Cookbook:Rosemary

Rosemary
Category	Herbs and spices

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Rosemary is a perennial woody herb, which grows in temperate and Mediterranean climates. The thin needle-like leaves are used in cooking. They have a bitter, astringent taste, which complements oily foods, such as lamb and oily fish.

Rosemary can also be used a flavouring in bread such as foccaccia.

You can put whole branches of the plant on to the hot coals of a barbecue to flavour the food being cooked, or strip off the leaves and use the stem as a skewer for kebabs (but you will need to pierce a hole in the food with a real skewer first, and soak the stem in water before use, to prevent it burning).

When roasting a leg of lamb, branches of fresh rosemary can be laid in the roasting pan directly under the meat to keep it from sticking to the pan, and to infuse the meat with aroma of rosemary. Also strip the leaves off a branch or two, to sprinkle on top of the meat before roasting.

In Australia and New Zealand, sprigs of rosemary are traditionally worn on ANZAC day, to commemorate the soldiers from those countries who have fought in all wars since the Great War.