Easy & Delicious ways to use Fresh Herbs today! | The Farmer’s Table

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hey there darlings welcome to the farmer’s table my name is Jess and today I want to give you a handful of very easy ways to use fresh herbs but first we need to run out to the [Music] garden so we’ve reached the time of year where all the perennial herbs are really starting to wake back up like right here I have this really lovely big area of thyme i harvested some margarm some sage my rosemary is looking lovely let me be the cautionary tale that mint when put in the ground grows very aggressively as does its cousin lemon balm i’ve got both right here in the ground of what used to be a really lovely part of my cottage garden and now it is completely covered in mint and lemon balm however I’ve been absolutely loving iced mint and lemon balm tea i’ll show you how to make it here in a second so the downside is I no longer see all of the beautiful perennials that used to grow here but the upside is I get a lot of tea as much as I could possibly want now unfortunately during this time of year I don’t have all of my favorite herbs growing in the garden one of which is basil i absolutely adore basil and I do have a few very small plants out but it would not be beneficial for them to me for me to start harvesting but I did grow this tray of basil micro greens i’m going to grab some of these also I brought this jar out to put them in i decided to come in and get a glass of that tea i was thinking about it after mentioning it it’s my favorite thing to drink right now and I’m almost out so it’s definitely time to make some more let’s start with making herbal tea drinking herbal tea is nothing new i don’t think a lot of people realize how versatile it can really be i think a lot of people think of it as drinking hot tea um it maybe they’ve had an experience with medicinal tea that did not seem to be an enjoyable thing to drink for them i love medicinal teas and that’s a whole another uh world of uses for herbs but even whenever your goal is not necessarily the medicinal benefit when you’re just trying to make a refreshing beverage uh herbs still do have benefits there’s a really great website called plants for a future.org um I’ll put a link to it down below you can look up any number of plants on that site and look at what benefits those plants offer and it will also show you if you have any sort of like medical concerns or medications or anything like that that you’re concerned about drinking a large amount of any sort of herbal concoction um that website will also tell you if there’s any concern today I have lemon balm and mint i’m putting equal parts of those in a half gallon mason jar now if you’ve been here with me for very long you have probably heard me mention in the summertime basil tea um I do have a video showing how to make that exact same process as this but in that we’re using different varieties of basil cinnamon lemon sweet basil Thai basil blue spice basil i want to grow all the ba basil so I can try all the different basil teas it’s It’s wild how different the flavors can be but here we’re taking about between one cup and two cups of leaves i think tea is just one of those things that people just have to develop their preference but I typically want to fill my half gallon jar up when it’s loose like this about a third of the way that’s about a packed couple of leaves i just rinsed these herbs off in the sink i didn’t do anything extra special to get them clean i just got them good and rinsed and I didn’t do anything to try to dry them because I’m about to steep them in water i just use my kettle for this if you need to heat the water on the stove that’s fine but I this is just convenient uh you want to bring some water to a quick boil and then put a lid on it and we’re going to let it sit for about 20 or 30 minutes so next we want to put our desired amount of honey in the bottom of another half gallon jar you could do this in a pitch or two um this honey I’ve got about a half a cup in here it was crystallized that’s why it looks like that which is fine this is a great way to use crystallized honey because the heat of the brood tea is going to melt it this jar is hot with the large leaves it’s not always necessary but sometimes I make a mess here i ended up with a few little bits of leaves in mine you could avoid that if it mattered to you all right so we want to stir this and let the honey melt as I said I used half a cup um you could do more than that or less depending on your preference and then I want to do about a/4 cup of lemon juice um you don’t have to do the lemon juice but I really do think that it brightens it up in a really nice way and just adds another layer of just bright refreshment now this tea is really good right now hot in fact that sounds like a wonderful idea cheers so good the honey may settle back down to the bottom whenever you go to get this out of the fridge just give it a good shake you know how you go in fancy restaurants and they’ll have like duck two ways tea two temperatures i am the person that always has at least three beverages going at the same time so this is this tracks next herb compound butters compound butters are one of those things that just have no business being so good if you want to elevate your cooking or you want to do something that feels like extra special and fancy without really taking a lot of work compound butter is definitely one of those things i’m going to make two different kinds of compound butter today i’ve got about 8 oz of butter here softened so you want this to be at room temperature now right here I have some grated Parmesan cheese some lemon zest and these two are going to go with my basil and then I’ve got some garlic and that is going to go with my thyme and my margarm i’m going to take about half of this butter and put it on my cutting board put some of my cheese lemon zest and we’re just going to give these a little chop they’re already really small so we don’t really have to worry about that too much obviously if this were fulls size basil I would just cut the leaves really thin okay and we’re going to mix all of these together now this butter was already salted keep that in mind if you’re using unsalted butter that you may want to add