Whether you are cooking a meal with just 4 or 40 ingredients, you want it to be flavoursome! What I have found when cooking with just 4 or fewer ingredients is that it is imperative that one of those ingredients has a strong, dramatic flavour. Often in many meals, this can be achieved by adding a fresh herb. Here is a list of the herbs I have found most useful and what they best accompany to help create flavoursome meals!
Basil: the perfect complement to tomatoes! Basil features heavily in Italian cuisine, but also works beautifully with cheese, pasta, eggs, meat, soups, and casseroles! It is best torn, not cut, and added to dishes just before serving as cooking diminishes its flavour.
Chives: a great boost to the flavour of salads, potatoes, soups, sandwiches, dips and dressings. It’s best to add them just before serving. Chives can also be used to rub on meat or seafood before grilling.
Coriander: coriander has a particular affinity with chicken, fish, curries, stir-fries, chutneys and salads – the perfect accompaniment to most Asian style dishes, especially Thai and Indian.
Dill: works well with seafood, chicken, beetroot, cucumber, many vegetable dishes, eggs and vinegar. Alongside using the leaves as a herb, you can collect the seeds, dry them and ground them up as spice!
Mint: mint has a fresh, crisp flavour and is fabulous in salads, or with seafood, lamb, peas, potatoes, yoghurt, fresh berries, fresh pineapple or in a jug of water with ice! I also LOVE to use it as a garnish for dessert, especially chocolate ones!
Oregano: perfect in pasta and sprinkled on pizzas! Oregano also complements pork, chicken, eggplant, capsicum, olives, zucchini and sauces.
Parsley: the world’s most popular herb, parsley is high in vitamins and minerals. It adds a delicious flavour to garlic, eggs, vegetables, cheese and potato dishes, fish, soups and poultry. Use it as a garnish and sprinkled over salads and pizzas just before serving to add a fresh, healthy taste.
Tarragon: adds a unique zing to seafood, chicken, lamb, tomato and sauces!
Thyme: one of my personal favourites! Apart from wishing I had more of it, it is absolutely spectacular with all kinds of red meat dishes, soups, sauces and vegetable dishes. It also provides a tasty stuffing for chicken!