Each of those herbs you listed also go very well with other herbs and spices. For instance, combine basil with oregano, savory, garlic, thyme and rosemary to make tomato based sauce for pasta, or cabbage rolls. Combine those same herbs with ground beef, add in egg, bread crumbs, a little salt and pepper, and you have meat loaf or meat balls.
Combine sage, red pepper, black pepper, and salt to ground pork to make your own breakfast sausage. Or, use those same flavors to enhance gravies for a pork roast.
Put together mayonnaise, a little salt, black pepper, oregano, basil, garlic, and mix with just enough milk to make it creamy and you have home made ranch dressing for salads.
Mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, tarragon, and a touch of lemon juice make a wonderful tartar sauce for fish and seafood.
And just so you know, flavorings made from seeds, such as fennel, pepper, nutmeg, etc., are called spices. Flavorings made from the leaves and flowers of plants are called herbs.
As you play around with herbs and spices, you will begin to find all kinds of uses for them. They enhance everything from egg rolls to ice cream. They are great on veggies, meat, poultry, in savory and sweet sauces, in main courses, and in deserts, beverages, virtually anything you can put in your mouth and swallow.
Use flavorings such as liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, maggi, hot sauce, etc. as you would herbs and spices, to enhance the natural floavors of foods.
Tip: It is sometimes easier to place fresh herbs into a little muslin or cheesecloth bag so that after they have given their flavors to a soup, or sauce, it is easy to remove them. Tea bags are a classic use of this technique.
Tip 2: Go easy on adding herbs and spices (seasonings) to foods. Put a little in and let it cook for ten minutes or so. Taste the food. Add a little more if needed. And always remember, you can always add more, but once it's in the soup (or sauce, or desert cream, or whatever), you can't take it out.
I have destroyed what could have been very good food by adding to much of something. The delicious, but potent herb - cilantro - comes to mind.
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
You just might get arrested for possession.
