Make your meals come to life with fresh herbs
Living herbs that are cut from a plant have much more taste, and a much stronger smell than their dried counterparts you can buy from the supermarket. And to help inspire you to cook some deliciously tasty meals, top chefs have worked with The Fresh Herb Company to create some recipes, all of which use living herbs to transform the meals.
Rosemary Shrager
You might remember Rosemary from her role on Ladette to Lady, where she helped to keep the girls in line. She said: "Fresh herbs are full of flavour and can liven up even the most simple mid week meals. To keep them well, I make sure to always pick the tops off – which helps them grow and I’m careful not to water them too much! Mint can enhance hundreds of different dishes with its fresh and distinct flavour".
Rosemary Shrager's Mint topped Carrot Cake
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 1-1¼ hours
Serves: 8-10
- 225g butter, softened
- 225g light soft brown sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 225g self raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 350g carrots, grated
- 100g walnuts, chopped
- 75g soft cheese
- 50g icing sugar
- Sprigs of fresh mint, from a living pot of mint
- Preheat the oven to 180oC, gas mark 4. Grease and base line a 20cm cake tin.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.
- Mix the flour and baking powder together and fold into the butter mixture. Stir in the carrots and walnuts, reserving 2 tbsp walnuts for decorating.
- Spoon into the cake tin and bake for 1-1¼ hours or until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the tin and allow to cool.
- Mix the soft cheese with the icing sugar and spread over the top of the cake. Decorate with sprigs of fresh, living mint and sprinkle over the reserved walnuts.
Check out page 2 for Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s Chive & Prawn Tagliatelle recipe!
Tagged in food Recipes Food Advice