(no subject)

[badstar]

Just got off the phone with telling Mumsie about the meatloaf. So she asks me what the recipe was. And well, I didn't write anything down, and I just kinda tossed it all in there. So I'm like "Um....a package of ground beef, an egg, um...crumbled a big old dried basil leaf, crumbled a couple of oregano leaves, and a leaf and a half of tarragon, shook the bread crumb container a few times, squirted the ketchup a few times, shook some other stuff, a couple of chopped garlic cloves, choppsed up a couple of stalks of celery and a couple of carrots, threw in the remnants of a jar of pesto...somethign like that."

For some reason, my mom found this to be entertaining.

Comments

[katskorner.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha...if you told it to her like that, I'd have found it to be entertaining too! :D

Tell me though, is it a different taste using freshly crushed herbs, compared to the kind that are in a shaker all crushed for you? I'd like to try it, if it's more flavorful. :D

[fuego.livejournal.com]

i prefer fresh herbs.

these were dried though (but I bought them, used what I could fresh, and then dried them before they went bad. and i still think there's a difference.)

[katskorner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was implying freshly dried. That's my bad...but it still makes that much of a noticable difference...COOL!

[fuego.livejournal.com]

the stuff that you dry yourself has been sitting around for far less time than the stuff you buy in a jar.

Oh, and I think it also makes a significant difference if you dry it in the oven than if it hangs out to dry for weeks and weeks and weeks and....

[katskorner.livejournal.com]

So, how DO you hang it out to dry? And for just how long before you use it? I would like to try that for the next time I do a speghetti, or some other good dish like that. :D

[fuego.livejournal.com]

i don't hang it out, i dry it in the oven.

get your fresh herbs (most grocery stores have e'm in the produce section) and pull the leaves off the stems, arrange them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and turn your oven on- I put mine at 170, it's the lowest setting on my oven. drying time will depend on the temperature, but in my experience, basil and orgeno are usually dry within about an hour and a half, rosemary takes a little longer- maybe 2 hours, and the one time i did it, tarragon was done in about an hour. after they're dry, store them in a jar or somethign- i usually save spaghetti jars and stuff like that for such a use.

[katskorner.livejournal.com]

cool beans! Sounds great! :D