This is not really a recipe just an easy way of preserving basil in olive oil.
It is just a wonderful idea. As I really love fresh basil (comes with being Italian I guess…) and I really miss it in winter, I tried few different ways to preserve it. But dry basil tastes more like dry paper than its fresh counterpart, and basil infused vodka did not turn out well….
THIS method works. AND it is super easy. So feel free to overplant your basil in the future, as you will now be able to have some all winter long!
And easy way to preserve basil
Author: Vivica Menegaz - Baji Hantelmann
Easy and fool-proof way to reserve your basil harvest! You can use this basil/ oil mixture as a base for fresh pesto, you can add it to soups at the end for a delicious flavor (do not cook with the soup!) or you can just put it straight on fish, steaks, eggs, or wherever you fancy delicious basil flavor.
Ingredients
- Basil leaves, freshly picked
- Organic extra virgin olive oil (at least a quart)
Instructions
- Pick the leaves off your basil plants immediately after harvesting them.
- You could wash them but best results are obtained when the leaves are perfectly dry.
- Stuff the leaves in a blender packing them pretty tightly.
- Cover with Olive oil.
- Blend on slow first and then on a fast setting until all the basil is reduced to a creamy paste.
- Now pour the mixture in an ice cube tray and freeze until solid.
- Once solid remove the cubes from the tray and store in the freezer in zip lock bags or seal-a-meal vacuum bags.
