Recipes and food ideas

falafels with dips?
the comment about onigiri made me think of arancini.

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Does anyone have good recipes that use lots of basil? This is the first time I have successfully grown basil in a decent quantity and now don’t know what to do with it!

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Pesto! And it freezes really well.

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seconding pesto, I love to make a huge batch and freeze it in ice cube trays, then put the cubes in a ziplock/jar. Defrost 2-3 for a meal, super easy and not messy.

ETA: also a green goddess dressing is really good. It uses a ton of basil and also fresh parsley, lemon juice, garlic, you can also add avocado, olive oil, etc.

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You can freeze basil leaves whole on a baking sheet and then transfer them to a freezer bag! I love fresh basil on homemade pizza or flatbread with feta and honey. A good party recipe is toasted french bread slices topped with goat cheese (with dried cranberry and basil pureed into the goat cheese). You can thin it more with marscapone if you want and that’s good too. I also like basil for grain salads but I make mine super herb heavy and lighter on the grains than a lot of people like. Big bunch of basil + mint + parsley + grain (bulgur is my favorite) + lemon juice + salt + cucumber + tomato is always good!

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You could dry the basil too.

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When you do it do you dehydrate it in the oven or just hang it?

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I tried hanging herbs to dry and it’s just too slow here. So I turn the oven to the lowest setting, put herbs on a baking tray, and then use a folded towel to keep the door from closing completely.

But now I have a new range, no “turn the oven know just until the light comes on” option. It is digital input, and has convection (fan should be good). So I may have to figure out this process again.

I have dried tomatoes and herbs this way.

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Ooooo, good tip!!! Maybe I’ll try that. I can’t get mine cool enough, also digital.

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I love caprese anything with a ton of basil! Like this (can leave out the avocados if you don’t want to be a stereotypical millenial, lol): https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-caprese-avocado-toast-232930

Also basil as a tartine topping, similar to what @AllHat mentioned: http://nwedible.com/the-tartine-your-recipe-formula-for-the-ultimate-easy-summer-sandwich/

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Ohh these are all great! Thank you!!

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I have a reasonable amount of fresh salsa left over from the weekend and only two people to eat it. It feels like the ingredients (tomato, lime, cilantro, onion, jalapeno, cumin, garlic powder, salt) would lend themselves into being used in a curry or a topping for coconut noodles or a red lentil dal.

But I can’t find any recipes online. What am I missing that makes this a bad idea?

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Hm, to me personally the flavor profile of salsa is very different than any curry dish I cook, but maybe it’s how I make my salsa/curry? I also don’t see coconut curry plus raw tomatoes and onions being super good? Like the coconut would get totally overpowered. My salsa has so much cilantro and lime and jalapeno and often chilis too.

Fwiw I’ve frozen homemade salsa v successfully and it’s great to have around. Or maybe it’s just time for you to invent a salsa curry dish :grin:

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I was thinking that mee kati has a lot of lime and tamarind, so then the big difference would be the fat coming from coconut instead of cheese, plus ginger, fish sauce and a bit of palm sugar?

For the others, I was thinking everything would get cooked down and the salsa wouldn’t be the main star. Like a red lentil dal would have some salsa cooked down, plus probably a couple more tomatoes.

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@noodle this here is our recipe thread!

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Omg baby’s first bat-signal! Lol :bat::flashlight:

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Oh I think if you cooked it down it would be fine! You should try it an report back. :slight_smile:

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Just so you know, I’m going to try your cheater recipe. What does this freezing vs pressing step mean? Does freezing pull all of the moisture out?

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Cool! I only knew that it worked and was easier than pressing, not exactly what it did.