Basil Syrup
BRATTLEBORO — Let's start with basil syrup: sweet yet aromatic and intriguingly mysterious.
1 cup of sugar
½ cup water or red/white wine if that appeals to you
1 cup basil leaves, loosely packed
Mix liquid and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and add basil, stirring to submerge the leaves. Cover and leave until cool.
Strain the syrup.
It will keep for two weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
What to do with it? Think about basil syrup on some homemade ricotta, or poured judiciously over a healthy scoop of sweet cream ice cream.
What about a big bowl of cold blueberries tossed with basil syrup and served with a thick, yellow custard sauce? Chilled melon balls with red-wine basil syrup? A basil Mojito on a hot and steamy August evening? Basil syrup and fizzy water with a squeeze of lime after mowing the grass?
Yes to all of it.
Basil Syrup with Peaches
Increase the syrup recipe's yield by using 1½ cups of sugar, 1 cup of water and 2 cup of white wine.
When the syrup comes to a simmer, add the basil along with 6 halved and pitted peaches. Pick peaches that are still slightly firm yet ripe. Poach them gently for about 2-3 minutes, turn them and poach for another 2-3 minutes. Do not overcook, or the peaches will be mushy.
Remove the fruit and reduce the syrup by about half. Remove the basil leaves and cool the syrup to room temperature. Slip the skin from the peaches, and serve them with generous spoonfuls of the rosy pink and herbal syrup.
Butter Cake with Basil and Lemon
That same pairing of basil with fruit can be brought to even greater culinary heights with lemon in this fragrant and aromatic cake.
2½ cups cake flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoons salt
1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
¾ cups fresh basil
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch Springform pan.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream the butter and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until smooth and light. Finely chop the basil. Add the eggs, basil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Beat until well blended.
Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, alternating with the buttermilk and beating on low speed until smooth, ending with the flour. Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove the sides of the pan and cool completely.
Serves 8 to 10.
This cake is wonderful on its own but divine with a few basil poached peaches.
Basil oil
Turning to savory applications, I find that basil oil is great thing to have in the refrigerator.
To make the oil, merely combine in a blender or food processor:
1½ cups of fresh basil leaves
1 cup of olive or grapeseed oil
When the leaves are finely chopped but not puréed, put the mixture into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for about an hour.
Strain into a glass bottle and seal with a cork. Discard the basil leaves.
The oil will keep refrigerated for 2 weeks. Just bring it to room temperature before using.
This oil is lovely in salad dressing, mayonnaise, on top of steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes, grilled fish and chicken or over a platter of sliced tomatoes. Drizzle it on top of your pizza. Add a few smashed anchovies and some garlic, and you have a great dipping sauce for raw vegetables.
Pesto
Sea salt
30-40 large basil leaves
Garlic cloves
3 Tbsp. pine nuts
Put a healthy pinch of sea salt in a mortar and add a few leaves of basil. Pound in a circular motion until the oil from the basil leaves is released. Gradually add all the leaves, pounding them into a somewhat goopy liquid.
When all the basil has been added, put in a few small, very fresh garlic cloves of impeccable quality. Pound those with the pestle into the sauce. When the garlic has been pulverized, add around 3 tablespoons of pine nuts. Pound those until they homogenize into the paste as well.
Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan and the same amount of Pecorino Sardo. Believe me that this combination is terrific and it's worth seeking out the cheese, available at the Brattleboro Food Co-op.
When the cheese has been incorporated, add 2-4 tablespoons of the best olive oil you can afford. Mix this in with a spoon. You should have an unbelievably creamy sauce that is thick, green and wonderful.
Use immediately. Pesto doesn't wait.