Herbs for cooking
Unless you're cooking pesto sauce, Middle Eastern or Indian dishes on a regular basis, the bunches of herbs sold by supermarkets are usually so large the leaves spoil before you can use all of them. Here's some solutions.
Wash the bunches well then remove the leaves and chop them finely. If you're dealing with chives or tarragon, chop them in 1/8-inch splinters. Press them into ice cube trays. The residue of the water you've washed them in will be enough to make them cohere into a cube that will freeze. Once frozen, pop them out into labelled freezer bags. Use them as required. This is a good method for adding different flavors to soups or stews.
If you want to give a dish an Asian twist, make up ice cubes with a mixture of finely chopped fresh cilantro, garlic and ginger.
For an Indian twist, add finely chopped chili to the cilantro, garlic and ginger.
For an Italian flavor, pound basil leaves with toasted pine nuts, amalgamating the pulp with a little olive oil. Don't include Parmesan - it will make the flavor sickly. Add any Parmesan at the time of cooking if you like. You can also create a gremolata from finely chopped parsley, grated zest of lemon and a little finely chopped garlic. Watch out with garlic, though: garlic that's been frozen can taste very bitter.
For a Russian or East European flavor, finely chop fresh dill, wetting it for freezing with a little lemon juice or vinegar.
Make herb butters for stuffing under the skin of a chicken ready to roast or to plop onto a steak before serving. Just mash room temperature butter with finely chopped tarragon or parsley and freeze.
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