Ideas for using Basil please.

flutterbyuk25

Add to salads, to homemade chilli, homemade tomato based pasta sauce, to lasagne, to thai curries, to pizza etc

x

Caterina

Pesto!

Whizz basil, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and parmesan in a blender until it is a nice creamy consistency. Use on pasta. You can freeze surplus in ice cube boxes.

If no pine nuts, any nuts or even sunflower seeds are ok, and if you want to stretch the basil you can add rocket or watercress, it will just be a little spicier.

Caterina

lightisfading

thanks everyone - i wound up making pesto after all (eh, sod the diet :P ) with one bag, and chopping/freezing the rest.

Penelope_Penguin

Now that you've used your basil, I'll add this to the existing thread to keep suggestions together

Penny. x

suziewuzie

OH has just handed me a carrier bag almost full of basil! I've already use some to make pesto earlier in the week (stored in jars in fridge), but not sure what else to do with it. I think it goes a bit slimy when frozen - am I right? I suppose I could dry a bit of it, but there is soooooooo much I need another couple of suggestions. Any ideas?:o

tryingtoruletheworld

I want a glut of basil, I can never get enough of the stuff!

You could make a huge batch of pesto and freeze it, it works really well and tastes the same when defrosted.

It isn't great frozen, but still has the flavour, so that could work, but I would be tempted to cook with it. Make a big batch of tomato and basil sauce for pasta, or that you can add to spag bol, lasagne etc.

vij

I froze the leaves of my plant on a tray then bagged them up, now I just removed a bag from freezer crush it in my hand and empty bag into pot. Works great for me and I cant notice any flavour loss, I washed it and froze it without drying in separate leaves

thriftlady_2

Chop it finely and cover with olive oil. Should keep for a while in the fridge like this, or pour the oily mush into ice cube trays and freeze.

suziewuzie

:jI knew you would come up with the goods!! Thanks for all those great ideas - will probably try all of these!! No doubt the basil will keep on coming - OH's seems to be better year on year. Wish I could give you all a handful (or 5)!

Thank you all. You are :A:A:A

Caterina

Use fresh to dress pasta, no need to make more pesto, for a change just chop basil and mix with chopped fresh tomatoes, a bit of chopped garlic and olive oil, as a pasta topping. If you like you can add a small amount of chopped chilli.

Also, add in abundance to tomato sauces, it flavours them beautifully!

Add fresh to tomato and mozzarella salad for a true "caprese"!

Hope this helps x