Below are a list of short recipes which aren't for meals or dishes in their own right, but prepare ingredients or components for use later in other dishes.
TuscanHerbs
We call this herb mix "Tuscan Herbs" because we first bought it in Tuscany. It's a fairly simple mixture which is great for putting on roast chicken or into soups. The recipe below makes a medium sized screw top jar, or give as a present in smaller jars.
Ingredients
- 25g crushed dried garlic flakes
- 35g dried mixed herbs (Herb de Provence or equivalent)
- 15g dried chilli flakes
Instructions
- >Mix the ingredients well in a jar or in a food processor.
- Store in a sealed jar in the cupboard.
Basil Pesto
We first discovered home-made pesto when we once had a surplus of basil. Now we grow extra basil in summer and freeze the pesto (in silicon hemisphere molds so it's easy to turn out) for use in later months. It freezes really well, and defrosts quite quickly for use with pasta or in salads.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves packed down (can substitute half the basil leaves with baby spinach)
- 50g freshly grated Romano or Parmesan-Reggiano cheese
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 50g pine nuts (can substitute chopped walnuts)
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
Instructions
- Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor.
- Store in a jar in the fridge, or freeze in batches.