2 Uses for Fresh Herbs

Summer is not the time for inside on my phone. It is the time for outside with my boy, outside with my garden, outside at the lake, outside on the lawn mower and also for cooking with all the delicious things from my garden and all the other amazing summer produce. And so This post has taken all summer to write. Finally posting.

Last summer I posted this Chimichurri recipe. This summer I’m back with more uses for fresh herbs a Ranch dressing style recipe and a recipe for herbed goat cheese. You could buy mediocre versions of them at the store, but if you’re obsessed  with growing herbs or buy fresh herbs you can make them much better yourself. 

 Scroll down for the recipes. 

Herbed Goat Cheese

I served this with my favourite my favourite sour dough seed bread for Father’s Day lunch recently and thought it paired so well with the nutty flavours of that. 

Ingredients :

+Goat Cheese 

+Mixture of Fresh Herbs -chives, dill, basil, parsley, oregano*

+Salt and Pepper 

+small amount fresh garlic or garlic scapes, optional 

Directions:

••Mince herbs and garlic. Mix into goat cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Spread thin layers on breads or toasts , in sandwiches, etc.

*I use chives, basil, oregano and dill. I find fresh dill can be overpowering in something like this and I wanted to be able to taste the other herbs as well so I started with a small amount of dill, tasted and then added a bit more to my liking. In my opinion the chives being all flavours together, but if you don’t like onion you may want to skip them.  

Ranchish Dressing, but Much Much Better

Yes, it’s the same as every other recipe you find on the internet for this kind of thing. No I do not actually eat bought ranch dressing except in extreme situations. 

Ingredients 

+Dill,  more of this than the other herbs 

+Parsley

+Chives / green onion

+basil

+oregano, optional 

+ cilantro, optional  (only use if you want that flavour, on fajitas for example)

+ salt and pepper 

+ tony cachere’s créole seasoning 

+ small amount minced garlic or garlic powder

+ sour cream 

+ mayonnaise 

+ dash of cream / milk -optional, depending what consistency you’re looking for

Directions :

+Mince the herbs. well. In a pint jar dump 2 parts sour cream to 1 part mayonnaise. Add the minced herbs, salt and pepper and Tony’s seasoning. You need it to bring the other flavours together. 

+Mix, mix. 

+Taste it. In this recipe I’m looking for dill to be the slightly dominant flavour with chives right behind it and the other herbs complimenting. Fresh Basil and especially oregano can have strong flavours so I try to add less of those to begin with and add more as needed. 

+The consistency should be like a spread or dip. Depending how you’re using this (as a dressing for salad for example) you can thin it down with a splash of milk

+Use fresh herbs, ideally. I can’t speak to how this tastes with dried herbs; I haven’t tried it. Also this could definitely be made with only 2 or 3 different herbs. I wouldn’t skip the dill though, unless adding lots of cilantro for a Tex mex style of dressing.

+Now all the ways to use this, my favourite part. •Dip for veg. •Over baked potatoes. •Salads. •In wraps, this I highly highly recommend. •spread on bread when making sandwiches •spread on crackers, top with a slice of cheese and/or grilled meat and a slice of jalapeño but if you don’t like jalapeño skip that; I’m obsessed with this random combination. •I’m sure there are more ways to use this that I haven’t thought of. •Basically use any place you’d use ranch / other salad dressings,