Most chefs just chiffonade basil for a more uniform cut.
I’m not a big fan of balsamic vinegar, but how about if we put it on the table, along with the basil and tomato salad, with a selection of tasty cheeses including the Mozzarella and some tangy Feta, maybe a bit of Gorgonzola and Pecorino. and some nice crusty bread.
Trouble is, knowing when to stop. Some nice dry cured ham would be good too, and maybe some plump anchovies…
I’ll be right over … and I’ll bring some olives.
I make a Grilled Red Onion And Tomato Salad that is super easy and incorporates fresh basil. Cut a couple thick slices of red onion- stick a skewer through them so that they won’t fall apart on the grill- brush with olive oil and season with s&p. Grill for 10 minutes until they begin to soften and get some nice grill marks on them. Remove to a cutting board and allow to cool for a few minutes. Cut into quarters and mix gently with tomato wedges, chopped fresh basil, a bit of balsamic vinegar, and a drizzle more of olive oil.
Exxxxxxcellent with a grilled steak or burger!
My sister recently made basil ice cream. She served it with some also-homemade dark chocolate ice cream. If I wasn’t trying to become a nun and incestuous lesbian marriages were legal in my state, I might have proposed to my sister after tasting the duo. Seriously, it was good.
Count me in for another one who loves basil and fresh tomatoes. I often make a variation of this as a side dish. Always tomato, garlic, basil and olive oil, sometimes I add Balsamic. You can turn this into a whole meal by adding a good bread and some ham and mozzarella. I also often add some rocket.
Another good option is a fresh tomato soup (not a cooked soup) or a gazpacho with basil. Basil just seems to bring out the flavour of tomatoes and must be one of the most classic combinations.
Or one of my favourites - take two slices of white bread and cut off the crust. Take a slice of mozzarella and a basil leaf and stick it between the slices of bread. Press the edges of the bread together so you have a sort of pocket with the cheese and basil in the middle. (You can use a cutter to make it round if you want to make it look a bit fancier) Fry this on both sides in some butter. Serve with a fresh tomato sauce made by roughly chopping tomatoes and tossing it in a pan with some garlic and olive oil, just to heat it through. It’s like the next level of toasted cheese.
These are all great! I am acatually goign to get an ice cream maker just so I can make basil ice cream. I found couple of recipes for it.
Riffing off my rice paper wrap spring rolls, I came up with another idea to incorporate basil into a tasty french inspired wrap or sandwich. You can either use tortillas, pitas, or those special sandwich wrap breads.
First make some *Basil Mayonnaise-
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup basil leaves
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Place above ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Basil and Bleu Cheese Chicken or Shrimp Wraps
2 cups of chunked cooked chicken breast or an equivalent amount of thawed frozen tiny cocktail shrimp
1/2 cup of *Basil Mayonnaise
1 stalk celery chopped fine
Several Flour tortillas, pitas, or sandwich wraps
1 jullienned or shredded carrot
2 pitted and julliened plums
2 jullienned pears
1/2 sliced cucumber
Several whole Romaine lettuce leaves
Several basil leaves
1/2 cup of bleu cheese crumbles/crumbled
Combine the Chicken or Shrimp with the basil mayonnaise and chopped celery. Lay out a bread wrap and lay down a romaine leaf on top, layer in some of the basil chicken or shrimp salad and lay down the remaining fruit and vegetable toppings to taste, finally crumble and sprinkle on some bleu cheese. Roll and serve.
Actually if you want to get fusion, you could also roll the same recipe into nori maki sushi rolls, just leave out the lettuce and use sushi rice, instead. Make sure the fruits and vegetables are jullienned into proper log cuts and roll it all together in nori… kind of like making a california roll but with shrimp salad, and cheese, and basil. Call it a bohemian roll (Roullette Boheme’). I think it would be tasty with a miso based dipping sauce.
Yeah, this. I would add slices of fresh mozzarella to the game, along with a balsamic vinegar drizzle. Heavenly.
The trick is having really good tomatoes, which aren’t as readily available as people might think from your Wall-E SuperGrocer.
Well, that and adding a drift of sea salt and ground pepper.
It’s good on its own, but it’s super fantastically awesome with the dark chocolate ice cream alongside it. You could probably cheat and use good quality dark chocolate chips though.
I like mushrooms, sausage, fresh basil and fresh tomato. Yours sounds good, actually…and I’m a pizza purist!!
When we make basil pesto, we freeze it in ice cube trays. When it is thoroughly frozen, we remove the cubes and keep them in a plastic freezer bag so we can just pop a cube or so into whatever we are making. This works for cilantro, too.
Must be basil season. Everybody’s got a surplus this time of year. 