Use it up
How to Use Up Fresh Herbs: Flexible Green Herb Sauce
Turn a mixed handful of parsley, cilantro, basil, dill, or mint into a bright green herb sauce before it wilts. No exact herb combination required.
- TIME
- 10 min
- SERVES
- 6
- ENERGY
- 120 cal
Learning how to use up fresh herbs is mostly about ignoring the idea that every herb needs its own recipe. A mixed bunch of parsley, basil, dill, mint, or cilantro/coriander can become one bright green sauce that wakes up whatever dinner you already planned.
The ratios are forgiving: herbs for flavour, something acidic for lift, oil for body, and salt. Nuts make it richer but are optional; breadcrumbs add body for less money. Use the tender stems too. They carry plenty of flavour and are often the first part people throw away.
Which herbs work together?
Most soft herbs can share a bowl, but let stronger herbs play a supporting role. Use mint, dill, rosemary, sage, or tarragon in smaller amounts beside mild parsley, basil, or cilantro/coriander. Woody rosemary and sage stems should be removed; tender parsley stems can be chopped with the leaves.
Five ways to use the sauce
Spoon it over eggs, stir it through cooked grains, loosen it with pasta water, spread it into a sandwich, or mix it into yoghurt for a fast dip. If the herbs are slimy, mouldy, or smell rotten, compost them instead. Slightly droopy herbs are perfect for sauce; spoiled herbs are not.
From fridge to table
How to make it
- 01
Wash the herbs, dry them well, and remove only thick or woody stems. Tender parsley and cilantro/coriander stems are full of flavour.
- 02
Finely chop the herbs and garlic by hand, or pulse them in a small food processor.
- 03
Stir in the lemon juice, salt, and optional nuts or breadcrumbs. Add the olive oil gradually until the sauce is loose enough to spoon.
- 04
Taste and adjust with more acid, salt, or oil. Use immediately or refrigerate in a covered jar.
