Sweet Basil over population

Every year I plant several varieties of this herb. I use it for salads, all colors and flavors to enhance all the beautiful and colorful tomato salads I love to make. Now it is August and I must trim them every two weeks because they want to flower. If they do, the basil becomes bitter. Today I trimmed a huge amount. I called around to my usual takers and found that they all planted their own basil this year! "We loved your basil so much, we decided to plant our own!" they said.
So, I bunched it all together and made a lovely bouquet with some rosemary stems, a few garlic chive flowers, and some lemon verbena. Since I dislike basil pesto as it is traditionally made, what else does one do with large amounts?

I'm finding that basil simple syrup is nice to have around. It's great for Basil Lemonade or Basil Mimosas.

rwj

Well, if pesto is out, then, um, er, ah, hm.

Use it to make smoke for smoked salmon?
Basil jelly?
Pistou?

[David M. Bueker]

Karen - make my favorite pizza. The toppings are as follow: a light application of sauce, a layer of baby spinach, a layer (yes a layer) of fresh basil, cheese, then spread fresh garlic and pine nuts on top of the cheese. Bake. Yum.

My cuz gave me some fresh basil and I made the Thai dish, chicken with fresh basil. I got a thumbs up from my rib.

For a long time now we have been following Paula Wolfert's (Mediterranean Cooking) advice for freezing pesto. You leave out the cheese, garlic, and salt and freeze in one or two cup plastic containers. Add the missing ingredients when warming it back up. We put up twenty half pints one summer and enjoyed it all winter.

For a long time now we have been following Paula Wolfert's (Mediterranean Cooking) advice for freezing pesto. You leave out the cheese, garlic, and salt and freeze in one or two cup plastic containers. Add the missing ingredients when warming it back up. We put up twenty half pints one summer and enjoyed it all winter.

That is what I do, but came to it on my own. I freeze it in small quantities and use it in a variety of ways, sometimes as a sauce for pasta, after I add the additional ingredients, but more often as a way to provide some of the brightness of summer to a dish.

You can hang them up and dry them, then crumble and jar them. Much better than what you can buy. -RP

My cuz gave me some fresh basil and I made the Thai dish, chicken with fresh basil. I got a thumbs up from my rib.

Larry, this is a truly geeky comment, but if the dish you were making was Gkai Pad Gkaprow (or anything that looks close to that transliteration), it's classic Bangkok street fare and is made with ground chicken meat. The taste isn't that different from a version that uses sliced chicken meat, but the texture is quite different. And the basil should really be Holy Basil (bai gkaprow), which has a spicier flavor.

Pedantically yours,
Mark Lipton

Karen,
What about basil oil? I don't know how much you could use in a year, but it makes a nice dip for bread, among other things. It's very easy: blanch the leaves for 10 sec, rinse under cold water, puree in a blender with half as much olive oil.

Mark Lipton

My cuz gave me some fresh basil and I made the Thai dish, chicken with fresh basil. I got a thumbs up from my rib.

Larry, this is a truly geeky comment, but if the dish you were making was Gkai Pad Gkaprow (or anything that looks close to that transliteration), it's classic Bangkok street fare and is made with ground chicken meat. The taste isn't that different from a version that uses sliced chicken meat, but the texture is quite different. And the basil should really be Holy Basil (bai gkaprow), which has a spicier flavor.

Pedantically yours,
Mark Lipton

What I made was stir-fried chicken with basil leaves, using sliced chicken, to duplicate my favorite Thai restaurant recipe, which doesn't use ground chicken. My cuz didn't grow holy basil nor did I this year, so in the unpedantic spirit of making lemonade out of lemons, I used whatever kind it was. And it was still good.


Thai Chicken with Basil (adapted from a Martin Yan recipe)

3/4 lb boneless, skinned chicken breast
salt and pepper
2 Tbs oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
4 fresh Thai chiles, seeded and thinly sliced (I used Thai Dragon chiles, but others should work)
1 onion, ends cut off, halved lengthwise, and cut into thin wedges lengthwise
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup fresh basil leaves (I used cinnamon basil, but any kind should work)
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs dark soy sauce
2 tsp palm sugar

Thinly slice chicken; season with s&p.

Heat oil in wok. Add garlic, scallion, and onion. Stir fry for about a minute.

Add chicken, stir fry about 3 minutes until done. Add chiles and stock; cook 2 minutes. Add basil, fish sauce, soy sauce, palm sugar. Cook for another minute. Serve with rice (I used Thai basmati).

What I made was stir-fried chicken with basil leaves, using sliced chicken, to duplicate my favorite Thai restaurant recipe, which doesn't use ground chicken. My cuz didn't grow holy basil nor did I this year, so in the unpedantic spirit of making lemonade out of lemons, I used whatever kind it was. And it was still good.

Yeah, holy basil can be tough to find. I haven't seen it for sale since leaving CA. It's got almost no scent before cooking, but really develops a great flavor with cooking.

Thai Chicken with Basil (adapted from a Martin Yan recipe)

3/4 lb boneless, skinned chicken breast
salt and pepper
2 Tbs oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
4 fresh Thai chiles, seeded and thinly sliced (I used Thai Dragon chiles, but others should work)
1 onion, ends cut off, halved lengthwise, and cut into thin wedges lengthwise
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup fresh basil leaves (I used cinnamon basil, but any kind should work)
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs dark soy sauce
2 tsp palm sugar

Thinly slice chicken; season with s&p.

