Cristy's Basil Oil
This delicious bright green oil is full of flavour and a great way to use up excess herbs and stems. Our chief preserver Cristy makes it when we have lots of traded basil from local backyards. Use it drizzled over tomatoes, in pasta, on toast with ricotta or even through a butter cream for cakes! This will also work well with other soft herbs like dill or parsley.
Ingredients:
- 3 bunches of basil
- 250ml vegetable oil
- 250ml olive oil
Method:
Pick off the basil leaves and keep some of the soft to stems, compost your woody ends. Tightly pack basil leaves and the soft stems in to a measuring jug. For each cup of tightly packed basil leaves, you will need one cup of mixed oil (3 cups of basil leaves equals 1.5 cups of olive oil and 1.5 cups of vegetable oil). Your quantity may vary depending on the size of your bunches.
Place leaves & oil into a pot over low heat and stir well to combine. It will look like there are a lot of leaves to the amount of oil, however the heat will gently wilt the basil.
With a thermometer in the pot, stir the mixture until temperature reaches 85˚C. Take off the heat, and blend using a stick blender or upright blender, on high for 3 minutes, or until smooth.
Place a fresh chux cloth or muslin over a sieve & pour in blitzed basil oil. Let it strain by itself, do not push it through the cloth, or your oil will become cloudy. Pour in to a clean jar and store in the fridge.
For optimum colour and flavour use within 2 weeks, however this will keep in the fridge for up to two months.