what to do with a large bunch of cilantro?

[lovecooking]

just back from the market where they had these ginormous bags of cilantro on sale. I love the stuff, husband not so much but still, you' all know how fast it goes bad, like in minutes, how do preserve it? in oil form, can I freeze it straight away, mix with water and freeze in ice cube trays for later use? I'm stuck.........if you can help, thank you

[felmac]

The two way's I enjoy are to either rinse, drip dry, pick, and freeze, or make a pesto with it, and portion it off an ice cube tray.

The first method works fine for everything you'd want out of herbs but aesthetics. They lose their colour in the freezer, and a bit of their flavour. Other than that, a handful chopped in a curry or a salsa is easy and worthwhile. The roots n stems are great too- no need to toss those.

[kcma]

you can put them in a pot and grow them :)

but they're so cheap i wouldnt try to save it...

[VHo]

I make a sauce w/ mayo and lemon. keeps for some time in the fridge. or put in chicken soup and freeze that.

[lovecooking]

thanks for helping, it's in the freezer still unsure of what to do with it..........
growing is easy but the grow season is very short

[felmac]

Currrrry :D Just chuck a big ol' handful in at the end.

Really, you can use it in any instance you'd normally have it on hand for. Only catches are that you'll need a bit more than you would fresh to get the same amount of flavour, and the colour will be anything but bright n vibrant green.

[ChrisLehrer]

Blanch it for 10-15 seconds in lots of rapidly-boiling water, then pull it out and shock it in a big bowl of ice water to set the color.

Shake it out, throw it still a bit wet into a blender, and add a cup or so of neutral oil (canola, corn, peanut, etc.). Run it until it's starting to get smooth, adding oil if necessary to make it smooth out. Then run very fast for a minute or two.

Now pour it into a big glass measuring cup and let it stand, covered with plastic, for an hour or two. Skim off the slightly flavored oil on the top, and use it for just about anything where the flavor will work. The sludge itself you pack into half-pint plastic storage containers or bags and freeze solid.

This also works very well if someone hands you a 5-gallon bucket full of basil, by the way. You can have terrific, fresh-tasting pesto in mid-winter this way.

[kcma]

we have fresh basil year round here in CA Chris :p

[MartinPiller]

I'm just back from a week in Bangkok and I'm fully occupied by the Thai kitchen right now. Thus, answering your question: please send some to Holland!

[ChrisLehrer]

we have fresh basil year round here in CA Chris :p

Yes, but on the other hand, CA doesn't have seasons and thus everything is perpetually the same, so the whole idea of eating in season is lost on you guys. You just eat the same slop every day, week in, week out. In the rest of the world, people like the idea of eating seasonally. You may have heard about this -- it's big in France and Japan, for example. What do you people do, turn the AC up and down by month or something? :mad:

[kcma]

i hear CA envy, don't be Chris, it's dark and cloudy outside today, the high didn't even hit 80 today, chilly!!

and of course we have seasons!! copper river salmon just in, ahi tuna are great :)

[ChrisLehrer]

CA envy? Phooey. I live in New England, where we have about three weeks in autumn that are super-spectacular. Other than that, there's cold-wet season, nasty gray season, mud season, and that beautiful week or two in June. Then there's hot sticky season, really hot and nasty season, cooling but surprisingly hot season, and back to beautiful autumn again.

[kcma]

;) sounds about right!! I love the weather in Thailand where it's always 80s or higher... Ca is still a bit cold....

[ChrisLehrer]

Ugh. Horrible. You probably think the weather in Taiwan is nice, don't you?

My idea of perfect weather would be a less-extreme version of Vermont: lots of 60-65 days with 40-ish lows, some snow in winter, never over 80 and usually not over 75 in summer. Dryish would be nice, too.

I hear parts of New Zealand are sort of like this, but wet. Scotland too.

[kcma]

i love weather in taiwan <3

[Roman505]

Where I live pretty much fits your bill, Chris. Our temperatures would be about 2 C higher, than you specify, and if you want snow then travel 100 Km, otherwise it is beautiful here. The difference though is that our climate is maritime. Forget those lovely Autumn leaves until you drive over the hills, inland.

In NZ, for those temperatures, you want to be in the North Island. The South can be freezing in early Summer and is tolerable in mid to late Summer.

No, I haven't used any Cilantro lately (thus staying on topic :D).

[ChrisLehrer]

Where I live pretty much fits your bill, Chris. Our temperatures would be about 2 C higher, than you specify, and if you want snow then travel 100 Km, otherwise it is beautiful here. The difference though is that our climate is maritime. Forget those lovely Autumn leaves until you drive over the hills, inland.

In NZ, for those temperatures, you want to be in the North Island. The South can be freezing in early Summer and is tolerable in mid to late Summer.

No, I haven't used any Cilantro lately (thus staying on topic :D).

Hmm, sounds nice. Maybe I'll retire there -- I can't believe my wife and kids would let me drag them before then.

You don't have to stay on-topic. This is the off-topic forum.

Speaking of which, read any good books lately? ;)

[Chef BertMor]

Hmm, sounds nice. Maybe I'll retire there -- I can't believe my wife and kids would let me drag them before then.

You don't have to stay on-topic. This is the off-topic forum.

Speaking of which, read any good books lately? ;)

Sounds like San Diego or San Luis Obispo is for you. I have always wanted to live in SLO but too expensive. Seems everyone wants to live there