some salt to it so with the basil lemon parmesan this would be something that I would take a piece of like cooked white fish and put this on top of that a chicken added into a pasta this is light it’s bright and it’s just going to brighten up dishes while adding flavor so just scrape that all off [Applause] and label it i did wrap this multiple times so that there was no risk of my marker bleeding through for this purpose i’m going to start finally uh mincing some garlic i’ve got a few cloves of garlic i don’t know three may be enough for this small amount of butter you know I eat I eat garlic like vampires are a real threat so any sort of add-ins that we put in we do want to make we make sure we chop them really small kind of the thing with compound butter is we want to be able to put it on whatever we’re putting on and have it melt and not leave any large chunky pieces of whatever’s in it in our food now for the herbs that you’re going to put in compound butter when you wash these you do want to make sure you get them very dry because adding any sort of moisture in your butter is just going to make it spoil faster um so I just like to press them really good between a paper towel to make sure that I’m not putting water in so I’ve got margarm and thyme here with thyme I’m just going to strip the leaves off of the stems and then I’m going to chop the margarm if you’re not familiar with margarm I feel like margarm is a lot better than it gets credit for it’s kind of like a milder oregano and it’s really great in any sort of Italian type blend it pairs well with garlic this is not the best knife for this but it’s the one I already had dirty will anybody else like use the wrong tool to keep from having to wash another dish just me all right time to mix about a stick of butter more or less flatten it out [Applause] so after the herb compound butters have chilled in the fridge they’ll solidify again and not be so soft and you’re able to unroll that little log and just slice it into these lovely little circular medallions that garlic and herb one that I made second is great on a steak when you like pan fry a steak or grill a steak and just slice a couple of little medallions of that put it on top to melt so good you can also go sweet with compound butters they don’t always have to be savory so herbs mix well with sweet flavors too so thyme with a little bit of honey maybe some lemon zest in a compound butter you’ve got essentially a honey butter that’s herbed that you can put on a biscuit or on a scone lavender makes a really lovely compound butter sweetened with honey for the exact same applications really there are so many different options that you can use teragon is a good one with shallots cilantro and lime to go in rice bowls so many different things you can do with herbs and compound butter next we’re going to make herbed salt i love salt i love good salt i have probably six different types of salt in this kitchen right now because I love what different salt can do for food today I’m going to be using this kosher uh Celtic sea salt you can use any salt for this so I’m going to be putting a mix of different herbs in here i’m going to put some margarm some thyme uh rosemary and some of my basil micro greens and essentially just kind of make like an Italianish type salt my favorite jars to do this in are these little short ones just because I like I like to salt things like by pinching i just have a better feel of how much I’m putting on my food rather than shaking it out and so by making herbed salt in these jars I can just open it and use it directly out of it uh you can do whatever size though and if you get these little tiny 4 oz jars this makes a really really great gift so there’s not an exact measurement here but I usually want to have at least like a few tablespoons of herb leaves now you can chop these up really fine if you want or you can leave them larger i actually like leaving them larger putting the fresh herbs in the salt it’s going to pull the moisture out of the herbs and what’s going to happen is as it pulls the moisture out of the herbs it’s actually going to actually infuse the salt with the flavor of the herbs so when I cook with this I’ll be throwing the dried herb leaves that are in it into my food but also the salt itself is going to carry that flavor now one thing you can do um if you want to use a chunkier salt you put whole herb leaves in you can mix this in like a little grinder uh but that’s not super necessary i’m trying to pick out the purple basil leaves just to add some color so I’m just going to start filling this and while I have space in the jar I want to mix it up put the lid on oh you know what I bet would be really good in this is some of this lemon zest should I do it it’s kind of limiting a little bit what I’m going to use it on but I think I’m going to do it isn’t that lovely i just saw that lemon sitting there only half zested couldn’t waste the rest of it this all on a um chicken cut the backbone out spatchcock it fry it breast side down flip it over roast in the oven till it’s super crisp put some lemon juice in the pan it’s going to be good let it sit for at least a week and then you’re good to go next we’re going to make some herb infused simple syrup so in a pan we want to combine sugar water and the herb of our choosing now you can do this in a 1:1 ratio or a 1:2 ratio um today I’m going to do a cup of sugar about a cup of water and I’m going to put in four or five rosemary sprigs obviously it’s going to make it stronger if you use less water and then you just use less of it in whatever application that you’re going to use it in so we are going to stir this as it comes to a simmer and once you don’t have to boil it but once it has come up to like a good simmer and all of your sugar is obviously fully um melted and dissolved we’re just going to turn the heat off and let it sit here on the stove top to cool and infuse for about 15 to 30 minutes my simple syrup has cooled down and I’m going to do something that’s a little different you don’t have to do this i have a couple of bottles here that had vanilla extract in them um I make vanilla extract i have a video detailing that actually that video is when I made these bottles it was at this point I don’t know a year over a year ago that I made them