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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Eight letters for Juliet

s-a-n-d-w-i-c-h
Portobello, Roasted Red Pepper, Fresh Mozzarella on Toasted Sour Dough Bread

Project Veg the Man is going well, though he's still eating lunch meat for breakfast,
"We need to get rid of it."
Which is true, but I'm working on ways to replace it with things he'll enjoy.  Last night I stuffed an eggplant, which came out well, but no photo, since they were not particularly pretty things those lumpy brown baked
eggplants with quinoa and vegetable stuffing, but at some point I'll Hollywood one up and snap it. It got high reviews and will be added to our repertoire.  In the interim, a recipe for something I love, love love. A little bit will knock your socks off and it's a snap to make if you have a blender, or food processor.
Basil Oil



  • 2 c basil
  • 1 c olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
You can use basil stems as well as long as they're not woody.  Blanch the basil in boiling water then plunge it into ice water just until it's chilled a bit. ( In this case, blanching serves no purpose other than to keep the oil bright green, otherwise it will oxidize and turn a dark evergreen color. If this doesn't bother you, don't bother with this step. I happen to like the bright green color and it only takes a few seconds. )  Dry off the basil as much as possible after you retrieve it from the ice water. Toss it into the blender ( the food processor is fine, just leaves more in the bowl than the blender does but this is a good reason to get some sour dough toast to scoop it all out!)  Add the cup of olive oil and the salt.  Adjust to taste, but try to use the minimum amount of oil to basil, you're looking for something with the texture of loose ketchup, but green ).  
This is out of this world poured on a hunk of fresh mozzarella as an appetizer to be served with toasted bread slices, something rustic, like ciabatta or of course a good sour dough.   Store in the fridge and bring to room temperature because it will be solid ( and a great sandwich spread ) when it's cold.

2 comments:

  1. that sandwich looks fabulous-- I like when olice soaks into the bread. I'm loaded with basil so will try this-- Guess you make pesto too. Me and Talon are big ol' pesto heads.

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  2. it's one of my favorite, and i've made it with walnuts in a pinch, not quite as good as the pine nuts, but basil is one of those flavors that i really love.. one of these days, i'm going to post a recipe i use for thai green curry with a lot of basil in it

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