend putting the batter inside a 1 quart zip lock bag and snipping off the corner and piping the batter into the cups.  Fill about 2/3 full as brownies do not puff like cupcakes.

Fill about 2/3 full as brownies do not puff like cupcakes.

Step 10 -- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes for the small bites (or 30-35 for larger pan.) 

Makes about 45 mini muffins. Keep in a lidded container for about 7 to 10 days.  They freeze well of you drop them into a zip seal bag.  Each mini is abut two bites and the perfect little treat.  The explosion of lavender scent and flavor as you bite into them is a wonder!