macerated strawberries with basil oil
2 hot 2 cook, herb-o-rama, and a freezer stash of vanilla ice cream
Rise and shine! Welcome back to my favorite broken record - I’m going to tell you it’s hot outside as if somehow you missed the weather forecast or haven’t left the house in a month. For your sake, I’m going to leave it at that, and just assume we can all grasp why I’m handing you a recipe where you truly do not have to turn on the stove.
It’s truly a testament to my idiocy that at the same time I’m writing this, I’m overseeing not one, not two, but three separate and bubbling pots on my stovetop, containing various bits of fruit destined for marmalades and jams. What can I say? I literally (and I mean this LITERALLY) put “making marmalade” in the Interests portion of my resume. Like Miley, I can’t be tamed.
If smelling sun-warmed basil in window boxes or farmer’s markets is a part of your summer habits, you know that basil isn’t just reserved for pesto. If you’re not into basil - it’s okay - you can make herb oil with mint, anise hyssop, lemon verbena, or any other herb or blend you personally feel goes well with your berries of choice.
When you’ve got good fruit, you don’t want to do a lot to it. I’m a big fan of maceration - essentially marinating in a liquid. For a simple preparation that lets the fruit shine, you can use sugar to create the liquid itself, and then let it marinate in that syrup of its own juices. If you think this sounds like a fancy way to say “toss berries with sugar and then let them sit”…. you would not be wrong. Hey! I never said it wasn’t easy!
I’ll leave you with this - as we begin to march into the even-hotter months, keep your freezer stocked with a good vanilla ice cream. We’re going to make toppings (magic shell, crispy crunchies, fruit bonanzas) galore, and they deserve to have an immediate receptacle. Keep an eye out on the landing page of the newsletter for a category to corral all of the toppings, sprinkles, and drizzles we can dream up.
It’ll impress even the most discerning of guests if you plate a small scoop of ice cream dotted with herb oil and scattered with strawberries rich in their own syrup, or a simple drizzle of tahini rum caramel, or sprinkled with whatever I come up with next. Everybody loves a sundae. And everybody is hot!
macerated strawberries with basil oil
berries
1lb strawberries, sliced or quartered
2 tablespoons sugar (more if you like it sweet or your strawberries need a little help)
Pinch of salt
directions
Toss berries, sugar and salt together. Leave to sit, tossing occasionally, for around 20 minutes, or until a sweet red syrup forms.
basil oil
2 big bunches of basil, leaves and tender stems (about 4 packed cups, or 80g)
1 1/2 cup olive oil (if you prefer a more neutral flavor, use a high-quality neutral oil)
directions
Fill a medium bowl with ice and water. Bring a medium pot of water to a rolling boil. Dunk your herbs in the boiling water until bright green (15-25 seconds) and pull out with tongs immediately and dunk and swirl in the ice water to chill. Once cold, squeeze all excess water out with your hands and leave to dry on paper towels. This process will keep the color vibrant.
Set a strainer or coffee dripper over a bowl and line with a coffee filter or several layers of cheesecloth. If you need to set up two of these to fit this amount, you could, or you could halve the recipe (I typically do that and it fits in one small coffee filter).
Combine the oil and the herbs in a high-speed blender (see note). Blend until a very fine puree* and pour slowly into your filtered set-up. Leave it completely alone overnight - don’t press on the mixture and you’ll be rewarded with a clear, deep emerald oil without any bitterness.
Keep in your fridge for a week or so, or in your freezer for a couple of months. Use on anything that can use a herbal kick - dotted in soups, with fish, etc.
*So! To extract the most flavor out of the herbs, you should really blend it until it’s warm and steamy and completely broken down. If you have a Vitamix and make this batch size, you can do it! I halve this size so it’ll fit in a coffee filter, and therefore it doesn’t even fit in my Vitamix at home since I have one of the wider canisters. I do it with an immersion blender, and it’s still delicious, but if you want to be anal about it, here you go. You can also cook off any remaining water before you strain but HEY! I told you I wasn’t turning on my stove!!
the dessert
Scoop good vanilla ice cream into a small bowl. Top with small puddles of basil oil and macerated strawberries. Devour!