Lots of sage - any recipe ideas?

[Mell]

You can drink it as a tea - medicinally it is used for sore throats, .

gargle rather than drink

and be careful of having too much esp if if pregnant or nursing

In drink be aware Sage contains thujone, thujone was present in Absinthe which was banned in many european countries, the evidence as to whether was causative varies, but it is worth looking into if you intend to make sage wine for example, personally I think it sounds revolting !

[motherhen]

I've never tried this but when Mum and I are in the garden whenever she sees my sage she always quotes this old recipe, Suet pastry rolled out, lay in bacon rashes and sage leaves swiss roll style and roll, steam until cooked, sounds really lovely. Imagine with onion gravy and seasonal veg!
I also saw on some cookery programme sage leaves thinly sliced fried till crisp springled as a garnish on meat or fish.

[Jono]

I saw a recipe for sage and pumpkin/squash soup somewhere, think it was in the recipe section here. if not, just google

This one?

BBC - Food - Recipes : Pumpkin risotto with crispy sage

Its my favourite winter dish, really tasty. Good with squash too.

[justgimmeethefaxmaam]

Excellent recipe from the Stilton Cheesemakers.
It is very good :-)

Ingredients
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 50g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 15g butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp freshly chopped sage
• 400g arborio risotto rice
• 1 litre vegetable stock, boiling
• 225g winter squash, deseeded, peeled and roughly chopped
• 75g Blue Stilton cheese
• 4 sprigs fresh sage for garnish

Instructions

1 Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan, add half of the chopped walnuts and allow to brown. Spoon the nuts onto a plate and set aside.

2 Add the butter, onions and chopped sage to the pan and soften for 6-8 minutes.

3 Stir in the rice to absorb the cooking juices. Add the stock and the chopped squash, then simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

4 Switch off the heat, crumble in the Stilton, add the remaining chopped walnuts, cover and allow to finish cooking in its own heat for 5 minutes.
Serve each portion garnished with a sprig of fresh sage.

Serves 4

[elleme]

Those last two recipes sound lovely, but here's another one. It's from Jane Clarke's Bodyfoods for life book. You can also use lasagne sheets in place of the potatoes, but I've tried both and preferred the potato version.

Potato ham and spinach layer - serves 3-4
450ml milk
4 peppercorns
small bunch of fresh sage
50g butter (you can use a bit less if you want, I've used 2 tsbp oil before)
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
50g plain flour
150g natural yoghurt or cream
225g ham off the bone, sliced
3 large potatoes sliced
450g leaf spinach (I've just used a standard 250g pack)
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
2 large slices wholemeal bread made into crumbs

Preheat oven to 200c/400f/gas 6.

Heat milk in a small saucepan with the peppercorns and about 3 sage leaves. Remove from heat and leave to infuse for 20 mins.

Meanwhile heat the butter in a large saucepan and fry onion and garlic until translucent and turning slightly golden. Add the flour and stair for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the strained infused milk a little at a time, stirring to avoid lumps. Bring the sauce to the boil, stirring constantly and boild until thick. Remove from the heat and add the yoghurt or cream - be careful how much you use as the sauce should still be thick enough to coat the potatoes.

In a large ovenproof dish, arrange layers of ham, potatoes, sauce and spinach, grating a little nutmeg over each spinach layer. Finish with a layer of sauce and cover with breadcrumbs and a sprinkling of finely chopped sage.

Place in oven and cook for 30-40 minutes, until the potatoes are soft (test by piercing with sharp knife). Serve hot.

[Bill HH]

Sage leaves also make a good hair rinse!

Would not that cause
one to smell like an old stuffing ball?

[WilliamD]

There's always the option to dry them: Steps 1, 2, 3 below:

[Aliss]

This one?

BBC - Food - Recipes : Pumpkin risotto with crispy sage

Its my favourite winter dish, really tasty. Good with squash too.

This looks delicious! Have to give it a try

[Bohobumble]

I like your apple and sage jelly idea and would love the recipe *if you're still online*? I'd be experimenting with chutneys - Onion and sage chutney for starters!

I grew up with sage in my home county of Lincolnshire, one of the tastiest herbs... usually with pork in various guises as it happens (I eat mostly veggie dishes but have a pescatarian diet these days), but it pairs very well with cheese (I made a sage cheddar recently known as Lincolnshire Green - yum) and sage frazzled in butter over potatoes or pasta is delicious. A sage/beurre noisette sauce is good over delicate white fish with maybe a drizzle of lemon juice. Fry whole sage leaves in butter before adding in the egg mixture when making omelette Use the same stuff when making savoury cous cous.

It pairs well with roast veg; sage roast potatoes, sage butternut squash, sage & garlic parsnip, sage and pine nut courgette/med veg - with a grating of parmesan at serving! Do add it in near the end of cooking.

Home made sage and onion stuffing is nothing like the packet rubbish - add in some chestnut/toasted pine nut is my tip. It also pairs with roast garlic, and black pepper very well, try adding a little into a few of your savoury dishes you'd add herbs to and see what happens. Folks are right in that it is quite a strong flavour so don't use too much or you'll overpower things.

Hugh has some comments here: Sage recipes the scones in this recipe are good. I like the comment he makes of sage being antibacterial which I understand is how the sage cheese came about. I wonder if you could add it into savoury preserves such as potted shrimp, or pate?

Sage dries well so you can pick it for winter use, the fresh stuff often goes woody in the winter so it's a good idea to pick and dry for over the winter saving it's winter leaves for the needed energy for new growth in spring.

You might get a big sage'd out!

[greenishfing]

What my mother made and called "stuffing" when I was a child is not remotely like any other stuffing I've eaten and was always served as a side dish. I make a huge amount every time I roast a joint of pork and lots of guests have asked for the recipe. It freezes well too.

Roughly chop up a few onions. Put in a saucepan and cover with water. Simmer until soft, 10 or 15 minutes.

Drain in a colander.

Add fresh breadcrumbs (at most a quarter the amount of cooked onion), finely chopped fresh sage (to taste- yes have a taste now), or dried sage and salt and pepper and stir up.

Add to the roasting pan once the fat has started to run out of the meat and turn it over a few times to coat it with fat.

About every 20 minutes while the pork is cooking give it a turn. It takes in lots of meat juices and is the most gorgeous soft moist tasty accompaniment to roast pork.

It shrinks amazingly while in the roasting tin so you need plenty.

Stuffing sandwiches! OOOOOOOOOOOOOh heaven.

[Greenleaves]

Would not that cause
one to smell like an old stuffing ball?

only if you used an onion as deodorant Bill

[veggiechicken]

Sage advice there, GL.
I love these old threads that appear from nowhere, I wonder whether all those sage plants are still growing and whether anyone actually tried the recipes. Hope I can sleep tonight

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

I love stuffing made to Mrs Beeton's olde recipe. Simple pleasures.

Sage wine sounds like an interesting proposition for later in the year.

[Scarlet]

Sage and anchovy fritters...go lovely with a beer or a fizz
sage & anchovy fritters - Riverford Organic Farms

[vixylix]

sage pesto - made as for normal pesto but replace the basil with sage. Lovely on its own with pasta, or with pasta and pork meatballs. yum!