Ideas for using Basil please.

purplemoon

finc wrote:

Thanks for these. Purplemoon, how do you whizz the ingredients? Would a stick blender be up to the job or do I need to drag my mixer thing from the back of the cupboard? I've got some pine nuts BTW.

I think a stick blender might be hard for small amounts. I use one of those Braun stick ones that sticks onto the end of container, before I used a blender proper. A mortar and pestle would work too, with a bit elbow grease!

dannahaz

Definitely pesto.

My recipe is similar to purplemoons, except I also add some lemon juice. Yum yum.

I freeze most of it, and I add some creme fraiche to the rest and spread it on bread.

I use a stick blender for mine.

finc

I've made my pesto. I haven't got a pestle and mortar so used my rolling pin. It was lovely over some taglietelle (sp) that was reduced in Lidl. A really cheap but tasty tea :T.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm going to freeze the rest and NOT buy another basil plant for a few weeks. Even if they are half price :rolleyes:

dannahaz

finc I'm going to freeze the rest and NOT buy another basil plant for a few weeks. Even if they are half price

No!! Buy them and make and freeze pesto. This is the ideal time of year. Think of all that basilly goodness you can have in the winter, and half price too!

Herbaholic

finc wrote:

I'm a bit of a sucker for the smell of basil and for some reason buy a basil plant every week when I go to Lidl...they always seem to be half price and I can't resist .

Anyway, I've got to use them as I need to reclaim the windowsill and don't know what to do. I've just made a pan full of tomato sauce for pizza, gnocchi and pasta but don't know what else to. Thought about pesto but not sure how to make it and how long it keeps.

Any more ideas?

Homemade basil infused oil and/or basil infused vinegar you can either give it away as pressies or use it for salad dressings etc in the winter. Use olive oil and white wine vinegar, bash the basil a bit, put it in a clean sterlised storage jar with your vinegar or oil and leave in a cool dark place for about 4 weeks. SHake the bottle daily once infused strain the basil oil into a clean sterlised bottle and use for salad dressings etc (it's nice if you use it to make herby french bread in the BM).

You could also make blueberry and basil vinegar this is lush as a salad dressing. You'll need 225g blueberries, 600ml white wine vinegar and a small bunch of fresh basil. Follow method above and enjoy

finc

Herbaholic wrote:

You could also make blueberry and basil vinegar this is lush as a salad dressing. You'll need 225g blueberries, 600ml white wine vinegar and a small bunch of fresh basil. Follow method above and enjoy

That sounds good, I'd never think of using blueberries with basil or in vinegar. I've got loads of blueberries in my freezer which I bought when Asda reduced them to 9p :T. Would it work if they'd been frozen?

Herbaholic

Yup it will still work if the blueberries have been frozen, just make sure they're defrosted first. You can make a raspberry vinegar as well using frozen raspberries, although I wouldn't put the basil in that one

lightisfading

Got 2 large bags of fresh basil whoopsied to 1p a bag yesterday. What can I do with it? My initial thought was fresh pesto but I'm on a diet and all that cheese and oil is baaad! My backup plan is to chop and freeze but anybody got any better ideas?

picklepick

basil goes very very well with tomatoes which i have with just some mozarrella... mmmm

try here for lots of basily recipes..
http://www.recipes4us.co.uk/Basil%20Recipes.htm

kippers

chop up and freeze in ice cube trays