I planted an herb garden this year!! I have always used dried herbs, and I'm still learning how to cook with fresh. I make an easy dish where I coat chicken tenders with Parmesan cheese, dried herbs, and bake. Could I replace some of the dried herbs with fresh? I have freshly picked sage, chive, and oregano. I cook the tenders at 400 degrees 15-20 minutes... if that makes a difference.
Jo- Do you think if I added some olive oil to the mix (I've done that before with the dried herbs) that will help the drying out issue?
Absolutely, and always.
For a more gourmet version, only add about 1/3 to batter. Use the rest sprinkled over the nuggets after cooking. With sage, however, a fun trick is to fry the whole leaves and crumble over.
I've found, when using fresh herbs, use double the amount you would of dried and add them closer to the end of cooking. I don't think it will hurt to use them in this recipe, but it won't give you as strong of a flavor as dried. Herbs flavor intensifies when they are dried. They give off flavor as you cook them. Fresh herbs flavor is delicate and brightest when they are fresh chopped or bruised making the oils come out.
Sounds good to me. One thing I recently learned with fresh herbs... Sometimes a little goes a lot further than you think.
I used fresh tarragon a couple weeks ago and used too much. It has a fairly strong flavor which is good but I should have used a little less.
Enjoy your herb garden!
My favorite is fresh basil on any kind of fish - and bake. Yummmy!
You can always replace dry with fresh. In this case I am not sure it will make a difference. They will most likely dry out while you cook, ya know. One thing you need to make sure of if you do is chop them finely. If not they won't distribute like a dried herb will.
Olive oil will keep them moist longer and may make it 20 minutes. After that it starts to fry them. Don't get me wrong I could snack on wilted herbs but if that isn't want you were going for....
My son (he is going to culinary school) says to substitute 3 x as many FRESH as you would use dried....
So... if you would normally use 1 tsp dried, use 3 tsp (or 1 TBSP) fresh....
We planted an herb garden, too... it has been fun using them!
One time, I was breading something.. (I don't remember what... maybe chicken?) and my son took the fresh herbs, and the flour mix, and whirred them all up in the food processor...... it chopped it all very nicely, and distributed the flavor throughout the breading.
You might try puttng your fresh herbs on the chicken first, then add the cheese (which should hold the herbs in place and not dry too fast as it melts). Coating with a little oil might work - used sparingly!
Was it delicious? I use fresh basil, oregano, and rosemary all the time!
Your chicken sounds amazing!
