Fresh Spring Herb Salt
This is the kind of deceptive kitchen trickery that makes you look like a pro, without doing hardly any work. My favorite! By keeping fresh herb salts in your refrigerator, you have an instant, gourmet garnish for omelets, fish, salads, pastas, and even pastries at your fingertips. This isn’t so much of a recipe as it is a guideline: Choose incredibly fresh spring herbs, grind them with salt, and keep on-hand. Try lavender salt on shortbread prior to baking them in the oven. Or basil salt mixed with fresh strawberries and balsamic syrup. And mint salt is gorgeous rimming a margarita glass!
- 3 loosely-packed cups of fresh herbs of your choice (I like parsley, dill, mint, sage, rosemary, lavender, and basil)
- 1/2 cup coarse salt
- Wash the herbs and remove coarse stems and any discolored leaves. Dry thoroughly.
- Place the herbs and salt in a food processor and pulse until you have a coarse grind. Be careful not to make a paste or puree, though.
- Place the herb mixture in a glass jar, and place in the fridge for 7-14 days to let the flavors meld. Give it a shake every day or so.
- Store in the fridge. The salt in this recipe acts as a preservative, so your herbs should last 6 months, or even longer.
Use your homemade herb salt in any recipes that would benefit from an extra punch. Obviously, it is very salty, so I would start by using it 1:1 for the salt in your recipes. Rub it on roasts, sprinkle it in stews, slather it on your chickens before roasting them… You get the idea!
About the Chef
Stephanie Goldfarb is a Chicago-based chef and national food television personality specializing in seasonal, globally-inspired cuisine. Recognized as the winner of Food Network’s America’s Best Cook competition, and a celebrity chef on Kitchen Inferno and NBC’s Food Fighters, Goldfarb delivers unique and relatable culinary experiences to discriminating and casual diners alike. As the owner of the successful Seven Species Supper Club & Catering, she enjoys the challenge of building brand new menus each month that inspire both repeat clients and newcomers, and seeks opportunities to utilize new ingredients, techniques, and approaches in accessible ways.