I was never a fan of “wrap the herbs in cheesecloth and simmer, remove before serving”. I personally like to throw in my herbs and let them flavour and simmer off their stems into the broth. It makes the soup pretty and flavourful with flecks of thyme, rosemary, and parsley.
You do have to fish out a bay leaf before blending a soup- but in soups or stews I always thought the bowl that finally got the bay leaf was a ‘lucky bowl’.
I did learn something new that changed my view of the ‘bouquet garni’. In my herbs class at Rooted Nutrition– Chef Andrea started talking about adding herbs to her soups-and began assembling a bouquet garni in a leek leaf. Now this is a bouquet garni I can get behind. Not only do you get to use the green parts of the leek normally reserved for making veggie stock (or the compost)- the leek will add some more flavour to your soup/stew as it simmers with its bouquet of herbs.
Here is my leek bouquet garni simmering in A Very Green (and tasty and incredibly good for you) Soup.
the healthy project 