I need suggestions for using fresh basil.?!

It won't take a ton, but you can definitely use some up by making a batch of yummy Pesto sauce!! It's my current favorite sauce for pasta....yum...
Here's a great illustrated recipe for pasta made with fresh basil:
http://www.pickyourown.org/pesto.php

The basic recipe so you can get the ingredients together:

Ingredients 2 cups fresh packed basil leaves (packed means, stuff them into a measure cup and press them down with your hand; it's not a precise measurement) 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup pine nuts (if you don't have pine nuts, you can use walnuts or hazelnuts) 3 garlic cloves, finely minced (or 1 tablespoon of prepared minced garlic) 1 tablespoon "fruit fresh" or 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Fruit fresh is available at most grocery stores where canning supplied like pectin and pickling salt are sold. It is basically a form of citric acid / vitamin C, that helps prevent the pesto from turning brown upon exposure to the air. 1/4 cup Olive oil. It should be the "extra virgin" variety, not the ordinary cooking olive oil. If it is extra virgin, it will say that on the label. Makes about 1 cup of prepared basil Pesto

Here's a nice video for pesto, also:
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Making-Pesto…



another thing you can make is a nice bruschetta:

6 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil 3 cloves minced garlic 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 French baguette 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS Preheat the oven on broiler setting. In a large bowl, combine the roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes. Cut the baguette into 3/4-inch slices. On a baking sheet, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown. Divide the tomato mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Top the slices with mozzarella cheese. Broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. You can always dry the excess by hanging it up, using a dehydrator, or other drying methods.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Double-Toma…

My favorite basil recipe is very simple (and healthy!):

Slice tomatoes (or use grape or cherry tomatoes)
Lay a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese on each tomato slice (or mix in chunks if using grape tomatoes) Note: shredded mozzarella isn't nearly as good as fresh, but it'll do in a pinch.
Lay a basil leaf on top of each
Drizzle with a small bit of olive oil and all the balsamic vinegar you want

Enjoy!

Fresh basil never lasts long in my house.

Some suggestions:

*Mince it with a kitchen scissors and add it to a vegetable salad.

*Make a homemade "pizza" using your favorite pizza dough, sliced Roma tomatoes, fresh buffalo-milk mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, and a drizzle of olive oil.

*Add some minced fresh basil to scrambled eggs, along with cheddar cheese, pepper, onions and green peppers. Add it just before the eggs are set.

*Make pesto sauce. There are tons of recipes online, but a simple one is 2 c. packed basil, 3/4 c. parmesan cheese, 1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil, 3 large cloves of garlic, and 1/4 pine nuts. Lightly toast the nuts in a dry skillet until lightly golden brown. Combine with everything except the oil in a food processor and blend. Slowly drizzle the oil in until a paste forms. Depending on how runny you prefer it, you may want to use more or less oil. (Great instead of garlic butter for making garlic bread, or on pasta.)

*Add to soups, stews, casseroles...anything! When following a recipe that calls for a dried herb, plan on using 3x the volume of fresh herbs to get the same flavor, since fresh herbs' flavors aren't as concentrated. (In other words, if a recipe calls for 1 tsp. dried basil, use 1 Tbsp. fresh.) As a general rule, you'll want to add fresh herbs towards the end of the cooking process to make sure the flavors stay strong and don't "cook down."

Hope this helps!

If you're worried about not being able to use it all, pesto is a WONDERFUL way to use it.

Take some nuts (any kind really, lightly toast them first to bring out flavor. My fave is walnuts), some basil, and wizz them in a food proccessor (or go old school and use a mortar and pestle), add just enough olive oil to make it easy to spread.

you can also dry it in an oven.
Set your oven on it's lowest setting, prop open your oven door with foil, and check on the basil every 10 minutes. When it's crispy, take it out and let if cool.
Crumble up. Best if used in long cooking things, to rehydrate it.

Cherry tomatoes, cubed mozzarella and lots of large pieces of basil. Best salad ever. Balsamic vinaigrette optional.

Pizza, pasta.

Tomato slices with whole basil leaves on top and salt.

Heck you can eat basil leaves straight. They're not that strong.

You could always make a pesto sauce.

I don't have a recipe handy and you can Google one as well as I can, but it has basil, olive oil, garlic and pine nuts.

It goes well with fish and pasta,

Doc Hudson

Put heaps in bolognese sauce over spaghetti.
Make a butter spread ladened with garlic and basil, spread on French stick bread and grill till golden.

Make it all the time

Add basil (about four leaves finely chopped) along with dill and flat-leaf parsley toward the end of cooking home-made chicken soup.


Here’s my mother’s legendary chicken soup recipe:


6 eighths of chicken (skin removed)
1 leek (cut lengthwise and rinsed so sand is thoroughly removed)
2 zucchinis, unpeeled, cut in thirds
3 carrots, peeled, cut in thirds
2 celery ribs, cut in thirds
1 large parsnip, peeled, cut in thirds
1/2 turnip, peeled, cut in half
1 large onion, cut in quarters
3 garlic cloves, diced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in quarters
2 - 3 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bunch of dill
1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley
4 chopped basil leaves
2 chicken wings boiled in small pot (only water added to soup)



Place first ten ingredients in a 6-quart pot. Add filtered water until the pot is 1-2 inches away from full. Cover the pot. Bring to a boil, then put at medium-low flame. Let the soup simmer for 90 minutes. Then add water from the boiled chicken wings as well as the salt, pepper, dill, parsley and basil; let the soup boil rapidly for 3-5 minutes. Serve with fine noodles as well as chunks of the soup chicken and vegetables.


Bon appetit!

You can use it lots of ways, but the thing that comes to mind for me is pesto sauce.

Pesto sauce is basically made of fresh basil leaves, ground up (traditionally in a mortar and pestle, hence the name), with olive oil, salt, garlic, some pecorino, and pine nuts. You can substitute other nuts if you like, or if they are handy, or just leave them out. There are lots of recipes available. You can just google "pesto recipes". After you have made some a few times, you can make it without a recipe, and perhaps improvise a little on it (with basalmic vinegar, rosemary, chopped olives, thyme, etc.)

Or you can just throw it into anything remotely Italian you like. Mince some and mix with garlic and saute in olive oil, and throw over some drained pasta. I think it is great with beef broth (a taste borrowed from Vietnamese "pho". )

It is great with vine-ripened tomatoes. Take some fresh tomato slices, lay a basil leaf on it, and top with a slice of fresh mozzarella. Drizzle with olive oil and black pepper. Yum! Especially heirloom tomatoes (expensive but worth it.)

You can put it in soups such as ratatouille, cioppino, potato and leek, etc. You can use it with fish, shrimp, a nice seared flank steak, anything.


If you can’t use it all at once, you can freeze the fresh basil in ziplock bags, or even chopped and frozen into ice cubes. Both ways preserve the flavor far better than drying it.


Wow, I really wish I had some fresh basil right now. Fresh basil is just so great. Oh wow.