Preserving Basil

   I cringe whenever someone tells me they've thrown fresh basil leaves into a bag and into their freezer. No, no, no... that's not the way to preserve fresh basil for the upcoming winter months.  I process my basil leaves just like I'm making pesto, sans the nuts and parmesan...
   Fill a food processor bowl with as many basil leaves as you can; start pulsing while pouring in barely enough olive oil to bind.  You just need a film of oil on the leaves.  Take the chopped leaves and spoon into ice cube trays, gently pressing on the mixture to form a firm cube -- one packed food processor bowl of basil leaves should yield about one ice cube tray-full.  Place tray in freezer, and once frozen, pop out basil cubes, put them in a zip-lock bag and return to the freezer.  This is the best way of giving your non-summer month meals the taste of fresh summer basil. 
   • I make 4 batches to get me through the months until I'm able to plant basil seeds again in the spring.