Wednesday, October 10, 2012

A Way to Preserve Basil... Mix with Olive Oil and Freeze

One of the herbs I have really enjoyed growing on in our balcony container garden this year is basil...  I love to pick it and then snip it with scissors on top of salads, pasta, omelets and am even using it in sandwiches... but there has been so much of it that I just cannot keep up!

I know that the basil plant is an annual and won't winter here, so I came up with a way to preserve some.

I put about 2 cups of basil leaves into my food processor with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil... and processed them on HIGH till they were pulverized and completely blended with the oil.  I had to stop a couple of times, and push them down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

When I was happy with the mixture, I spooned it into 6 compartments of an icecube tray and popped it into the freezer.

Now I can use them in soups, sauces, and pasta dishes, and know that each cube is equal to a single Weight Watchers Points Plus Value, and a healthy serving of oil.

Into the food processor....
 

and then the ice cube trays.



To melt, just pop into a warm skillet.
 

Add other veggies if you like.
 
Or add to already cooking veggies.
 
 
Have you tried freezing herbs?
 



2 comments:

  1. Brilliant! Do you think this would work with other types of herbs too?

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  2. Oh my gosh, Elle! This is perfect - thank you for sharing. I am thinking I could do this with parsley too because I use it in pasta sauces a lot. As you know, this was a bad year for our garden, but I am saving this and freezing my herbs like this in the future. Thank you!!

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