I have a new habit. A new addiction. Basil. Ever since getting my two basil plants at the begining of Summer I cook just about everything with a few leaves of basil.
Steve and I eat salad fairly regularly during the summer. And we're pretty routine about what goes in them. Plain, cheap iceberg lettuce mixed with a variety of fancy, slightly more expensive greens. We like the taste of good greens, and our budget likes the cost of the cheap stuff, thus a compromise. Roasted sunflower seeds, an oil based dressing. And lastly cannellini beans (white beans, northern beans, whatever you prefer calling them). We always, always, always saute our beans in olive oil, garlic, and some crushed red pepper. That's our bean flavor base. We add things here and there depending on our taste at the time. A few days ago when I was getting all of our "salad stuff" out I walked to my porch and pinched off a few basil leaves. I rinsed them and ripped them to pieces, throwing them into my saute pan with the beans, garlic, oil, and pepper. Fantastic!
Steve laughed at me when he came walking in the door, he said the Basil plants looked ridiculous. There were a few tall, bare stalks. Why didn't I do the job properly, he wondered. Guess what he did the next night whilst preparing dinner...that's right....he walked outside and simply plucked off a few leaves, leaving more barren stalks. It's all fun and games until you're hard up for basil and getting scissors is just to complicated.
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