I have a lovely basil plant. I also have lots of other lovely herbs but the basil is bigger, fuller and growing. This is it's second summer so it has the advantage on the other herbs, which were just planted this spring. And while I love basil in cooking, you really can only use so much at a time. So with a lot of extra basil on my hands I searched the web looking for a solution to store it for longer periods of time.
I came across a blog called Kalyn's Kitchen and it offered a workable solution for what seems like myriads of extra basil. She stores her differently than I have but the general idea is the same.
First you will want to clean all the leaves off of the stems you have trimmed and get rid of the stems and any nasty or messy bits on the leaves, bruised areas etc.
Fill the sink part way with cool water and rinse the leaves. I grow my garden with out pesticides so this is more for dirt removal than pesticides.
Place them on a clean fresh towel and pat dry. I take it out side with all the ends of the towel pulled up and spin it around by hand for a minute. It helps get rid of the extra water.
Place it in your food processor with the blade in the bottom. I poured a small amount of olive oil in before I start chopping to get the process started. I used around 1 tablespoons to start with but feel free to add more or less if you feel you need to. Place the lid on and pulse for a few seconds. If it seems a bit dry slowly add more oil. I added another 1 -2 tablespoons a bit at a time as I pulse the blade and then check it to see how it looks.
This is how it looks when your are done. It is not super fine, like pesto, but a little bit bigger pieces. I figured that way you can use it for other things and if you want it for pesto later you can chop up some finer for that.
I keep these egg cartons to use just for this since I can find no other purpose for them and they cannot be recycled here.I then cut up pieces of saran wrap big enough to slide down into the area where the eggs usually sit. If you don't line it, the basil may stick and be impossible to get out.
Scoop out about a tablespoon maybe a bit more and slip it down into the plastic wrap lined sections of the egg carton. You can leave them this way or layer the plastic wrap over each one if you want. Close it up and place it in the freezer.
Once frozen hard you can easily remove them. I took the plastic wrap off before placing them in a freezer bag but you can leave them each bundled up if you want. Once they are in the freezer bag place them back in the freezer and they are ready to be taken out and used . You can freeze in larger amounts if you feel you will use bigger amounts at one time. Mine has frozen very solid, which is why I wanted the smaller servings. If I need a small amount there it is and if I need a larger amount I can take out several and avoid waste. These will be perfect for my world famous spaghetti sauce. (Not really but my hubby loves it)
The fresh basil will really add to anything you create. I will post the sauce recipe at a later date, it is excellent and can be used for several different dishes. Enjoy the new week!
