I bought too much dried basil! Help! Recipes?

[Cathy]

I bought 4 oz of dried basil from Penzeys. What was I thinking? Do you know how much that ends up being? I've got about 4 cups of dried basil now. What a no brainer that was on my part. Any recipes to use this stuff up would be greatly appreciated? Can I make pesto using dried basil?

[kwormann]

I cant imagine pesto working with dried basil, but you could put it in ANYTHING! Its good on beans, eggs, cottage cheese, pasta, almost anything!

Kim

[Gail]

Oh my...

Since I use dried basil but it's not a biggie in my repetoire, I'll leave that to others. BTW, I typed "dried basil" into CL's recipe finder and yielded 66 recipes, so you might check that out. Although I wouldn't even think about using it for pesto, many vegetable, tomato and chicken dishes work splendidly with basil. Since in my opinion you may burn yourself out on the stuff trying to use it up before it loses potency, you might give a thought to contacting friends and family to see if any one of them can use some extra.

...I foresee lots of Italian food in your future... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[Luiza]

Here's a recipe for Chicken in Lemon Sauce (Greek) that actually works best with dried basil. It asks for a whole chicken, but I use 1-1 1/2 lb chicken breast (and less oil) and leave the other quantities the same (cutting the cooking time a bit). It's delicious served over orzo. You do have to like lemon.
http://www.hol.gr/clubs/cookery/greece/enkkre03.htm

While it's a change from Italian food, it still uses only 1/2 tsp of dried basil, so it's not exactly a solution to your basil overload. FOUR CUPS?!? Wow. I don't use more than 1/2 cup per year (probably because I'm too busy putting oregano into everything).

Luiza

[SusieO]

CL's Sun-dried tomato dip calls for fresh basil, and it is delicious. Here is the recipe, copied from the recipe finder:

Ingredients
1 (3-ounce) package sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil (about 2 cups)
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves (do not substitute dried basil)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Italian-style tomato paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 (15-ounce) can white beans, drained
1 garlic clove, minced
Pita chips or baked tortilla chips (optional)


Directions
Estimated Total Time: 20 minutes

Combine tomatoes and 1 cup boiling water in a bowl; let stand 15 minutes or until soft. Drain tomatoes in a sieve over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup soaking liquid.Place tomatoes, reserved soaking liquid, basil, and remaining ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth. Serve with pita chips or baked tortilla chips, if desired.

Okay, I need to learn how to read. I was thinking fresh basil. So try this next time you have fresh. Sorry!


[This message has been edited by SusieO (edited 04-04-2001).]

[Beth]

I think I'll second Gail's share the wealth suggestion. Also, I have used Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle in a number of things, but also with cooked pasta drizzled with a touch of olive oil. Perhaps you could try that with the basil, alone or adding a little of the other herbs.

[Cathy]

I think I'm going to have to make the rounds in the neighborhood and share big time. Oh well, it isn't like it's going to break the bank. Actually, it's kind of funny. You can imagine the look on my face when I saw that amount :-) Thanks for the suggestions and I do think I'll do a few Italian dishes. Well, maybe more than a few.

[makedah]

I always wonder -- who USES those huge bags of spices??? Who needs a half pound of bay leaves or paprika! Other than restaurants, that is...

Can't you just send it back?

In the meantime, you could freeze part of the bag.

[KValley]

Originally posted by Cathy:
I bought 4 oz of dried basil from Penzeys. What was I thinking? Do you know how much that ends up being? I've got about 4 cups of dried basil now. What a no brainer that was on my part. Any recipes to use this stuff up would be greatly appreciated? Can I make pesto using dried basil?

Cathy,

In the Fall of 1993 I bought about 6 oz of dried basil in a moment of complete insanity (the idea was to make Winter Pesto for Christmas gifts). It it still in my fridge- I've only used about half, yet I can't seem to throw the rest away. A reminder of a great cooking folly.

I have used quite a bit in the following pesto recipe:

Winter Pesto
from the New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant

4 cups firmly packed fresh spinach (about 5 oz)
1/2 to 1/2 fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup pine nuts or chopped almonds or walnuts
3/4 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese (2 oz)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup dried basil
2 garlic cloves, minced

If you have time, soak the basil in the olive oil 1/2 hour before starting the recipe.

Wash and drain the spinach. Remove only the large stems. In a blender or food prcessor, blend half of the spinach with all of the lemon juice and half of the oil. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Serves 6 to 8

Voila!

[Julia1Pin]

I put dried basil in everything I cook, including omelets. I love it! It's one of my staples, which include hungarian paprike, pepper, salt, dried basil, dried parsley and ancho chile powder.

Is Penzeys cheaper than costco?

[browneye]

You could make a basil "infused" olive oil by putting a quantity of it in a bottle with olive oil and other spices you may have on hand...it is good in italian recipes and for dipping bread into...the oil will keep quite a while like that.
You could find out what the Italian word for "bird" is and write that word on the outside of a birdhouse and mix the basil into the seed. Italian birds will surely flock there....
Lame, I know but what to do with that much basil?

[Cathy]

Thanks for the winter pesto! The sun-dried tomato dip sounds great too,when the garden is in full swing and I have lots of 'fresh' basil. Thanks for posting that too. I think I'll put on the stereo and play some Italian Opera music and see if I can get those birds to eat some of it. Hah! What a hoot! Well, at least there's a good laugh out of this. BTW, to Julia1Pin, I prefer to buy spices from Penseys rather than Costco because I don't know how long they have been sitting on a shelf and the quantities are so big. I know, I bought 4oz of basil, but that was my no brainer. They do sell it in smaller portions. They have a website you can look at, penseys.com. I've always had good luck with them.

[valeriek]

Cathy,

I did the same thing. I have a ton a basil. I have one better though. I also did it with cumin. I have a ton of cumin! In the Penzey's catalog they say spices should be good for about a year, so I figure I have a year to use all this stuff. I am trying every recipe I can find right now that uses basil, and have even stooped to substituting the dried in my recipes that call for fresh (especially since I no longer have any "fresh" frozed in my freezer from last summer). I am on a mission to use both big bags of spices.

By the way, Beth mentioned the Pasta Sprinkle, which I've never tried, but Penzey's Sandwich sprinkle is awesome (I can't believe I just used that word). I'm finding myself putting that on a lot of things lately also.