Rosemary, garlic and lamb is a match made in heaven. Add rosemary to your spaghetti sauce. Cut up some potatoes, toss with olive oil, salt and rosemary, then roast in a 400 oven until browned. Make a rosemary pesto. Brown Italian sausage, chicken, add a can of white beans, some garlic, can of chopped tomatoes, fresh rosemary, pepper, and simmer for about a half hour.
For more than you ever thought there was to know about individual spices, see Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. For example, here’s his page for ginger. In the last section of each page, he mentions common combinations for different cultures.
As mentioned, lamb, but rosemary also goes very well with chicken, beef, and even pork. Basically, it stands up well to most meats. It can be fairly powerful, so use it sparingly. Chop up some fresh rosemary (or dried is okay with this herb), garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper and smear it on a roast and you’re good to go.
Slight hijack, but does this sound like a decent list for potted indoor herbs?
Thyme, basil, rosemary, chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, mint.
Are any of these especially hard to grow, need extra sun, etc?
I would get a copy of The Flavor Bible. It’s a great reference on which flavors blend nicely together, not just spices and herbs, but foods, fruits, meats, vegetables, berries, grains, cheeses, fish, poultry … you name it. It’s not that expensive on Barnes and Noble’s website, maybe thirty bucks.
I buy all my spices at a spice store in town. It’s not only cheaper than the grocery store, but fresher too.
As for herbs, I use dried about 90% of the time. Sure, there’s not as much flavor, but they also don’t spoil as quickly. The trick to dried herbs is to cook them longer, and to cook them in a liquid to help reconstitute them. Fresh herbs don’t need as long to cook (or as much of them!).
Depending on where you live, rosemary can be a bitch to grow. Never had much luck even in a southern exposure window here in Alaska. I would buy plants that have already germinated and not attempt seeds.