Herb olive oil

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 500 ml, you will need:

• 1 500 ml olive oil
• 2 1 sprig rosemary
• 3 2 leaves sage
• 4 1 sprig thyme
• 5 1 bayleaf
• 6 5 corianders seeds
• 7 5 peppercorns
• Total weight: 495 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
20 min.	1 min.	25 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Boil some water and prepare a bowl full of very cold water (even add some ice cubes if possible so that water is really ice-cold).
2	Find a glass bottle the capacity of your choice. When water boils, sterilise the bottle by half-filling it with boiling water, seal and shake well, then empty. Put in 5 peppercorns and 5 corianders seeds. Plunge herbs into boiling water for 10 seconds .
3	Remove herbs from water with a fork and put into the cold water. You have blanched them.
4	Remove herbs from cold water with a fork and put them on absorbing paper or a tea-towel to dry.
5	Make a small bunch with all the herbs, tying them up with string. Remember to tie the herb stalks as close as possible to the start of the leaves, then trim off stalks just below the string. This is so that the herbs will go well down in the bottle and not emerge after you have used a little.
6	Gently insert the bunch into the bottle.
7	If you do it properly, the bunch should open itself out a little inside the bottle.
8	Pour 500 ml olive oil into the bottle to completly cover the herbs.
9	Cork and leave the flavours and aromas to infuse slowly for at least 2 weeks. Then use it as you wish.

Remarks

You can of course vary the herbs, add or remove whatever you like. You can also, for a more bit more "bite", add a small chilli and/or a clove of garlic (without the shoot) cut in four.
Another idea is olive oil with a single herb, chives. It's simpler: chop a good bunch of chives very finely, put in a bottle and cover with olive oil. Seal and leave to stand for about 2 weeks, until the flavour of the chives mingles with the oil. After this time, filter oil and discard chives. On a salad it's a pure delight.

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