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.
3 Comments
9/24/2009 05:22:27 am
This is a great way to preserve basil--quick, easy and much more affordable in the short run. With cheese at $21.99/lb and pine nuts at $25.99 (at my island grocer), I can start saving for or placing these treats on layaway. Merci!
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