Heat oil in wok. Add garlic, scallion, and onion. Stir fry for about a minute.

Add chicken, stir fry about 3 minutes until done. Add chiles and stock; cook 2 minutes. Add basil, fish sauce, soy sauce, palm sugar. Cook for another minute. Serve with rice (I used Thai basmati).

Good sounding recipe, Larry, and quite close to the one I use. (Yan can cook, as they say) My version uses about 3 times the amount of garlic, shallots instead of onions and more Thai chilies. The chile I prefer is what the Thai call prik kee noo:

which in my experience taste a bit different from the Thai dragon peppers I've grown. To me, Thai dragon have a cayenne-like sharpness to them, whereas prik kee noo are closer in flavor to a serrano.

My version also uses finely chopped kaffir lime leaves and no scallion or palm sugar (I find the cooking in many Thai restaurants too sweet for my tastes). If you'd like to see a full recipe, let me know and I'll copy it when I'm at home. You really should try ground chicken some time in your recipe to see how it changes the dish, or ground pork or almost any meat or fish. Thai people love this dish and eat it at any time of day.

Happy cooking!
Mark Lipton

The palm sugar adds a certain smoothness. I vary the type of dried chile, depending on which jar I first grab.

Sure, post your recipe and I'll take a looksee.

Here it is, Larry (sorry for the delay)

Thai Spicy Basil Chicken (Gkai Pad Gka-prow)
2 T peanut oil
10-12 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2-3 shallots, thinly sliced
1 lb. boneless chicken thighs, ground if possible, else cut into small bite-size pieces
12-20 small Thai chilies (prik kee noo), cut into very thin rounds, or substitute 4-6 serrano peppers
2 small kaffir lime leaves (bai ma-gkrood), very finely slivered (optional)
2 tsp black soy sauce (the semi-sweet kind)
2 T fish sauce (nam bplah)
1 cup fresh Thai holy basil (bai gka-prow), or Thai sweet basil (bai horapa) leaves and flower buds
Dash of ground white pepper

Heat a wok to smoking hot, coat inside with oil, add garlic, then shallots and stir fry to 15-20 sec before adding chicken. Stir fry 1 (ground) to 2 (chopped) min. Add chilies and lime leaves, sprinkle mixture with soy sauce and stir fry another 15-20 sec. Add fish sauce and basil and continue stir frying for 1/2 to 1 min, until basil is wilted and chicken is fully cooked. Sprinkle with white pepper and serve.

Mark Lipton

Thanks. Will give it a try.

Thanks. Will give it a try.

If you hate it, I'll PM you my address for sending the brickbats.

Mark Lipton

My cuz gave me some fresh basil and I made the Thai dish, chicken with fresh basil. I got a thumbs up from my rib.

Larry, this is a truly geeky comment, but if the dish you were making was Gkai Pad Gkaprow (or anything that looks close to that transliteration), it's classic Bangkok street fare and is made with ground chicken meat. The taste isn't that different from a version that uses sliced chicken meat, but the texture is quite different. And the basil should really be Holy Basil (bai gkaprow), which has a spicier flavor.

Pedantically yours,
Mark Lipton

You are right on the money, Mark. This is one of my favorite Thai dishes. But, it MUST be made with holy basil. There is little similarity with sweet basil. And the meat should be ground or finely diced.

My basil got away from me! It's all flowering! Does this mean I can't eat it, or are there some dishes that are better than others for using post-flowering basil?

My basil got away from me! It's all flowering! Does this mean I can't eat it, or are there some dishes that are better than others for using post-flowering basil?

After it bolts, it gets quite bitter and loses most of its aromaticity. If it hasn't been too long, you could try aggressively pruning it and see if that helps.

Mark Lipton

Every year I plant several varieties of this herb. I use it for salads, all colors and flavors to enhance all the beautiful and colorful tomato salads I love to make. Now it is August and I must trim them every two weeks because they want to flower. If they do, the basil becomes bitter. Today I trimmed a huge amount. I called around to my usual takers and found that they all planted their own basil this year! "We loved your basil so much, we decided to plant our own!" they said.
So, I bunched it all together and made a lovely bouquet with some rosemary stems, a few garlic chive flowers, and some lemon verbena. Since I dislike basil pesto as it is traditionally made, what else does one do with large amounts?

I blend basil leaves with olive oil and then freeze them in ice cube trays. All winter long, I have basil infused olive oil with which to cook whenever I choose. Some of the cubes get little chunks of my fresh cayenne peppers to spice it up. Plus, I have the base to prepare pesto however I want it prepared.

My basil got away from me! It's all flowering! Does this mean I can't eat it, or are there some dishes that are better than others for using post-flowering basil?

After it bolts, it gets quite bitter and loses most of its aromaticity. If it hasn't been too long, you could try aggressively pruning it and see if that helps.

Mark Lipton

Mark's correct: at that point, it's best to eat the flowers in salads.

Basil is a fast flowering plant. You've got to check it daily.

They won't take care of much of your basil (unless you have a hell of a party) but the gin-basil lemon drop is a very nice way to get rid of a few excess leaves. This was served to us by one of the better bartenders in Sacto.

1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz.. cointreau or triple sec
2 oz. gin (I used Tanquerey)
5 or 6 fresh basil leaves

Put it all in a shaker with ice. Shake violently and well. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with lemon twist or lemon wheel. If the basil's too strong or too weak, drink that one and adjust for the next one. Experiment more as necessary.