[CH] Basil & Bells
Alex Silbajoris (asilbajo@hotmail.com)
Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:06:39 +0000
Pods,
When the heat first broke a few weeks ago, my plants set blossoms and pods
heavily - the operative term being heavy, I found a broken plant limb that
snapped under the weight of ripening bells. Another plant just laid down on
its side. So I ended up picking a big armload or unripe bells, some of them
quite nice.
Cut to the herb garden, where the basil is going crazy. There are few
practical ways to save it for enjoyment outside of the season.
In the past I have made a tomato sauce that's heavy on the basil, but this
time I tried something different. I ran the peppers (and some odds and ends
pods I had on hand) through the food processor, along with a bunch of
shallots and cloves, and enough basil to fill a plastic grocery bag. I
didn't process it all the way down to a smooth paste, I left a few chunks of
pepper and garlic.
I barely cooked the paste, canned it (too thick to use a funnel, it stood in
the spoon like a serving of spinach) and gave it a nice long boiling-water
bath.
The intention is to use a jar of this to flavor an existing batch of sauce,
I hope it works.
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