Cooking with Thyme

Fresh thyme is a great plant to have in your garden.

Thyme seems to be one of those herbs that is a jack-of-all trades so to speak, going with almost anything you want to throw together. It goes with not only red meats but also your white meats, such as fish or chicken. Unlike some other herbs if also plays nice with vegetables and eggs. About the only thing thyme can't do is sweets ... no surprise there though!

Myself - I think thyme and chicken are a match made in heaven - so it is my go-to herb when cooking with chicken, and I absolutely love thyme with mushrooms.

Something that my Mum told me long ago and a lot of people might not know is that thyme is a key ingredient in the mixed herb mix you buy in the shops. Next time you open the container just have a smell and you'll know what I mean. Knowing this I always use mixed herbs when I could thyme as a rule of thumb.

I love growing thyme because it seems to be one of those tough little herbs that seems to just keep on growing - no matter what happens to it! I've had mine almost be twig like with the heat on the underneath of the plant yet it just kept sprouting new sprigs for me on top. In winter it seems to keep very stable and although slows in growth still allows me to hack away at it for my stews and casseroles.

 As I mentioned before if I don't have thyme I simply use mixed herbs as a substitute, but you can also substitute it with basil, marjoram or oregano. If you are cooking with fresh thyme you can add the little leaves whole or roughly chop them and sprinkle them into your dish. You can add whole sprigs of thyme to stews or casseroles - as a rule of thumb if you are simmering the dish down I would use the sprig as I think it adds extra flavour. I do the same with rosemary which is also a woody stemmed type of herb.

There are many different types of thyme including lemon thyme - which my Mum swears by for fish!

Little tips and ideas when using thyme

• Try sprinkling a little bit of mixed herbs or thyme on your mushrooms next time you are baking or frying them up - and using butter while cooking them is a must!
• You can keep fresh thyme in the fridge for up to a week if you wrap it in a tea towel and then wrap it tightly in cling wrap. I have also found that wrapping them in cling wrap alone is enough.
• I absolutely love adding thyme and cubed apple pieces in my stuffing. It adds such great flavour to the chicken, and the apples add that touch of sweetness.

Some great recipes using thyme:

• Bacon and cheese quiche
• Linguine with lemon, garlic and thyme mushrooms
• Spring-thyme chicken stew

 

Cooking with Basil

Which herb should I use?

The more people I talk to the more I realise that knowing which herbs are great with which dishes or meats isn't as common as I thought. I think the more recipes you try, the more of an idea you have because you know from experience what herbs work well. However, if you are like me and nine times out of ten you don't use a recipe (especially not for mid-week meals) then it's a case of grabbing something out of the spice rack that you know is safe.

I thought it may be an idea to look into my favourite herbs over the next few weeks, look at what they go great with and some recipes I recommend trying them with.

Basil Bruschetta makes the best
snack or lunch!

Basil

Basil is one of my favourite herbs to cook with, mainly because my Mum had such a love of Italian flavours that I grew up with it. It has a nice sweet flavour that seems to go amazingly as a rule with anything tomato. My favourite recipe to use basil in is spaghetti Bolognese, followed by bruschetta (re - which is amazing with fresh basil. However having dried basil in the pantry is especially as good. The only rule to remember cooking with dried herbs over fresh is dried herbs need time to cook off slightly to release the full flavour. So if throwing in dried basil in your Bolognese sauce make sure you add it in with your garlic - before your tomatoes - and you'll taste the difference. Where as with fresh basil in a sauce, adding it with your liquid before simmering is better.

If you want to grow basil I would recommend Thai Basil which has such an intense flavour! However, if you live in an area which experiences seasons (South-east Australia) then just keep in mind that it will die off in winter.

For me - I love basil with chicken the best. And I absolutely love basil with creamy sauces, such as a garlic sauce to go over chicken or a pasta.

Recipes I would recommend trying using basil:

• Basil Pesto - great to add to pasta, gnocchi or even pop some under the skin of a chicken breast before baking (so, so good!)
• Garlic and basil stuffed chicken
• Lemon basil chicken
• Bruschetta - There are so many recipes for this, but I like my own (a little basis I guess!) I love doing it with cherry tomatoes, halved, feta cheese, fresh roughly chopped basil leaves, and diced red onion. Put everything together and then drizzle over olive oil and balsamic vinegar, adding a little bit of pepper. I think it's best to add it on top of fresh bread, grilled slightly with garlic and butter until golden ... honestly - the best lunch or snack in the world! Depending on my mood I also like to throw in black olives (I'm hungry now!)

Do you have any herb you would like me to look into next time?