If you've never tried pairing your meats with fresh herbs, you're missing out! While dried herbs are versatile and convenient, fresh herbs are aromatic and plate up very nicely. Some meat and herb matches are meant to be and we've listed some of those for you here. No matter which type of meat you plan to make this week, there's an herb that's perfect for it!
Chicken and Cilantro
Chicken is great with so many herbs: rosemary, tarragon, sage, oregano. It’s such a mild meat that it can go with almost anything, but we want to highlight chicken and cilantro as one of our favorite matches.
Cilantro is a green leafy herb that is known as such in the United States and Canada. The rest of the world knows it as coriander. The leaves have citrus-y overtones and are often torn off the plant and used to top authentic street tacos, along with diced onions and a squeeze of lime.
You can simply use cilantro by sprinkling the leaves on your chicken dishes or you can mix up a delicious chimichurri sauce (sometimes known as Argentinian pesto) with cilantro, parsley, shallots, oregano, and garlic! Here are a couple of recipes to try:
Creamy Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
Pork and Rosemary
Like chicken, pork goes well with many herbs but rosemary is just right. We’re partial to a nice rosemary rub on roasted pork loin. The aroma that will fill your home will have your mouth watering before the meal is done cooking!
A simple rub can be made using garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. This is rubbed into the pork loin before roasting. Reserve some rosemary sprigs for an elegant garnish on the pork roast. A garden salad and mashed potatoes on the side would be perfect with this comforting main dish.
Roast Pork Loin with Garlic and Rosemary
Beef and Thyme
Beef goes well with herbs like rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage. It’s absolutely scrumptious with the chimichurri sauce we mentioned above, which turns skirt steak into a luxury.
We love tenderloin steaks rubbed with fresh thyme. The recipe is simple: olive oil, salt, pepper and the chopped fresh thyme. The thyme is rubbed into the steaks, which are left to sit for 15 minutes, absorbing all that herb-y goodness.
Another great way to incorporate thyme with steak is by making a thyme-garlic butter, which is brushed over the freshly grilled steaks. Add some roasted potatoes and asparagus for an amazing meal.
Beef Tenderloin with Fresh Thyme
Ribeye Steaks with Thyme-Garlic Butter
Always be sure to begin your meal planning with the best cuts of meat to create your finest meals.
