Basil Recipes

I planted 3 basil plants in my garden and they have just taken off!  We have made many batches of Pesto and frozen them for this winter.  I found these recipes on line and we made them all one day.  Kathleen has used the butter over popcorn.  We will use the puree in breads and other chicken recipes.

Basil Butter

1 stick butter, softened
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped basil

Cream butter, beat in garlic and lemon juice. Mash in basil; season with salt and pepper. Place bowl in refrigerator to firm butter. For a nice, simple appetizer use room temperature butter on grilled pieces of  baguette or French bread

Basil Puree

4 tablespoons olive oil
8 cups washed and dried basil leaves

Blend until pureed. Transfer to clean jar. Store in refrigerator. Each time you use it stir and then top with a thin layer of oil. It will keep one year by doing this. This is good on grilled chicken or fish, stirred into soups or mixed with sun dried tomatoes and broiled on bread.

Roasted Garlic and Basil Salsa

4 ripe tomatoes, cut into sections
2 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon honey
2 sweet green peppers
2 jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers
2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 cup torn fresh basil leaves
1/4 of a sweet onion, chopped

Preheat the broiler or grill, Place the halved peppers and tomatoes on a baking sheet and broil until they blacken. You can do the same thing by placing them on a grill. Place the unpeeled garlic in a foil pouch (doubled) and drizzle with the olive oil. Either bake in the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or cook on the grill, turning the foil pouch as it cooks. Meanwhile remove the peppers from the oven and place them in a bowl and cover with plastic or place them in a Ziploc bag and seal. Allow to cool to room temperature. Peel skin off of blackened vegetables and discard. Dice into one inch pieces. Once your garlic is cooked, slit the ends of the cloves, and smush out the garlic into the bowl with the peppers. Add the remaining ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. This salsa may set out for a couple hours at room temperature to join the flavors, or you can refrigerate for 2-3 days.