You’re singing it now, aren’t you!
(If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s in reference to a Simon & Garfunkel song… one that easily gets stuck in your head!)
Last year I experimented with a new method of freezing herbs, plus a new herb blend and it turned out FANTASTIC! I’ll be making a whole lot more of it this year!
If you follow me on Instagram, you saw me using my “Scarborough Fair” herb blend all Winter long. It is a blend of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme that is perfect for just about anything!
I used this frozen herb blend for throwing into literally every soup I made, pairing with roast chicken, crockpot beef roasts, wild rice with herb butter, potatoes, roasted carrots… there’s pretty much nothing this blend doesn’t go well on!
The best part is that it’s really easy to throw together, and even easier to freeze, with no ice cube trays full of olive oil soaked herbs required (I hate that method, by the way- I never want that much extra oil in whatever I’m making). This method is much better and preserves the fresh herb flavor just as good, if not even better!
Scarborough Fair Herb Blend Recipe: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme
5 parts parsley
2 parts sage
2 parts thyme
1 part rosemary
Finely chop the herbs with a sharp knife. If your knife is dull, it can bruise the herbs, and since we’re freezing this herb blend, we want the highest quality product going into the freezer that we can get. A food processor or blender is faster, but it damages the herbs, so spend the time cutting them by hand. It’s actually therapeutic for me, and there are a lot worse ways you can spend 30 minutes.
Work with one type of herb at a time. For example, chop all the parsley together, but don’t chop the sage and parsley together on the cutting board at the same time because each herb chops differently.
Once all the herbs are chopped and measured out, place them together in a big bowl and use your hands to gently sift and fold them, mixing them together thoroughly.
Place the herb blend into a freezer container- my favorite are 8oz Extreme Freeze Reditainers (the same ones I use to freeze my eggs—> tutorial on that here!). They keep things fresh and prevent freezer burn. I also use this 8oz size container for freezing pesto and sun-dried tomatoes! They are reusable for years, don’t hold stains, and are incredibly affordable!
Using a quart size freezer bag will work too, but I would recommend double-bagging the herbs so that the potent herb smell doesn’t mingle with anything else in your freezer… you don’t want rosemary scented ice cream. Hmm, or do you?
The recipe is in “parts” so that you can freeze whatever quantity your garden or farmer’s market can support. If you’re not used to thinking in “parts,” it’s easy- I’ll show you. Just pick a measuring vessel, any one. For a batch of herbs, I’ll often use 1/2 or 1/3 cup as my measure. You can use anything from a tablespoon to even your favorite coffee mug. Simply replace the word “part” in the recipe with whichever measuring vessel you’ve chosen. So in my case I used 1/2 cup, which means I’ll measure out 5 parts X 1/2 cups of parsley (that’s 2.5 cups), 2 parts X 1/2 cups of sage (that’s 1 cup), 2 parts X 1/2 cups thyme (that’s 1 cup) and 1 part X 1/2 cup rosemary (that’s 1/2 cup).
There’s nothing better than “fresh” herbs all Winter long!
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That sounds good! I use those herbs (without really measuring, so thanks for a recipe) on my Thanksgiving turkey…and I HAVE to put them on in the song order.