5+ Ways to Enjoy Fresh Basil
It’s my favorite season - basil season! Ahhh, basil...it’s one of the best scents in the entire world. For me, it conjures up all the feels of our first, fledgling backyard gardening days in the torrid Texas summer...and memories of plates piled high with pesto pasta at an inn I visited overlooking the Ligurian Sean in the Cinque Terre, Italy.
The following is an excerpt from my Let’s Grow Basil! Free Growing Guide…
Now, you’ve got your gorgeous green basil leaves. What to do now? Oh, there are a hundred lovely things you could do with a basil plant, but here are my top 5:
1) Make pesto. Here’s our Kindred Farm recipe for The Perfect Pesto. Toss pasta with it or use it on pizza instead of red sauce. You can even mix it with scrambled eggs or add a dollop to fried eggs for breakfast.
2) Dry it and use as a seasoning. You can harvest basil for drying anytime during the season, but I usually do it right before the first frost in fall. Cut basil plants at the base so you have long, bushy stems. Tie the stems in bundles with rubber bands or twine and hang them in a clean, dry place until the leaves are completely dry. Once dry, remove the dried leaves and store them in tightly sealed mason jars to use in cooking throughout the fall and winter. You can chop the dried basil leaves finely, or grind them up before using in pasta sauces, soups, stir-fries, etc.
3) Add whole leaves to pizza. Most grocery stores these days have a good quality artisan frozen pizza option if you don’t want to make your own. After you cook the pizza according to instructions on the box, take it out of the oven, and add fresh basil leaves to the top of the pizza while it’s still hot. The heat from the pizza will wilt the basil leaves onto the rest of the toppings.
4) Make summer rolls. You can use an entire basil leaf as the last item in your summer roll before you roll it, so you can see it through the gorgeous rice paper wrappers. Try this recipe.
5) Add to salads. Cut basil into ribbons (or leave smaller leaves whole) and add to salads for such a fresh, unique flavor.
More tips:
Honestly, you can’t go wrong garnishing almost anything with basil for a splash of green in summer!
Add basil to sandwiches instead of lettuce.
If you have great fertilizer, your basil leaves may grow as big as spinach, and you can use them for mini lettuce wraps.
Infuse water with basil leaves for an herbal flavor. Add cucumber, lemon, or even berries. Basil is full of antioxidants, so the water is not only refreshing but healthy for your cells as you sip it throughout the day!
