Sage is one of the stronger herbs. Its flavor ranges from mild, warm and spicy to musky, heady and astringent. We commonly cook with it in the cooler months since it pairs well with rich dishes.
Sage’s best match might be with brown butter as a pasta sauce. But it also contrasts the fattiness of pork and sausage, makes roasted chicken more succulent, and complements heartier vegetables like sweet potatoes, squash and zucchini.
Large pieces of uncooked sage leaf and stem aren’t the most pleasant things to chew. You can finely chop them for quick-cooking or last minute appearances. Long cooking and higher heat (like with sage butter) softens the leaves.
To make clean even slices, roughly stack the leaves, roll them up like a cigar and hold them in place on the cutting board.
Then just slice the cigar crosswise into thin strips.
To coarsely chop the leaves for longer cooking dishes, run the knife back and forth across them a couple of times.
For quick-cooking dishes, keep going with the knife until the leaves are finely chopped.
How to slice mushrooms with an egg slicer
How to slice mushrooms with an egg slicer
There's more than one way to slice a mushroom. But if you're working with mushrooms about the size of an egg (like creminis or buttons) consider using an egg slicer; it'll help you make a pile of consistently-sized slices in no time. Here's how:
After you rinse and dry or brush your mushrooms to remove any dirt, trim away the very bottom part of their stems. Open the blades of the slicer and orient the mushroom the way you'd like your slices to go.
Then just slice down as you would with an egg.
You should end up with nice even slices.
If you're in the market for an egg slicer, look for one with two blades -- one for slicing and one for quartering.
