How to make Basil Oil

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How to make Basil Oil

This may be the garnish to end all garnishes. I remember so vividly the day we learned this in culinary school, and how I raced home to try it myself, feeling like I had just unlocked some illusive five star chef secret.

This simple little technique gives you magnificent, fragrant green gold to drizzle about a plate, swirl atop a bowl of soup (it floats!), and dunk very lucky crusty bread in. Seriously, this just smeared on a white plate, and you look like a superstar. Regular ol' oil becomes glistening emerald and is all things basil...or parsley or cilantro--it works for a variety of herbs. I made a thai basil-cilantro oil to drizzle around a Thai-spiced quail dish that worked beautifully.

The oil will keep for about a week in the refrigerator. I've also frozen it in ice cube trays to defrost later in the year, to swirl on top of a creamy soup, or drizzle along side some roasted salmon. But try this now, even to just dress up some sliced tomatoes. There. Is. Nothing. Better.


	Basil Oil Makes approximately 1/4 cup 3/4 cup packed Basil leaves, washed 70% Grapeseed Oil 30% Extra Virgin Olive Oil Note: You'll want to use a mixture of oils here. The grapeseed oil is much lighter and much more neutral in flavor, so it will best allow the basil flavor to come through. But adding a little olive oil to the mixture, gives it some heft and richness that will also compliment the food you are putting the oil on. The measurements can be approximate, but shoot for a 70/30 ratio. You'll need enough oil to cover the leaves in the blender, somewhere between a quarter and a half of a cup. 1. Pour boiling water over the fresh herbs in large heatproof bowl. Let steep for thirty seconds. 2. Add ice and cold water to the bowl to stop the cooking of the leaves. 3. Remove the herbs from the water and squeeze dry, then squeeze again, hard, with paper towels to remove as much water as possible. 4. Put blanched herbs in a blender. Pour in enough grapeseed and olive oil to just cover the height of the leaves. Blend well for about a minute. 5. Pour pureed herb and oil mixture into sauce pan on medium heat. You will see a much brighter green color start to form on the outside rim of the pan as the particles of the herbs start to cook through. Stir gently, until the entire pan has changed to the brighter color, approximately 1-2 minutes. Do not let the oil boil or cook at too high a heat, and burn or fry the basil. Turn down if bubbling too rapidly. 6. Strain oil through fine strainer lined with several layers cheese cloth. (Tip: Wet and wring out the cheesecloth before putting it into the strainer. This will rinse out any dust particles from the packaging, and the cloth, if saturated with water, will absorb less of the precious oil.) Pour into squeeze bottle or airtight container. Will keep in the refrigerator for about a week or can be frozen for several months, defrosted for a few hours in the refrigerator.

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Olive Oil Everything Crackers

Here is another cracker recipe with which to send you off into the weekend!

This recipe and the Cornmeal and Chive Cracker recipe from earlier this week contrast each other nicely, and would make a sublime little cracker basket assortment. This cracker is a little more subtle in flavor and more tender in texture than the other, so pairs nicely with soft, less powerful cheeses too. With or without the everything seed mix and this is a perfect, versatile, go-to cracker recipe to have in your bag of tricks.


	OLIVE OIL EVERYTHING CRACKERS by Catie Schwalb Makes about two dozen 2.5" diameter round crackers. However, cut in any shape you fancy. 1 cup flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup olive oil 1/2 teaspoon salt Everything Seed Mix: 1/2 teaspoon each of toasted sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and flax seeds 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic (available in the spice aisle) (optional, for the true everything bagel flavor) Heat oven to 350 ° F. Mix together flour, whole wheat flour and salt. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the buttermilk and olive oil. Mix either by hand, with a paddle of a stand mixer, or in a food processor until dough comes together. Lightly dust with flour a silpat or piece of parchment paper that is the same size as your baking sheet. Roll out a portion of the dough right on the paper or silpat. Try to get it as thin and even as you are able, without creating holes, ideally around 1/16th of an inch. Lightly sprinkle with more flour if the rolling pin starts to stick. Using cookie cutters, my new favorite tool: a Pasta Bike, pizza cutter or carefully with a knife, cut crackers in desired shape. Remove excess dough. Brush lightly with water and sprinkle liberally with seed mix. Bake for 15-20 minutes, turning the sheet once in the oven about half way through. Crackers are ready when they are crisp and no longer pliable. Transfer to a cooling rack. Will keep in an airtight container for a week.

