Preserving herbs in oil is a great way to have herbs ready immediately for winter stews, roasts, soups, and potato dishes. These dishes usually call for oil to start with so you can use a cube of frozen herbs and oil as the base of your dish. Take out a few cubes in the winter and cook onions and garlic in this herb-infused oil to start your dish. Let the taste of herbs spread through your whole dish. This method of preservation works best with the hardier herbs.
Directions:
- Choose firm, fresh herbs, ideally from the market or your own garden.
- You can chop them fine or leave them in larger sprigs and leaves. You can also freeze a combination of finely chopped and whole herbs such as rosemary, fennel stalk, sage, dill, lavender and oregano.
- Pack the wells of ice cube trays about 2/3 full of herbs.
- pour our Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the herbs (we recommend Arbequina EVOO). Try experimenting with infused oil; Roasted Chile for herbs with a kick, Meyer Lemon for herbs to use in chicken noodle soup or Herbes de Provence over fresh rosemary for braised lamb.
- Cover lightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
- Remove the frozen cubes and store in freezer containers or small bags.
- Don’t forget to label each container or bag with the type of herb (and oil) inside!
