Since May I've been writing a series of posts on BlogHer about Cooking with Fresh Herbs. Now it's nearly fall, and I'm finishing up the series with sage today and a final post about thyme coming on Sunday. Both these are herbs I love to cook with, and I think both are underused in many American kitchens. If you have sage or thyme in your herb garden, but not too many ideas about how to use them, I hope you'll enjoy the finale.

Sage belongs to a class of plants called Salvia, and there are many decorative varieties of sage not suitable to be kitchen herbs, so be sure you know what you're buying when you plant it. Sage is a perennial herb, and as long as you have a sunny location, it's relatively easy to grow. It can get to be as much as two feet tall, and can be preserved by freezing or drying. If you don't have an herb garden, not to worry because sage is one of the herbs where the dried version is interchangeable with fresh herbs in many recipes.

Sage with Chicken, Turkey or Stuffing:
Baked Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Sage-Pecan Pesto and Feta from Kalyn's Kitchen (pictured above)
Chicken Saltimbocca with Lemon Sauce from A Good Appetite
Maple Roasted Turkey with Smoked-Bacon, Sage, and Cornbread Stuffing from Divine Domesticity
Sage, Walnut, and Dried Fig Stuffing from 101 Cookbooks
Chicken with Olives and Sage from Cooking Up a Storm
Brick Grilled Chicken Thighs from The Perfect Pantry
Chicken Marsala with Crimini Mushrooms, Pancetta, and Sage from Well Fed

Sage with Meat
Veal Saltimbocca with Fried Sage Leaves from Is It Edible (pictured above)
Slow Cooked Roast Beef with Fresh Sage and Dried Tomatoes from The Inadvertent Gardener
Sage and Bacon Meatballs with Buttermilk Gravy from The Kitchn
Pork and Sage Bites from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Pan Roasted Pork Chops with Sage and Garlic from The Food Section
Sage Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw from Erin Cooks
Veal Chops with White Wine and Fresh Sage from Play with Food

Sage with Pasta:
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce from Daily Unadventures in Cooking
Pasta with Peas and Fresh Sage from Albion Cooks
Sage Butter and Spinach Ravioli from La Tartine Gourmande
Crispy Sage and Browned Butter Pasta from Technicolor Kitchen
Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter from Whistlestop Cafe Cooking
Gnocchi in Sage Garlic Butter from What's For Lunch Honey?

Sage in Pesto or Herb Blends:
Pasta with Sage-Walnut Pesto from The Inadvertent Gardener
Winter Sage Pesto from Vanesscipes
Cavatappi Pasta Salad with Walnut-Sage Pesto from Culinary in the Country
D.I.Y. Sage Pesto from The Kitchn
Sage Beef with Feta and Tomatoes from Mele Cotte
Italian Herb Rub from David Lebovitz

Sage in Pizza, Bread, or Rolls
Sage Ciabatta Rolls from Sugarlaws (pictured above)
Sausage, Carmelized Onion, and Fresh Sage Pizza from Whipped
Sage Soda Bread from Straight From the Farm
Sage, Honey, and Pecorino Bread from Ms. Adventures in Italy
Sage Focaccia from Baking Bites
Fresh Fig and Sage Grilled Pizza from The Leftover Queen
Pumpkin Sage Biscuits from Wicked Good Dinner

Sage with Vegetables or Dried Beans:
Sage Steamed Snap Beans with Bell Pepper, Rucola and Pine Nuts from Lucullian Delights (pictured above)
Walnut-Sage Potatoes Au Gratin from Gluten-Free Bay
Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage from Gluten-Free Bay
Baked White Beans with Tuna and Sage from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Mashed Potatoes with Vegetarian Apple-Cider Ginger Sage Gravy from A Veggie Venture
Butternut Squash Bisque with Maple Syrup and Sage from Christine Cooks
Butternut Squash Risotto with Sage and Gorgonzola from The Blog That Ate Manhattan
Roasted Root Vegetables with Maple-Sage Glaze from Food Blogga
Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese with Sage from Je Mange la Ville
Pumpkin Sage Polenta with Chicken Sausage from Cara's Cravings

You can use the tag Cooking with Fresh Herbs to find all the herb posts in this series.

Kalyn Denny writes about food and at BlogHer.com and shares her passion for cooking at Kalyn's Kitchen. Recently Kalyn has been contemplating how to use her abundant crop of sage, so far making Sage-Pecan Pesto and Sage, Rosemary, and Garlic Dried Herb Rub