Rosemary Recipes
TOP TIPS
- Use sturdy Rosemary stalks (with the the leaves removed) as kebab skewers
- Tie a few Rosemary sprigs together and baste meats and fish with your 'Rosemary brush'
- Placing Rosemary sprigs in with barbeque coals will create a lovely woody aroma, infusing meat and vegetables with a delicate herby taste. The scent will go further to ward off insects than ordinary barbeque smoke as the natural oils in the rosemary are a repellent too
Rosemary and Blueberry Madeira Cake
The rosemary’s warm aroma is an extraordinary addition to this cake, bringing out the blueberry’s subtle sweetness
Ingredients
- 250g Soft Butter
- 200g Sugar
- 3 Large Eggs
- 300g Flour, sifted
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 3 tsp Fresh Rosemary Needles, chopped finely
- 4 tsp Milk
- A Handful of Frozen Blueberries
- 2 tsp Demerara Sugar
- A pinch of cinnamon to top
Preheat the oven to 170oC/Gas Mark 3.
Cream the butter adding the sugar slowly until it is pale and light in texture
Measure out the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour after each egg to stop the butter mixture from separating, then add the vanilla. With a wooden spoon or spatula, fold in the rest of the flour mixture and chopped rosemary needles before thinning the mixture out with the milk.
Finally, carefully fold in the frozen blueberries attempting to not turn the whole mixture blue as they defrost! Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan and sprinkle the Demerara sugar and cinnamon over the top before putting it in the oven. Allow to cook for 1 – 1 ¼ hour, just long enough for a knife to come out clean and the top to be a lovely, cracked, golden brown.
This cake will keep well – if it lasts!
* Try swapping the Rosemary for Fresh Mint and Blueberries for Chocolate Chips ~ a delicious Chocolate & Mint alternative *
Baked Chicken with Rosemary & Lemon
Simple and tasty for Sunday lunch or a yummy dinner party, the blend of the tangy lemon and the fragrant rosemary combines for an ideal alternative to regular roast chicken. Serrves 6. Preparation – heat oven to 190c/375f/gas mark 5.
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken (5lb/225kg)
- 2 tsp of salt
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 tbsp of rosemary needles
- 1 tbsp of grated lemon skin
- 1 handful of lemon slices
Sprinkle the chicken with salt and rub this into the skin. Brush olive oil over the chickens and sprinkle with the rosemary and lemon skin. Roughly chop one lemon and place inside the chicken or under the breast skin.
Place the chicken in a shallow oven-proof dish and place in the oven to cook for 20 minutes per lb (450 g) plus 10-20 minutes extra – this will be 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2 hours for a 5 lb (2.25 kg) chicken. Once cooked, carve and serve with the lemon slices.
Roast Potatoes
Some varieties of potatoes are better than others for roasting so check it out!
Par boil your potatoes or potato chunks, pour off the water and dry very gently on the stove top. You can stop here and time the next step to suit.
Place the potatoes in a flat roasting tin with hot goose fat, oil or dripping to your preference and rough up the outer area of each whole or half potato and turn gently over in the fat.
Stir in some rosemary sprigs or thyme if you prefer, sprinkle with rock salt and put in the oven for about forty minutes turning the potatoes once or twice. They will keep warm in a slow oven till required but to get the crispy touch they are best served immediately.
You can do this with potato wedges too with the addition of some hot chilli powder or harrisa paste if you like it really hot! Alternatively, serve your potato wedges with fresh Scotherbs Ariba mojo as dips. The bright red and green colours look good and taste good. Make sure the wedges are sprinkled with sea or rock salt.
Stir fried Lamb Neck Fillet with Rosemary
This is very easy and very tasty. Cut the fillet into thin short strips and stir-fry with sprigs of chopped rosemary and some grain mustard. It is best to do this in batches if you are making a large amount. Remember, rosemary is quite strong and you can always add more at the sauce stage if you feel you are not getting the flavour you want.
Once all of your lamb has been rapidly cooked at high heat you should remove the pan from the stove and add a little cream, or Elmlea if you prefer. Some soft apricots would also be a tasty addition at this stage.
Now taste. You may want to add more rosemary or grain mustard before you put this in a dish. Keep the lamb and sauce warm while you make some couscous with hot stock to serve.
Rosemary Facts
- In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia says, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance". Rosemary has a very old reputation for improving memory and one modern study might prove this! When the smell of rosemary was pumped into work cubicles as an experiment, the cubicle workers showed improved memory, although their recall was slower.
