I was out getting my garden ready, when I spied this little guy coming out of a crack in our patio. Isn’t he cute? I was surprised for a few reasons. First, he seeded himself; second, we just had a frost, and generally basil aren’t frost tolerant, and third, my husband often holds small martial arts classes on the patio, making him quite a target. Since DH had a class that night, I decided to pick him rather than tempt the fates.
I figured that considering what he’d been through, he deserved a starring role in Weekend Herb Blogger. I’ll be submitting him for next week’s edition, which is hosted by Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.
I used the basil as a garnish for a simple and easy Thai style curry. I used home made red curry paste, but I’m sure commercial would work just as well. I also used bok choy because I couldn’t resist it at the Farmer’s Market, but I’m sure serving it with steamed broccoli would work just as well.
There are many kinds of basil, this basil was originally a gift from a friend from Vietnam, from his mom’s garden. It tastes a bit like Thai holy basil, but there’s a different twist to it.
2 tablespoons of oil
1 tablespoon minced ginger
6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons red curry paste (a little more or less according to taste)
1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised
1 can coconut milk
3 baby bok choy, sliced
4 carrots, sliced thinly
1 lb chicken breast in cubes (you could pretty much use any protein here: shrimp, tofu, etc.)
Heat oil, saute ginger and garlic over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add curry paste and continue. Add sliced bok choy, then coconut milk, and bring almost to a boil. Simmer for 5 min, add carrots, and simmer 5 minutes more. Add chicken breast and poach until done.
Sprinkle with basil, serve with brown rice.
~from Cheryl’s kitchen ©2008
The cookies were sweeter than I anticipated, even though I was the only one who thought so. And the brazil nut flavor wasn’t as pronounced as I’d expect. But they’re yummy treats, and largely whole grain, so that counts as delicious and nutritious. For one of the variations, I used chunks of UNSWEETENED (baking) chocolate, which paired well with the sweetness. The 3 variations were unsweetened chocolate chunks for me, Enjoy life chips for the other chocolate eaters, and heath bar toffee pieces to keep my caffeine avoiding DH from pouting too much. It’s no fun watching someone else eat when it looks like they’re getting something better than you, so I didn’t want him to feel left out.
But where, oh where, do you get brazil nut butter? Well, your food processor, of course! Buy toasted nuts or toast your own , and put them in the food processor until smooth. It takes about 6-10 minutes to process, depending on your food processor, and do scrape down the sides periodically. It’s that simple. Or, of course, you could use almond, hazelnut, peanut or butter, or even tahini. You could always do raw nut butters, too, and then you’d have to add a little oil for the grinding.
At a glance, charoset is a brown, unappealing looking dish served at Passover to commemorate the bricks and mortar of slaves. But looks are deceiving, it’s actually a super yummy apple/cinnamon/walnut/wine sweet combo that disappears within minutes at every Seder I’ve been at.
Stumble It!
