Save The Herbs!

If you've been following my blog, by now I'm sure you've read more than once about how much I hate throwing things away.  Mostly I just look at it as such a waste of money.  So when I have a recipe that calls for fresh herbs, most times I will just end up substituting dried for fresh.  Fresh herbs are just plain expensive....especially when most recipes call for a very small amount of the herb anyway.  I also know what will ultimately happen.  I will buy a bunch of whatever herb I need, use it once (or maybe twice if I'm creative enough), put it in my vegetable compartment in the fridge and then proceed to watch it slowly wilt, get all slimy and inevitably end up in the trash.  Fresh herbs are just too expensive to throw away!!

There are generally 4 reasons I will make an exception for and spend the money for fresh:

1. If I'm making something for a special occasion, like a birthday party or a get together with friends.  I'm like Hallmark, I care to make the very best!
2. I want to try a new recipe in which I think dried just wouldn't be a suitable substitute in.
3. I am making a recipe that I've made before where I know I have to use fresh...especially those old family recipes!!
4. I menu plan accordingly and make sure I am cooking either enough dishes to end up using most, if not all the herbs or making something in which I know I will be making a lot of and freezing smaller portions which will result in using all the herb.  A good thing in either scenario!

I reluctantly bought some flat leaf parsley (after referring to Reason 2 as justification to buy the fresh) to make the baba ghanoush and after I used my handful, guess what happened?  You guessed it.  I put it in the vegetable drawer and when I checked on it today, to my horror, saw some of it starting to look wilted and slimy.  What a sad sight it was!  I decided enough was enough...I was fed up with this blatant mistreatment of herbs!  I would call it abusing a green leafy substance, but some people might take this the wrong way!!  Something would need to be done immediately to not let my poor little parsley bunch end up in my trash can and myself end up feeling bad about yet again wasting money on fresh herbs for only one dish!!  There must be a way to stop this travesty from happening to anymore herbs....no more...not under my roof!

So internet hunting I went and guess what I found?  You can freeze chopped herbs in ice cube trays for later use.  Amazing!  Freezing them will make them loose their texture and pretty appearance, so you obviously wouldn't want to use it as a garnish or in a dressing.  Freezing them, however, will NOT compromise their flavor and when cooking them in a soup, stew or sauce, the pretty green herb eventually ends up looking all dark green and soft anyway!  Who cares though when all you really want is that fresh flavor!!  So I did it.  I froze my chopped parsley for the first time ever.  Now whenever I want to make a soup, stew or sauce I just have to pop out one or 2 frozen parsley cubes, throw them in and ta da...."fresh herbs" that won't get wilted or slimy in my vegetable drawer!  GENIUS!  I have saved my fresh herbs from a trashy fate....I feel like a Superhero!!

How to freeze fresh herbs!

My bunch of flat leaf parsley begging for salvation!  You can do this with any herb you have.  This little trick is going to come in mighty handy when I grow my herb garden this summer!

Separate the good leaves from the bad leaves and stems.  Place good leaves in a colander and rinse well.  Discard the bad leaves and stems.  Sorry....not everything is salvageable.

Working in small bunches, chop the cleaned leaves.

Place desired amount in the bottom of an ice cube tray.  I used 1 tablespoon of chopped herb per ice cube because I like to use a lot of parsley in my soups, stews and sauces.  You could easily measure out 1 teaspoon if you want less per serving. 

Very gently add water to the tray.  A large glass measuring cup made the water very easy to pour.

Place in the freezer for a few hours until frozen through.

Pop out each cube from the tray.

Place in a freezer safe container and label with type of herb, amount per cube and date you froze them.  They should keep in the freezer for a few months.