basil overgrowth

Fresh basil is on of summer's quintessential pleasures.

Last month the local grocery store had one gallon containers on sale, so I picked up a couple and dropped them into the ground next to one of the tomatoes for a little companion planting goodness. The tomato plant seems to approve, as it's got more flower clusters in bloom than all the other plants combined.

Last week's lovely, warm weather turned the basil into some decent sized shrubs. I was afraid the plants would flower and bolt, so I conducted a mass pruning earlier this week. Although a few leaves would find their way into my weekly caprese salad, it wasn't really doing much but taking up counter space. Apparently, I'd harvested close to 7 cups of basil.

The only real solution for that is pesto. Instead of the Italian pine nut version, I went with the nut-free French version called pistou. Unfortunately, I went a little heavy on the garlic (read: severe gastric distress quantities of garlic). This evening I went out and hacked off another 4-5 cups of leaves off the leggier plant and made a garlic-free version to mix into the pain inducing stuff. Since the top layer had turned a really unappetizing brown (from oxidation), I didn't add the last two tablespoons of oil, and instead poured them over the top to create an oxygen barrier. Let's hope that keeps everything green.

I'm considering freezing quarter cup servings of it in the little snack size ziploc baggies. That's an easy size to give away, or to take to Bettie May's cookoff come September.