Food & Wine (February 2014)
We're looking for magic in the kitchen. The dish that surprises. The condiment that elevates meat. The new pairing of flavors that just rocks our socks.
And we're hoping to find that magic in food magazines.
As we leaf through the pages of each month's new magazines, we look for things that are different. Sometimes that means they're actually unusual. Other times, it's that a dish is of the sort we've never made before. And sometimes, we're just intrigued by the small, tucked away recipe in the back of a magazine, like these Salted Herbs, which were part of the same feature as Minute Steaks with Montreal Seasoning and Herbed Anchovy Butter.
Billed as being "great on everything from steak to chicken, fish and vegetables, as well as in soups and stews," we had high hopes for these Salted Herbs, thinking they would be excellent with our everyday takes on fish and chicken that are a staple at our house. The idea is simple: lots of herbs and vegetables chopped in a food processor, tossed with salt and stowed in the fridge.
This recipe, though, is not for us. There's something off in the flavor of batch we made. We've used it on fish and chicken (better on the fish, offputting on the chicken), and it's so salty that you can only use it very sparingly. (And you know how much we love salt!) No, there was just some element that didn't do it for us. Maybe the spinach? Maybe the chives?
But still, we really like the idea of herb salt, and we may give it another whirl, adding more of the herbs and less of the salt.
Alas, no magic to be found here. At least not for us.
But we're not sweating it. More recipes await.
Salted Herbs
Food & Wine (February 2014), recipe by Hugue Dufour
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Total time: 25 minutes plus overnight marinating
Makes: 1 1/2 cups
INGREDIENTS
1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped
1 small parsnip, coarsely chopped
1 celery rib, coarsely chopped
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup packed parsley leaves
1 cup snipped chives
1 cup packed spinach (not baby spinach)
1/3 cup coarse sea salt
METHOD
In a food processor, combine the chopped carrot, parsnip, celery and onion. Pulse the vegetables until finely chopped. Add the parsley, chives and spinach and pulse until the mixture is very finely minced. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the salt. Cover and refrigerate the salted herbs at least overnight and up to 1 month in an airtight jar.