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Salad Dressing 101

Just about four years ago, Mark Bittman wrote a great piece in the New York Times; A Well-Dressed Salad Wears Only Homemade, and it got me thinkin'. Why did salad dressings feel like such a mystery? Why is there usually a huge amount of grocery store real estate devoted to them? Why are they so darn expensive?

A recent peek at dressings in my grocery store upstate, showed even the cheapest dressings at around $2.50 for an 8 oz bottle, jumping to $3.59 a bottle for something just slightly more natural. That's $40-57 a gallon--compare that to something like the price at the pump, and it feels like complete lunacy.

The other glaring issue I noticed was that sugar, often in the form of high fructose corn syrup, and WATER, frequently make up two of the first three ingredients. Again, lunacy.

A few weeks ago I did a cooking demonstration at a local harvest festival. Showcasing the gorgeous local produce (supplied by Beaver Dam Brook Farm in Ferndale, NY), I did a brief primer on dressings and vinaigrettes. As I was myself when I first started cooking, many of the audience members at my cooking demos were surprised at how fast and simple it was to make a vinaigrette. And so much less expensive while eliminating chemicals, emulsifiers, and that big dose of unnecessary sugar. It seemed crazy that there we were, at a huge farmers' market, a group of people devoted to buying the freshest, least traveled, produce, and yet were not thinking much about then topping that produce with something that was possibly over a year old (when purchased, not to mention the time it has sat on that narrow shelf on the door of your refrigerator), gooey, syrupy, and most likely swimming with ingredients from a factory and not a farm.

So here's the basic formula:

1 part acid + about 3 parts oil + seasonings and flavoring agents

Put the acid in a bowl with the seasonings and flavoring ingredients, if using. If you have time, allow that to sit for 5-10 minutes to better infuse the vinegar. Then while whisking continually, pour the oil into the acid, in a slow, steady stream. The mixture will begin to come together and emulsify. You can also do the same, a bit quicker, with a fork for a "broken" vinaigrette. Or make things very easy and put it in a blender, instead of a bowl, in the same order, streaming the oil in the top while the blade is going. This works particularly well if adding fruit or vegetables for flavor.

Most commonly, extra virgin olive oil is used, but gorgeously flavored hazelnut, walnut, pumpkin seed, and avocado oils are also becoming widely available. The acid can be lemon juice, lime juice, vinegars (balsamic, white or red wine, sherry, rice, cider) or a combination. Season with salt and pepper, and flavor with shallot, garlic, mustard, pureed fruit or juice, honey, pureed roasted vegetables, fresh herbs, dried herbs, or ground spices. One of my favorites is a three-ingredient vinaigrette of lemon juice, sea salt, and hazelnut oil over a green salad with roasted beets.

Experiment with some of these combinations:

olive oil + white wine vinegar + dijon mustard (just a dab), minced shallots and garlic (a classic)

grapeseed oil + rice vinegar + fresh mango (pureed in a blender), season with salt and pepper to taste

olive oil + sherry vinegar + roasted red peppers (again season and puree in a blender)

walnut oil + white wine vinegar + roasted fennel and roasted garlic

olive oil + lime juice + honey and ground cumin

or this Roasted Cherry Tomato Vinaigrette, I posted recently.

The formula is simple, it's not rocket science, you can hardly go wrong, and the options are so much more rewarding than the same-old same-old you'll find on the dusty eye-level shelf at your store. Do yourself a huge favor, work this into your life. Experiment, taste, and experiment some more. Tonight.

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Catie Baumer Schwalb is a chef, food writer and photographer, who splits her life between the city and the country. Not too long ago Catie was a New York City based actress and playwright for more than a decade. She has her Master of Fine Arts from the National Theater Conservatory, and her Grand Diplôme in classic culinary arts from the French Culinary Institute in New York City. ... Read More ≫

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