Cilantro Cubes

Do you have the same problem as me?  You need 1/2 cup or so of fresh cilantro for a recipe, but it only comes in huge bunches at the store?  Even if I incorporate 1 or 2 more recipes with cilantro into the week's menu, I still can't seem to use it all before it goes bad.  And even though it's cheap, I just hate to throw that wonderful-smelling stuff away! 

I came across this recipe for cilantro cubes on www.thyhandhathprovided.com, and with some tweaking, it's really useful for using up cilantro AND saving yourself time/money in the long run. 

2 cups cilantro, loosely packed
3 cloves garlic
3-4 tbsp. lime juice*
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

*I buy limes (and lemons, too) by the bag because they are cheaper; I freeze what I don't need right away into ice cubes and store them in a freezer container.  One ice cube is roughly a tablespoon.

Process this in the food processor.  On her website, she recommends scooping the mixture into mini-muffin trays, but this didn't work so well for me.  Despite the heaps of oil in the recipe, the cubes didn't want to pop out.  Next time, I think I will use a tablespoon scoop and scoop them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Then you freeze them, and when they are solid, put them in a freezer container.  I like ball freezer containers with screwtop lids.  (Alternately, you could put it all in a ziploc freezer bag, seal it, spread it in a thin layer and freeze it flat (at least initially), then break off a piece that suits your needs.)

Here's the beautiful part...next time you make quacamole, a mexican-inspired dish, pico de gallo, etc., just throw one or more defrosted cubes in your recipe instead of buying/chopping fresh cilanto/garlic/lime (unless it just HAS to be fresh).  We just had guac last night, and it was great with the cilantro cube (I did use one extra clove of fresh garlic, though).