The Chef Within

Last week I catered a special event and for that I had made a fresh basil dressing.  I had nearly a full bag of basil leftover and all week kept thinking that I needed to store that in some way before it was too late.  I finally got around to it.

I was almost too late.  I sorted through the bag and broke off the leaves that were still usable.  There were some brown spots which don’t pose a threat but are more a sign of loss of flavor and pungency. 

There were leaves that were completely limp and brown.  Those I threw away.

I took the mound of usable leaves and gave them a coarse chop with a chef’s knife. 

Then I divided the chopped herbs amongst two storage containers. 

Each container was then filled with water but not all the way to the top.  You should leave about  1/2 inch headroom to account for expansion during freezing.  The containers are then covered and sent to the freezer.  This is a great tip for any herb and can be done in smaller portions but in this case I wanted to keep the quantity large for recipes that call for good amounts; like the dressing or a tomato sauce or breads and biscuits. 

When it is time to use the herb, simply remove the “herb block” from the container by running it under warm water and then set the block in a sieve and run cool water over that.  The ice will melt instantly and you will be left with fresh tasting herbs or at least as fresh as they were when they were stored.