Q This harvest, we have a bumper crop of pineapple sage. How could we use it creatively?
A For years I grew this herb just for the pleasure of brushing up against it in the garden. As you know, it smells amazingly like pineapple and barely like sage. Spreading leaves in a shallow basket and letting them dry gives you a fresh room-filling scent all winter.
In cooking, many recipes calling for fresh basil could take pineapple sage instead. Just remember that sage leaves have a coarser texture.
The herb is best, though, with soft, gentle flavors and foods that have an underlying sweetness or creaminess. For instance, you could infuse a baked custard with it by lining individual ramekins with the leaves before putting them in the oven.
The same kind of flavoring could be done with sugar by burying leaves in the sugar canister. Then anything you do with the sugar will carry traces of the herb.
Or make a pineapple-sage sugar syrup for lemonade, limeade or iced tea by melting equal parts of sugar and water in a saucepan, then steeping a handful of pineapple sage in it for an hour or so. Add rum and extra lime and you've got a pineapple-sage cooler.
Warm the crushed leaves in a little butter that's barely melted and toss the mix with steamed little red potatoes. Or pour that butter over grilled seafood, especially salmon and scallops. Braise carrots with orange zest, olive oil, a little onion and lots of pineapple sage. The same flavorings set off peas nicely, and chicken breast.
Speaking of chicken: Whenever you're in doubt about what to do with a new herb, stuff it under the skin of a chicken and then roast. If you have the time, let the seasoned chicken sit overnight in the refrigerator before cooking so that fruity green aroma permeates the whole bird.
Lynne Rossetto Kasper hosts "The Splendid Table," Minnesota Public Radio's weekly show, www.splendidtable.org. Send questions to table@mpr.org.
