Basil - description
Basil is a very fragrant annual plant with leaves of a juicy green or purple color, as well as many of their shades. There are quite a few varieties of basil, which differ not only in color but also in taste. Therefore, if this plant tasted like lemon to you, and your friend claims that it is like cloves or cinnamon, you are both right. Just tried leaflets of different varieties.
More than a hundred species of this spice are cultivated in different countries - North Africa, Central Asia, Crimea, Mediterranean countries. Cultivars vary in taste. Each species has its own climate, which affects their aroma, appearance, size, color. Basil is also widely found in wild-growing form - in China, Iran, India, Africa, and the Caucasus.
It propagates by seed. Seeds are sown in the ground, or seedlings are planted. The plant loves very moisture and warmth. Mass flowering occurs in July, then they make the first harvest. In one season they manage to take off two “crops”. Because at the place of cliff stalks, young shoots have time to grow to frost. Basil is able to deter mosquitoes, so in the summer its branches can be hung next to open windows, but it itself is a favorite treat for snails and slugs.
Basil - properties
These emerald-purple leaves are a source of calcium, iron, rutin, and vitamins A, K, and PP. Basil has a calming property, stimulates digestion, raises the general tone, stimulates appetite. His broth is drunk like tea with flatulence, diseases of the bladder, stomach, rheumatism, arthritis, headache, vomiting. It is easy to drink because It has a pleasant taste and aroma. As an aphrodisiac, basil is prescribed to increase potency and sexual desire. Basil juice has bactericidal properties, cuts and wounds are lubricated, warts are removed with essential oil.
Unfortunately, basil has contraindications. It is not recommended for pregnancy, heart disease, post-infarction conditions, thrombophlebitis, thrombosis. Care must be taken when ingesting large doses of oil and balsam juice, this can lead to poisoning. And be sure to consult a doctor before the planned long-term appointment.
Basil - Cooking Use
Such a spicy and aromatic plant like basil, simply could not help but use in cooking. He came to Europe quite late in the 16th century, but it was thanks to his fragrant aroma that he quickly gained great popularity. Added to the dish, basil begins to play with taste. At the very beginning gives it a spicy bitterness, then a light sweetish aftertaste appears. In cooking, dried basil is also used, but fresh is the most valuable and popular. It is added to vegetable salads, sauces, soups, pizza, meat, fish, egg dishes. It goes well with vegetables, especially tomatoes, cheese, butter, seafood. Dried spices are used in the production of sausages, pastes, ketchups, pepper mixture.
Sample recipes with basil
Recipe 1: Chicken Breasts with Vegetables and Basil
Pumpkin can turn not only into a carriage, but also into a dish with an amazing taste, having eaten that, I want to lick the plate, forgetting about the rules of decency. The recipe also includes potatoes, garlic and chicken breasts. Spices and basil set the tone for the orchestra. Instead of foil, you can use the baking sleeve, and instead of the breasts, take the hips.
Ingredients: chicken breasts - 0.5 kg, 4 potatoes, pumpkin - 0.5 kg, cheese - 30 g, seasoning for chicken, salt, black and allspice, 4 cloves of garlic, half a lemon (for juice), vegetable oil - 3 tables. lodges., dried basil, foil.
Cooking method
Cut the breast into four parts. Grate them with salt, pepper, seasoning and juice squeezed from half a lemon. Leave to pickle, and at this time to do the preparation of vegetables.
Peel and cut the potatoes and pumpkins into large pieces, at least two centimeters, otherwise the smaller pieces of pumpkin will turn into porridge. Pepper and salt the vegetables cubes, sprinkle with basil, pour oil and mix.
Now it's time to do the assembly of the dish. It is necessary to prepare 4 pieces of foil, it must be sized to fit the meat with the side dish and there are loose ends to wrap the envelope. For strength, it can be folded in two layers.
Put on a foil a pumpkin with potatoes, sliced garlic cloves, and lay a piece of meat on this whole vegetable pillow. It is necessary to wrap the edges like an envelope for writing and bake 40-45 minutes in the oven (190C). About seven to ten minutes before the end of baking, open the foil, put a thin slice of cheese on the meat and send it back to the oven until the cheese melts and forms a crust.
Recipe 2: Appetizer on Skewers of Tomato, Cheese and Basil
This dish will decorate any table. White mozzarella compares favorably with the juicy colors of red tomato and green basil. You can mix the ingredients in a bowl and you get an elegant salad, but it is more refined to present them as a snack, strung on skewers or regular toothpicks. For the dish you will need fresh basil leaves, mozzarella cheese (can be replaced with feta cheese or other pickled cheese) and cherry tomatoes. This is if you make a snack, because due to its small size, cherry is easier to string on skewers. In the salad, you can crush tomatoes of usual sizes.
Ingredients: cherry tomatoes - 15-20pcs., mozzarella - 150g, vegetable oil, vinegar (6%) - 1 table. lodges., salt, a bunch of basil.
Cooking method
Cut the little tomatoes in half. Cut the cheese into slices the size of a half tomato. Leave the basil leaves at your discretion whole or chop by hand.
String on a skewer alternately: half a tomato, a couple of basil leaves, cheese, basil leaves and again half a tomato. Put the appetizer on a plate, salt and drizzle with vinegar and vegetable oil. As an option, basil is not strung on a toothpick, but sprinkled with a snack on top of it, right on the plate.
Recipe 3: Squid Salad with Basil
A very simple and healthy salad for lovers of seafood, in particular squid. When serving, a salad slide at the edges is decorated with slices of fresh tomato and decorated with whole basil leaves.
Ingredients: squid - 0.5kg, salt, 1 tomato, ground pepper, a spoon of vegetable oil, a bay leaf, a small bunch of basil.
Cooking method
Boil squid in the usual way. This means adding salt, a leaf of lavrushka (optional) to boiling water and putting the squid carcasses. As the water boils again, cook for no more than three minutes, otherwise the squid meat will become stiff. Cool and cut into noodles. Pepper, pour oil, sprinkle with chopped straws basil and mix. Cut it like this: put a few leaves in a stack, twist it into a tube and cut across thin rings, which, when straightened, turn into straws.
Basil - useful tips from experienced chefs
- So that fresh basil does not lose its magical aroma during heat treatment, it is added to the dish at the very end of cooking, so that essential oils do not have time to evaporate, dried - 15 minutes before the end of cooking.
- If you need to chop the basil, it is better to tear the leaves with your hands, and not cut with a knife.
- If you put a couple of fresh leaves in a bottle of vinegar, it will gain a piquant aroma. Such vinegar is recommended to be added to sauces and vegetable salads.
- Basil salted for storage preserves the aroma, all the useful properties and substances of fresh.
