Used to spend 20 minutes picking herbs, now I just chop and go

I used to be that person who would stand over the cutting board and carefully pluck every single basil leaf off the stem before chopping. Drove my wife crazy, took forever, and honestly the flavor wasn't any better. Then one night last month I was rushing to get dinner on the table before a 7pm class and just hacked the whole stem into the pan. Nobody noticed, the pasta tasted exactly the same, and I got to sit down 15 minutes earlier. Now I do that with parsley, cilantro, even rosemary, just strip the big leaves and chop the rest. Does anyone else skip the fussy prep steps and find the meal turns out fine anyway?

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hollyl453d ago

Honestly, my wife gave me so much grief about the cilantro stems that I started doing a blind taste test with tacos one night. Used the whole stem in her bowl and just leaves in mine, she couldn't tell the difference either. Now I even do it with thyme, just run my fingers down the branch and toss the whole thing in the pot since the leaves fall off anyway. The only thing I still baby prep is garlic because burning it ruins a whole dish, but even that I just smash with the flat side of my knife instead of mincing like some food network guy. Saves me maybe 10 minutes a night and dinner tastes exactly the same, nobody's ever complained once.