Monday, July 28, 2008

Herb Oil


A few weeks ago, when I was prepping for my little party, I made up a batch of herb oil. It is such a no-brainer, yet it is something I seldom do. That day, I was reminded of how useful and good it is. The original reason I made
it for the party was to brush on baguette slices that I toasted in the oven to use for bruschetta. My flavor palette for that dinner was Mediterranean-y, so I ended up using the oil for a few other things on the menu as well.

Like I said, it is really easy......

in a bowl:

a few cloves of peeled garlic, smashed
a mixture of sprigs of whatever herbs you have around--
I really like rosemary, oregano, thyme
black peppercorns, cracked
a few shakes of red chile flakes

pour some olive oil over the top of it all and let it sit--30 minutes should do it, but you can let it sit for a couple of days, then decant it into a jar for use in the future.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You're not going to believe this but, I was in the mood to make some chicken noodle soup just the other day. I get out the BIG pot to saute' some onion and garlic and grab the bottle of olive oil and layer it in. While that's working and I'm poaching the (3) (big) chicken wings an odor hits me---something different ! Sure enough I'd used the BASIL O O. It was a tad strong so after chilling the soup down, I laddled off the excess oil/fat. I ate it all !!!! XOX

MaryRuth said...

DAD--that's called "serendipity"! But sounds like the soup turned out good anyway. You might turn it into the basis for an Italian-style soup next time...add pasta, tomatoes, etc. like minestrone.