Rainy Saturday

Okay, c'mon.  It's not supposed to rain on the weekend!  We got all the farm chores done and the boys and I launched the Garfish ready for a nice day of fishing and we had barely gotten our hooks wet when the thundering commenced quickly followed by rain and lots of it.  We headed back to the shore and headed home, soaking wet.  Oh well.  I shouldn't complain - others are in a major drought.  I forgot to mention the other day when we crossed over the Mississippi River Bridge, the water was low - very low.  In fact the USS Kidd, the WWII Destroyer, was on dry land and it is normally floating.  The drought in the midwest is severe.  We got an eighth of an inch yesterday and an inch and a half today so far and it is still falling.  The cows don't seem to mind.  They are out in the drizzle eating away.  You can see the difference in the pasture where I mowed the seedheads off.  The grass is putting on new, green growth.

Since it was raining and overcast and we were already wet from the canoe trip, I decided to do some weeding in the garden.  As I was weeding, I kept smelling the fragrant basil and got an idea.  I went inside and Tricia was cooking Chicken Etouffee and needed some green onions so I went back out and got a bunch for her.  I also came back in with a handful of fresh basil from the plant in the middle of the photo below.  I know there is a lot going on in the picture.  There's Ozark Razorback peas on the right and butternut squash encroaching on the right.  The basil plant in the middle just seemed to be saying, "Do something with me!" 

So we did.  Have you ever gone to a restaurant where they come out with piping hot bread and then pour Extra Virgin Olive oil and cracked black pepper on a plate and then you sop up the oil with the bread?  How can simple stuff like that taste so good?  We're going to try to liven that idea up a little by making Basil infused Olive Oil.  Now we've never tried to make it before and it takes a week to be able to taste, so we can't recommend it yet, but here's what we did.

We picked a nice bunch of basil:

I actually picked a bit too much, but this stuff never goes to waste.  This is Genovese Basil.  The recipe calls for one cup of basil leaves.  I decided to use a heaping cup.

Then I put the leaves in the salad spinner and washed it up real good.

The recipe calls for two crushed cloves of garlic.  I beat them with the side of the knife to bruise them up real good and added a handful.  Can you ever add too much garlic?  Ignore the chopped green onions in the picture below.  They are not for the Basil Infused Olive Oil.  They are for topping Tricia's Chicken Ettouffe and I gotta tell you, it is smelling good right now!  Back to our project.

Then, I tore the basil leaves and squeezed them to release the oils and stuffed them into a wide mouth jar alternating with the crushed garlic until the jar was full.

 Here is a closeup of the jar filled with torn up basil leaves and crushed garlic:

Now we take 3 cups of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and pour it into a pot and heat the oil, being very careful not to let it boil.

You'll know it is ready when you see little swirls in the oil and it seems more liquid than normal.  At that point, pour the oil into your jar full of basil & garlic.  You'll have to cock your head sideways since I can't figure out how to rotate the picture (sorry).  I'm pouring the hot oil into the jar that is sitting in a pyrex bowl to avoid spilling and making a mess.

And that is it! We're done.  That was easy.  Here's a shot from the side:

And here's a close up from the top:



I'm not gonna lie.  That looks good.  The recipe says to cover this and let it sit for a week in a cool, dark place.  We'll put it right here in the pantry.  The theory is, the essential oils of the herbs "leak" out, infusing the olive oil with wonderful flavoring.

After a week, you strain out the leaves and pour into a decorative bottle.  You can use this in salads, marinades, on bread, for flavoring meats and vegetables and used instead of spices.  Seems like it would make a nice gift, too.  I'll let you know how it turns out in a week.  If the aroma is any indication, it is going to be good.  Oh, the recipe says that you can use this same recipe but use rosemary, oregano, hot peppers, dill, mint, cumin, etc. just like we did with the basil.  If this is good, we'll try some other flavors.

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down (like the Carpenters used to sing) - that is unless we're making herb infused oil and about to sit down to a big plate of Chicken Etouffe!  Life is good!  Talk to you tomorrow.