I just made a caramel birthday cake the other day … now I recall this recipe for basil caramel as demonstrated by David Larkworthy of 5 Seasons Brewing Company. He demonstrated this last year at the Morningside Farmers Market. I could have infused that caramel frosting with basil. Yum. David’s recipe for basil caramel sauce would be great over ice cream.
In Wednesday’s New York Times, there’s a feature on summer cocktails. Not the complicated new cocktails that call for heirloom citrus juices and herbal-infused bitters combined with bacon-infused rye and porter, but simple drinks of 3 ingredients. I love this idea for a basil gimlet from Scott Beattie of Spoonbar in Healdsburg, California.
Here’s a salad dressing idea if you want a change from the usual olive oil and lemon juice vinaigrette. It’s adapted from Fine Cooking magazine.
Cook squash, [See “notes about spaghetti squash for instructions on steaming, roasting, and microwaving.] Heat oil in a medium skillet and cook peppers, garlic and cayenne just until slightly softened. Add vinegar and set aside. When squash is cooked, comb out strands into a serving bowl. Add peppers, walnuts and herb. Season to taste and…
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And finally, how about baking up some of those tomatoes? This recipe comes from the “Green Market Baking Book” by Laura Martin. Once you’ve enjoyed it fresh from the oven, you could vary the experience by toasting slices until golden brown.
from Martha Stewart Living Makes 2 cups In a food processor or blender, pulse avocado, buttermilk, herbs, anchovies and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper and chill for at least one hour.
I also love making a simple syrup (equal quantities sugar and water, heated until the sugar dissolves) flavored with basil. Tonight I made 4 cups of simple syrup and while it was still warm. dropped in all the basil from the box (stems, flowers and all – rinsed well, of course!). Tomorrow I’ll strain out the basil and refrigerate the syrup. I can use it to flavor iced tea, make a frozen ice or sweeten fruit salads. And since it’s not watermelon season yet, I can save my basil syrup and use it to make a modified version of Martha’s margaritas. (It’ll keep at least a month in the refrigerator.) Yum!
Ok – so then Suzanne mentioned basil cake. I found a recipe online for Lemon Basil Cake, calling for Trader Joe’s vanilla cake mix gussied up with the zest of 2 lemons and 1/2 cup chopped basil. And a lemon cake with basil syrup at Epicurious.com. And pound cake with lemon-basil-orange syrup. I can totally see the connection between lemon and basil, but chocolate? There was a chocolate basil cake on the Enlightened Cooking blog. Here’s the recipe. If I hadn’t already put all my basil into sugar syrup, I’d try this tomorrow.
Not sure why, but this week’s box has set me to thinking about sweets. Maybe not the traditional reaction to the bounty of squash, cucumbers and greens, but there you are. What may have pushed me to the sweet side was the huge bunch of basil in my box. “Hmm … more pesto? Nah. Chop some into a salad with the beans and potatoes? Ok. But there’s LOTS of basil …”
And then I remembered a drink I discovered last summer, the watermelon-basil margarita. The recipe came out in Martha Stewart Living back in 2007, and like lots of people, I had torn it out and added it to that stack of “recipes I will get to one day”. Well, “one day” came last summer and what a hit! People who were totally not going to try it ended up loving it and we were muddling basil leaves all night long. Here’s the recipe.
Serves 4 as a main dish Preheat the grill. In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with 2 tablespoons lemon juice, paprika, salt and pepper; marinate at room temperature for 5 minutes. Thread the shrimp onto metal skewers or wooden skewers that have been soaked in water for at least 30 minutes. While shrimp is…
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