How to prep sage

by Cookthink

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.