now I poured these two bottles into like my mother jar of vanilla extract and sometimes I’ll fish the beans out and throw it in the the jar but I decided to to save them for another application and this is what I had in mind oh these are spent vanilla beans meaning they sat in liquor for a year to make true vanilla extract but they still have flavor in them so I’m actually going to pour my rosemary simple syrup into these jars i’m just pouring them through a strainer and obviously the funnel now after this sits in the fridge for the next day or so I will have a really nice rosemary vanilla simple syrup oh I’m so eager to try it what do you say should we go for three beverages in this one video this really isn’t fully cooled so it’s not like the best way to do this and obviously it’s going to have more flavor after it’s sat with those vanilla beans but we’re just going to try it a little bit so you can use herbed simple syrups a lot of different ways at our coffee shop we actually do seasonal flavors with herbed simple syrups and so we do like lavender lattes and rosemary lattes and if you’re like herbs in your coffee that’s weird don’t knock until you try it it’s not weird it’s so good of course you can also use these simple syrups in making cocktails thousands of different ways to do that uh for a rosemary I bet this rosemary vanilla would be really good in an oldfashioned but one of my favorite things to do is put a little bit of simple syrup or however much it is that you want to create your desired level of sweetness in some soda water and make a natural herb infused soda that’s good i wish I could share with you i always feel so awkward trying things because I like what what it must have you should believe me it’s really good but it’s so good that I want to dance it’s so good that I’m like I really need you to try this so someone else can make a big deal out of this i mean obviously I don’t know if you’ll have a a vanilla bottle laying around but you could just put a little bit of vanilla extract in your simple syrup uh wait until after it cools down some to do that or if you have a vanilla bean that you could split and put in on the front end when you put your rosemary in you would end up with a very similar um end product to this my precious so good now the last way that we are going to use our herbs today is we’re going to make some herb infused oil now this is one case where you do need to use fully dried herbs not just dried off after wash like fully dried out um when it comes to drying herbs you can use a dehydrator if you have one that’s fine you want to use it on the absolute lowest setting that it has high heat can damage the compounds in herbs that do make them medically beneficial so we always want to dry them on very low heat um I usually don’t use a dehydrator whenever I dry herbs i will just bundle them and hang them up on one of my you know shelves out of the way and let them hang there for a week or so until they’re fully dry and then crumble them up these are actually freeze-dried i will freeze dry them occasionally it is a great way to preserve flavor and I’m going to take some of this freeze-dried sage and put it in this jar you can infuse any herb into oil as long as it’s dry first the reason you want it to be dry is to not risk moisture being in oil anytime you’re putting anything that’s moist and oil there can be you know risk of bacteria and stuff but oil infused herbs are incredibly useful in so many different ways i’ll infuse things like chamomile or chingula into oils to use in skincare um in making savves and things like that in the case of this sage or if I had dried rosemary or dried thyme any of the herbs that we’re talking about today or any herbs that you use these can be drizzled over hummus or soft cheeses they can be used to cook different things my favorite way to use them is in making salad dressings so you have options on what you want to do with this once it’s set we’re going to pour oil over the top of our herbs and I typically will put this somewhere where I’ll see it you’re supposed to put it in like a dark cool place but if I do that I’ll forget that it exists so I’m going to let it sit out here on my counter so I can see it just kind of back over in the corner you can strain it out after it’s sat for a couple of weeks uh 2 weeks I would say is probably like a good practice when you’re trying to infuse things into oil see here my sage in oil depends on what I’m using it for whether I strain it out or not so I don’t I don’t typically get to like 2 weeks and say “Okay I’m going to strain all of the the herbs out of the oil so I can use the oil.” I kind of will like just pull some of the oil off to use and leave the herbs in there i do like to make this in smaller jars for that reason um I don’t want to have like a a big quart of oil sitting over and not be able to get through it pretty quickly but for making salad dressings I’ll take a whole scoop of the infused oil with the herbs out and add some vinegar and maybe just a little bit of splash of honey or maple and some salt some pepper and shake it up really good and make a really great vinegrett saute potatoes in it for breakfast in the morning and then of course you can drizzle it on just anything i mean as a finishing oil like some fried eggs on toast on roasted vegetables or just a little drizzle on a salad well here we have the beverages that I have enjoyed through the last couple hours of making this video lots of herby things i hope that you guys will try these things i hope you will be empowered to use the fresh herbs you have coming out of your garden or fresh herbs that you’re able to buy at the store or the market i feel like all of the things that we made today if you were to go purchase them would be sold as like luxury items herbs are just elevated they they just they feel special they feel fancy it’s not something that you see a lot of in fast food in food that is not having a lot of time put in it and they’re they are one of the easier things to grow in a garden i think that’s a place where a lot of people start so I would encourage you guys to get some herbs make some lovely things enjoy them thoroughly and let me know what you think thank you for hanging out with me today and all the days you do i bless you until next time