| The only way to judge the strength of your sage is to try it. It can be dried,
and I think the results are better then freezing. Use it flavor vinegar, or
minced in salad. On any kind of poultry, under the skin, or on top, where it
will crisp up with basting. Sautee it in butter until crisp to give a great
flavor to butter sauces. Add it to your favorite stuffing recipe. Or, just pop
a leaf into your mouth and chew on it straight (sage-breath is not offensive).
Another possibility is to add a leafy sprig to a bottle of olive oil, along with
some skewered garlic, and a thin red chili pepper (with a couple of slice holes
in it). The oil gets the flavor, and the red, white and green colors make it
a pretty gift.
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| I am new at writing in this file so please bear with me if I make mistakes.
I am also borrowing a friends account to write this.
I planted Sage 2 years ago and used the leaves in herb bread, the result is
fantastic. My mother also invented the following recipe for a pasta sauce,
I was quite surprised how good it tasted. I am taking a guess at the
quantity used.
1 small onion chopped finely
1/2 chicken stock cube
Bunch Sage finely chopped
1/2 pint cream
fry onion and chicken stock cube in a bit of butter until transparent
Add finely chopped sage and simmer until just tender
Add cream and pour over pasta
Serve at once with herb bread
Hope this helps
Deb
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| Don't forget, while you're seasoning your bird with whole sage leaves
on the outside, to mince some for the stuffing and gravy! Also,
if you're making chicken legs, you can make a lovely gravy for your
mashed potatoes or rice:
Gravy without added cholesterol/fat
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth, skimmed of any fat
1 tablespoon flour blended into 1/4 cup water
1 cup milk - lowfat works fine
(salt to taste)
pepper - a few grinds
all the herbs you want - you can make this gravy positively GREEN
with herbs! - minced finely
(you can add sliced mushrooms if you wish - sautee them in butter
first if you're not reducing.)
(you can add the giblets, chopped, if you cooked a whole bird or
have some on hand. This will add some cholesterol.)
Dump the broth in a med size pot and put it over medium heat.
Blend the flour and water well - this is how you get lump-free
gravy! Add to broth. Whisk a little. Add the herbs, salt,
and pepper. Cook, whisking occasionally, until it starts to
thicken up. Add the milk, a bit at a time. Cook, whisking,
until it thickens more. Check the thickness. If you like
thicker gravy, blend more flour with water (do about 1/2
tablespoon at a time) and pour it in, whisk, cook a few
minutes, check again, repeat until the gravy is the right
thickness. Now add any chunky stuff, like the 'shrooms,
that you want to - I wait until the end since it is harder
to whisk gravy that has stuff in it.
Note that there is no added fat in this recipe. You don't
need to make a roux to make good gravies. This type of
gravy works well for cheese sauces, too - just start with
milk or water instead of broth if you want the cheese flavor
without any broth flavor. You can thicken any sort of liquid
using this method.
For texture in gravy, I prefer flour to cornstarch. Cornstarch
tends to make a pudding-like result, sort of like lemon pudding
turns out. It's far too easy to use too much of it, too.
--Louise
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