Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Season Your Cuisine With Cilantro

Fresh Cilantro


Cilantro, or Chinese parsley, is an herb frequently used in Mexican cooking. Its distinctive flavor adds zest to egg, meat and vegetable dishes and helps to tame the effects of onion and garlic. Here's a quick primer on use cilantro in everyday cooking.


Instructions


1. Chop 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro and cook with 1/2 pound of breakfast sausage. Add four eggs and scramble. Serve on English muffins, with Tabasco sauce or salsa.


2. Add 1 tbsp. of chopped cilantro to the cheese sauce and serve over cauliflower or broccoli for a refreshing change of pace.








3. Combine 2 small diced tomatoes, 1 tbsp. of chopped red or yellow onion, 1 tbsp. of chopped cilantro, garlic salt and salt and pepper. Add a squeeze of lime or lemon juice and you've made homemade salsa.


4. Add 1 tbsp. of fresh chopped cilantro, 1 tsp. of garlic powder and 1/2 tsp. of oregano to canned spaghetti sauce. Bring to a boil, turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes to let the spices blend. Serve over pasta as a side dish.


5. Add 1/2 tbsp. of finely chopped cilantro to ground beef mixture when making meatloaf. Top meatloaf with salsa instead of ketchup or spaghetti sauce before baking.

Tags: chopped cilantro, tbsp chopped, chopped cilantro garlic, cilantro garlic, salsa tbsp