There are two things I love about Carrabba’s: their manicotti and the herb mix they serve with their bread. I found a recipe that come very close to this herb mix on Recipezaar.com. I’ve made a few changes since finding it. For one thing, I quadrupled the recipe, yielding about a cup of the mix when finished. Trust me, this stuff is so good you’re going to want extra!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup basil, packed
- 1/4 cup Italian parsley, packed
- 2 teaspoons rosemary, packed
- 4 cloves garlic slightly crushed
- 4 teaspoons dried thyme
- 4 teaspoons dried oregano
- 4 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground sea salt
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine the fresh herbs and garlic in a food processor. Pulse a few times to coarsely chop the ingredients.
- Add the dried herbs, salt and peppers. Pulse several more times until you have a coarse, uniform mixture.
- Stir in olive oil and lemon juice.
- To serve, place half a teaspoon (or more if you like it strong) on a small plate and pour on some olive oil.
- Serve with warm, crusty bread.
Notes
The herb mix freezes very well in an air tight container and will keep for months.
© 2012 Dawn's Recipes - All Rights Reserved
mmmm….I went to carrabas for the first time ever a couple weeks ago when I visited my dad in florida. the oil for the bread was so good!
awesome that you figured this out.
this sunds lovely, I have never tried to make my own but I may give this a go! yumyum
I love this kind of stuff, and storing the herb mixture separately from the olive oil is such a great idea. Thanks for the recipe! : )
Hi Dawn,
This recipe sounds delicious! I’m always looking for interesting oils to dip my breads in, so thanks for sharing.
Nora
ps
I tagged you on my blog, feel free to play along but don’t feel you have to!
Bev
This sounds so tasty. I love dipping oils!
Pingback: Dawn’s Recipes » Blog Archive » French Bread a la Home Depot
I work at Carrabba’s and I’d like to assist you. You are missing one ingredient. While you have garlic: you need both FRESH and GRANULATED.
Thank you! Next time I make it I’ll give it a try.
I work at Carrabba’s as well, you need to omit the thyme! :)
Thanks for the info! I’ll probably continue to make it the way I have it written here, because it’s just so delicious as is! It’s good to have the extra info here, though, for any purists that want to give it a try without the thyme. :)
Thank You! It was excellent.
I followed the recipe exactly with one exception. For me, the amount of salt seemed too much hence I reduced it by half a teaspoon, even then i felt it a bit too salty for my taste.
So, one might want to start with lesser amount of salt than mentioned in the recipe and add it later if needed.
Other than that, this one gets you closer to Carrabba’s.
Oh, btw, I have changed it a little bit by reducing fresh garlic to two cloves and instead added one tablespoon of granulated garlic as ace suggested above.
Oh, btw, any ideas on how to preserve it and for how long?
Should pack in olive oil to store it?
thx
I’ve had good luck freezing it as is (without the extra olive oil). I have a small tupperware container that’s just the right size to hold a batch, so there’s very little air in the container. I’ve frozen it that way for months with no loss in quality. I’d imagine freezer grade plastic bags would work well, too, since you can squeeze all the extra air out. You don’t even need to thaw it out to use it. Just scrape off the amount you need with a spoon, and pop the rest back in the freezer.
Thanks for the tips Dawn. Glad to hear about no loss in quality. This stuff is worth preserving.
please email me as I have made & love to eat the dipping oils for bread = but = often I have 1/2 cup more or less left over and I don’t want to throw it away. It costs to make such delicious oils!! DO YOU KNOW OR CAN YOU TELL ME ‘how long will it sit on the counter safely before it spoils?’ — thanks bunches! — months? weeks? days?
I would not recommend storing this at room temperature. I’ve never tested it to see how long it would last, but I imagine the quality would degrade quickly. I’ve kept it in the fridge for a few weeks with no problems. (it just doesn’t last any longer than that in my household.) I’ve also kept it in the freezer for months in a small, airtight container.