Cannellini beans in butternut squash broth with fried sage leavesThe Butterfly:
How and why do you fry sage leaves?
I love sage by the way, it's grown in the wild here naturally, and my father collects it & dries it -- it's perfect for tonic herbal tea & for various food recipes (I mainly use it in white/creamy sauces and/or on heavy meats, like pork)!
Today I had my mother's Yemista (stuffed vegetables with rice)!!!!!!
The 2nd best food in the world (I say 2nd because the first is my own Yemista, lol! xD But I only make them 1-2 times a year & I'm super perfectionist about it, so yeah xD )!
Here in Crete, we don't add meat to our yemista -- it's really so delicious on its own, with rice & vegetables, meat would be an overkill, really! In my family, we use ripe, flavourful, outdoor-grown tomatoes (this is the right time of year to find such tomatoes), various sweet peppers, small zucchinis, and (the highlight!) vine leaves, all stuffed with rice-vegetables-olive oil-herbs filling and roasted in a pan together in the oven. Also, another difference with mainland Greece is that here, most people (including my family) will usually serve yemista together with yogurt, not with feta cheese (but you better use traditional yogurt, from sheep's milk --the one with the "skin").
How and why do you fry sage leaves?Estelll is the Night Sky:
I like to grow fresh sage as well. Pick a few long, fat leaves, trim the stems and sauté gently in butter or olive oil until just turning crisp. It takes less than a minute and they can scorch quickly. The fried leaves add a different flavor and texture than fresh sage, especially in the now flavored butter or olive oil. This is also really good over cheese or veggie ravioli with a little parmesan on top. You can also make the leaves and butter into a sauce with a little pasta water added to it, cooked down some and then tossed with a pasta like fettuccini-- again with some parmesan or your favorite cheese tossed in and some coarsely ground black pepper. Crispy bits of bacon would put it over the top. :)
Some people deep fry the sage or use a flour and egg coating before deep frying or sautéing. I've been thinking about trying the fried coated sage but haven't yet.
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Yemista sounds really good. No vine leaves here or goat's yogurt to be found. I'd have to make a variation on the traditional recipe. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! :)
Yemista sounds really good. No vine leaves here or goat's yogurt to be found. I'd have to make a variation on the traditional recipe. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! :)
But I didn't share my recipe though! The one I linked above (this one) is just one I've found online and it's fairly decent. I do have my own tricks to make them even more special. But the one linked is a fairly good start if you wanna try!! :) Enjoy!!
I like to grow fresh sage as well. Pick a few long, fat leaves, trim the stems and sauté gently in butter or olive oil until just turning crisp. It takes less than a minute and they can scorch quickly. The fried leaves add a different flavor and texture than fresh sage, especially in the now flavored butter or olive oil. This is also really good over cheese or veggie ravioli with a little parmesan on top. You can also make the leaves and butter into a sauce with a little pasta water added to it, cooked down some and then tossed with a pasta like fettuccini-- again with some parmesan or your favorite cheese tossed in and some coarsely ground black pepper. Crispy bits of bacon would put it over the top. :)
Thank you very much for the recipes!! These sounds a lot with what I do with pasta when in a hurry, with the difference being I always add the (usually dried) sage leaves sprinkled on top after I finish cooking or right before the end of cooking... I've never thought about sautéing it or frying it! I'll try it & see how it goes! :)
Spaghetti carbonara (cheap low calorie microwave kind lollll)aftertherain:
Sage is also my personal must-have ingredient in (egg) carbonara, btw!!
(Oh, and my "secret" ingredient in kima/keema/bolognese/ragù meat sauce --whatever you wanna call it)
