I was at Grocery Outlet the other day when I saw this fresh basil on sale for .50 cents! I usually steer clear of produce at Grocery Outlet and just get pantry staples as the produce is usually.... lets just say, a bit past it's prime. But, upon closer inspection, this basil looked pretty fresh, despite the fact that it had officially "expired" the day before. So, I snapped it up with the high hopes of getting home and making a pasta of fresh tomatos, mozzarella, and basil. Alas, it was not meant to be. I didnt get home until 830 and I ended up falling asleep reading my new Cooking Light... So the next morning when I awoke, I remembered my expired basil! Oh no, what to do? I was going out for dinner and didn't want to use it for anything else. So I decided it would be best to store it, but how? I found an easy tutorial on ehow.com about freezing fresh basil and I decided to give it a shot. Here's what I did:
Wash basil by submersing in a bowl of cold water and swirling.
Dry it off very well using two paper towels. Pull the leaves off the stems. Discard Stems.
Finely chop basil (use a food processor if you have one, I don't so I just chopped it up with my chef's knife.) Toss basil with a bit of olive oil to give it a light coating and keep it from going brown. Put into a small tupperware and freeze.
Easy as that! Now whenever you are ready to use it, pull it out, thaw, and enjoy!
Happy Sunday, hope you had a STUPENDOUS weekend!
Brillant!! I never use it all and it just goes to waste.. I'll definetly remember this:)
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