Too much Basil? Get cooking....

Yesterday was garlic and today happens to be basil. I shared my musings on garlic with my friends and they had their own very interesting ones! One friend had had the pleasure of savoring "Garlic lollipops" while another had a friend, who enjoyed imbibing raw garlic on a regular basis. Yet another friend, an avid gardener was wondering about growing garlic, then basil came into the picture. 

She has a huge basil bush that is thriving in her kitchen garden. This reminded me of my own basil bush last year. I had so much basil that I had no idea what to do with it. I had made some pesto, but my husband complained about wanting something healthier. Then, I baked freshly sliced tomatoes with a liberal sprinkling of basil on them When that got old, I ended up making a lot of healthy pasta sauce  and Thai green curry. 

Here are the recipes.....

Pasta Sauce with Basil and Tomatoes

2 Cups of fresh Basil (roughly chopped),

4 cloves of Garlic,

4 Cups of Tomatoes,

1 Cup of Milk,

dash of black pepper and salt

Puree all the ingredients in a blender.

Simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes on low heat.

I liked to added grilled zucchini and spinach to the sauce when having it with pasta.

Thai Green Curry

2 Cups of fresh Basil ( roughly chopped),

1 Cup of fresh Cilantro

4 - 6 cloves of Garlic,

1-3  Serranno peppers ( depending on how hot you want it to be)

2" piece of Ginger or Galangal( if available)

2 cans of lite Coconut milk

1 can of pineapple titbits

2-3 Kaffir Lime leaves

Place all the ingredients except the lime leaves in a blender.

Seperate the pinapple titbits from the pineapple juice

Add the remaining pinepapple juice to the blender.

Add another 2 cups of water ( I like mine to be a little runny)

Throw in  2-3 Kaffir Lime leaves 

Simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes on low heat.

Add salt to taste.

I usually add steamed veggies to the simmering curry like potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, brocolli and bamboo shoot, also Pineapple titbits and let it simmer for about 10 more minutes