| Presto Chango, Basil Pesto | |
by Judy Sobeloff, from the June 2006 newsletter
If you’re looking for light summer reading, I advise you to turn to a different article. Basil, it turns out, is associated with love, hatred, and death, often in connection with a beheading. If you’re lucky, however, you might escape with only a stimulated appetite and decreased flatulence.
Sniffing basil leaves with my kids, I remembered a friend who, inexplicably nauseated by basil’s smell, deduced she must be pregnant. Little did I know the greater risks of sniffing basil. In medieval times, apparently, due to a sort of spontaneous generation, people believed not only that placing basil leaves under a pot would produce a scorpion (instructions not included below) but that smelling the plant would “bring a scorpion in the brain” (www.foodreference.com). Well, that’s the last thing I need!
A member of the mint family, basil first showed up in India and China before spreading westward, where it was used in the embalming of mummies of Ancient Egypt. The name basil supposedly comes from the basilisk of Greek mythology, a terrifying “half-lizard, half-dragon with a fatal piercing stare,” with the basil plant thought to provide a “magical cure against the look, breath, or even the bite” of said basilisk. Later Greeks and Romans believed that one must rant and swear while planting basil, and in fact the French phrase “semer le baslic” (to sow basil) means to rant (www.homecooking.about.com).
Throughout literary history basil has sprouted from severed heads, watered by tears (Lorenzo’s in Boccaccio’s Decameron and in Keats’ “Isabella, or The Pot of Basil”). It’s also been planted around severed heads (e.g. John the Baptist’s) to disguise decomposition. You won’t read that in Heloise’s Household Hints.
Though a symbol of hatred for the ancient Romans, basil eventually came to represent love. In present-day Romania, for example, a man accepting a sprig of basil from a woman signifies their engagement to be married.
I made three basil dishes for the first time, each of which I’d enjoyed prepared by others many times previously: pesto (we bought a blender for the occasion), insalata caprese, and bruschetta, recipes for the latter two courtesy of my sister Debbie. All of these were easy to make and fabulous, particularly the bruschetta, which I’m eager to make and eat again.
Advice for using basil in cooking is as follows: for the most intense flavor, add fresh basil at the end of cooking. To prevent discoloration of pasta when serving it with pesto, add a squeeze of lemon juice to the pasta water. Dried basil is less flavorful than fresh, and should be substituted at a ratio of one-third the amount dried to fresh. A half-ounce of fresh basil leaves equals a cup of chopped fresh basil.
Those unafraid of scorpions and wishing to grow basil at home can find instructions as well as additional basil folklore at <www.herbsociety.org>.
Basil Pesto (from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything)
2 loosely packed cups fresh basil leaves, big stems discarded, rinsed, and dried
Salt to taste
½ to 2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp. pine nuts or walnuts, lightly toasted in a dry skillet
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, or more
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan or other hard cheese (optional)
Combine the basil, salt, garlic, nuts, and about half the oil in a food processor or blender. Process, stopping to scrape down the sides of the container occasionally, and adding the rest of the oil gradually. Add additional oil if you prefer a thinner mixture. Stir in the Parmesan by hand just before serving.
Balls of fresh mozzarella cheese in water
Fresh tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Slice tomatoes in rounds and arrange on serving platter. Top each tomato slice with a round slice of fresh mozzarella and a basil leaf, whole or chopped. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Crusty Italian bread, sliced
Garlic cloves
Tomatoes, chopped
Salt
Olive oil
Red vinegar (optional)
Fresh basil, chopped
In a bowl, mix together chopped tomatoes, salt, olive oil, a little red vinegar, and chopped basil. Toast slices of Italian bread in broiler. Rub surface of toasted bread with garlic cloves and add tomato mixture as topping.
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