Cooking with Rosemary: Roasts and Baking

Chefs' Recipes Using Culinary Herb Rosmarinus officinalis

Jan 2, 2009 Susan Morris

Rosemary's hardiness, aroma and versatility as a culinary herb is an asset to cooks. Here's an introduction to some chefs' recipes using rosemary in roasts and baking.

Cutting fresh shoots of rosemary, a hardy shrub bearing leaves throughout the year, should uplift every kitchen gardener. Herbalists, such as Jane Daley, report that the essential oils of Rosmarinus officinalis, common name Rosemary, enhance circulation in the body including the brain. Rosemary is no less potent as a culinary herb in roasts and baking.

Often cooked with meats, particularly lamb, the aroma from the semi-ripened shoots or freshly cut sprigs of Rosmarinus officinalis is released on roasting with potatoes or scattered over a tray of roasting vegetables including butternut squash, pumpkin, turnip and red onions. Versatile culinary herb rosemary can be used in baking bread.

Some chefs’ recipes that cook with rosemary as an essential ingredient to inspire cooking with rosemary in roasts and baking follow.

Roasting with Rosemary Herb

Tradition in meat cookery has favoured rosemary as herb of choice for roast lamb and roast beef:

• Gary Rhodes in ‘keeping lamb simple’ in his Keeping It Simple (Michael Joseph, 2005) writes “Thyme and sage. Both of these herbs have become as classic as rosemary” before Gary Rhodes introduces his rosemary gravy as ‘a simple gravy for lamb’.
• Gordon Ramsay to accompany his ‘Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding & Red Wine Gravy’ has a side dish of ‘Roast potatoes with garlic & rosemary’ published in Gordon Ramsay’s Sunday Lunch and Other Recipes From the F Word (Quadrille Publishing Ltd, 2006).

Roasting with the herb rosemary can include lemon and garlic:

• 'Fish thrift and standbys', a chapter in the 608 page The River Cottage Fish Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Nick Fisher (Bloomsbury, 2007) includes a recipe for roast pollack head with the variation of ‘Roasted Skeletons with garlic and rosemary’ with a generous amount of rosemary sprigs and served with lemon.
• Rosemary with the companions of lemon, garlic and olive oil feature as a marinade for meats in Jamie Oliver’s second cookery book The Return of the Naked Chef (Michael Joseph, 2000) and is applied in ‘tray-baked pork chops with herby potatoes, parsnips, pears and minted bread sauce’.

Baking with Rosemary Herb

Rosemary and sage leaves add aroma plus texture and feature in Italian-inspired recipes in Jamie Oliver’s recent books for home cooks. Earlier recipes featured in The Return of the Naked Chef includes ‘spinach and porcini with rosemary and lemon’ suggested by Jamie Oliver as “An excellent filling for vegetarian cannelloni with a little ricotta”.

Rosemary can be baked in breads:

• For example the ‘rosemary flatbread’ considered “light and delicate with a surprising herbal hit, this is a great staple to have on stand-by” in Taste 101: Inspire Excite Delight Marie Claire Australia Food (Pacific Magazines, 2007).
• As a variation, rosemary can infuse and add crunch to a bread loaf crust. Aromatic Rosemary leaves are a final touch to a recipe for a bloomer bread loaf. Rosemary Herb Bloomer Bread can be baked using strong white or wholemeal flour.

Rosemary can infuse meats and fish dishes, baked vegetarian suppers and breads. Roasts and baking are tried and tested ways of cooking with rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis.

The copyright of the article Cooking with Rosemary: Roasts and Baking in Seasonal Cooking is owned by Susan Morris. Permission to republish Cooking with Rosemary: Roasts and Baking in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Rosemary Shoots and Leaves Fresh for Cooking