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In spite of the appearance of these herbs, above, I assure you they’re perfectly legit. No, I didn’t open up my Pink Floyd double-album to remove any seeds. And no, I wasn’t listening to The Moody Blues at full-volume on my headphones hoping my mom wouldn’t smell anything funny coming from my bedroom, like when I was a teenager and took precautions by rolling up a towel and pushing it against the bottom of the door.

I’ve left all that behind, and now that I’m a law-abiding adult, I get my rush cooking, and this is my ‘stash.’ My friend Judy in Tuscany showed me how to make this easy herb mixture and it’s so good, and versatile, that I now make it frequently. It’s a vibrant mixture of fresh rosemary and sage, chopped up with fragrant garlic and coarse salt, then dried.

To make this Tuscan herbed salt, take a very large bunch of fresh sage and pick the leaves off. Then take a large bunch of rosemary and strip off the oily leaves of those. A good proportion is about 2 to 3 parts sage leaves to 1 part rosemary. Then take about 8 small peeled garlic cloves and a heaping tablespoon of coarse salt (I use grey salt from Brittany) then chop it all up until the herbs are very fine, as shown. Discard any sticks or seeds. Spread the chopped mixture on a baking sheet and let it dry for about three days. (Hint: Don’t keep it near an open window where there might be a breeze. It would be a total bummer if you wasted your stash.) Once dry, store your Tuscan herbed salt in a tightly-sealed in a jar.

pork.jpg

I use it as an instant rub over poultry, tuna filets, and meat; since I always have some on hand, it’s simple to mix with some good olive oil and rub in well before roasting. You can also mix some in a bowl of olive oil to use as a dipping sauce, too.

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30 comments

    • Jeanne

    Hi David (or should that be High David??!)
    Mmmm, what a great idea – and so easy! I must give this a try. Wonder what would happen if you baked the mixture in a cookie? Lol.

    • foodmomiac

    Great post. I am definitely going to make this before summer is out. The fresh garlic here is amazing right now.

    • mary g

    I just happen to have all the ingredients (except the salt) growing in my garden–what a happy accident.

    • J. Bo

    That pork roast (it is pork and not veal, yes?) looks incredible, David! Did you brine it?

    • Lil

    smells gorgeous to me!

    • Lu

    Here in Chicagoland ‘burbs, I cannot get fresh garlic – of which I am aware. Will dry garlic work in this rub? Thanks.

    • David

    Jeanne: I don’t know. I’ve only baked it in brownies ; )

    J. Bo: The pork was brined. I used the guidelines in The Zuni Cookbook, by Judy Rodgers, except I added allspice, and cassonade sugar. I like to brine for 2-3 days before roasting.

    Lu: Can’t get fresh garlic? I order you to move…at once!

    • cj

    yo, dude, you sure you didn’t smoke that stuff?

    • Susan

    David, this is so timely–the sage and rosemary are taking over my tiny urban garden plot! I’ll try it with the greenmarket garlic I picked up last Friday. Not green and new, but fresh. And there’s plenty more sage and rosemary if the first batch doesn’t work.

    As to removing stems and seeds, well, that’s just common sens, no?

    • laura

    very cool knife!

    • s’kat

    Dude, that is, like, a totally trippy mixture. Rock on, brutha!

    • Maureen in Oakland

    Very timely post. And it is great idea. There is a trattoria in Berkeley called Trattoria La Siciliana that serves a dipping sauce called Olio della Mamma that is very close to this. The only difference is the addition of red and black pepper I think. Totally yummy.

    • Katie

    Great idea! I’ve been freezing herbs for 2 weeks now – it’s a tedious job but I but they taste so good in winter. I have a huge herb garden and was planning on attacking the sage today…right after I finish with the dill pickles..I mean cornichons. I’m going to to this as well!

    • Ling

    When you say “large bunch”, how “large” do you mean?

    • David

    Ling: If you’re an average-sized adult, put your hands together as if you’re praying. Now pull your hands apart, but keep the tips of your fingers from each hand touching each other. A large bunch is the amount that you could snugly pack into that space.

    • michèle

    David, what if your hands are teeny tiny? Does that still qualify as a large bunch? I’ve been told my hands are dainty and I’d hate to mess up this recipe because of that. By the way, next time you break out your stash, invite me over ok?

    • flo

    I just love sage, and since I am gonna have to sacrify the remains of my rosemary pot, I am gonna have to make this to flavour my winter dishes!

    • debbie

    Good in wild rice stuffing too–can you get wild rice in Paris?–I’ve done it with Granny Smith apples and pecans and onions in the mix, but it would probably also be good with chopped pickled lemon and cracked olives

    • Garrett

    First time reader here. Great post and beautiful pictures! I’ll be back again!

    • Jess

    dude. your instruction on how to cup a large bunch was poetic. herb mixture sounds nice, too.

    • Jessica

    As delicious as the herbs look (I’ll be following your advice and making this), I want the KNIFE. Beautiful. :-)

    • David

    It’s a Katana knife, from Calphalon. I love mine (I have two)…and I noticed they’re on sale at Amazon.

    • Jessica

    Ooo, thanks for the referral, David… and me with a birthday coming up. :-)

    • Matt

    I’m so glad someone else asked about the knife. I’m a Wusthof user and a Shun voyeur, but that knife is just sexy… great photos too.

    • Kalyn

    I’m making this today! Thanks for the recommendation. I’m thinking there will be lots of good uses for it.

    • Kathy

    Hi David, What a great site. I will make this tomorrow. My herb garden is full and waiting. Thanks for sharing.

    • Charles

    David: Made this recently and am marinating a pork tenderloin for grilling/roasting and want permission to print recipe with credit and a link to your page in a blog I co-author with my partner. Thanks for your consideration. Charles Price

    • David

    Hi Charles: You’re welcome to adapt the recipe for your site. You can read a post I did about recipe attribution for guidelines. Glad you like it!!

    • Jo

    Oh Mediterranean food is good.

    I get garlic from Costco and surprisingly its just the best. Really big bulbs for not a lot of money (there are no farmers markets near us, so we make do). And I get through the stuff because there are so many wonderful recipes like this to choose from.

    Thanks!

    • penandra

    I just love the web . . . I started out with one google this morning and then spotted a link then spotted a link then spotted a link which eventually led me here (after checing out SEVERAL recipes on your site — i.e. carmelized white chocolate cake, dulce de leches, dulce de leches brownies, altoid brownies . . . oh, the mind boggles!). Anyway, thank you for the posting and for your delightful blog . . . I’m wondering if there’s a mixture like this for a mixture with oregano . . . I already have plans for this evening for this recipe . . . but have a very prolific oregano plant with which I would also like to do something — I’m thinking even just the oregano, garlic, and salt would be a start . . . suggestions on what else you might add to the mix?

A

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