Lexie Sharabianlou | Writer

get ready for your kitchen to smell like pesto’s sexy cousin

This is an equipment-heavy, ingredient-simple recipe that will create an obsession-worthy oil. I’ve broken it down into 5 main steps but I promise, this is so so worth it and the applications are truly endless.

AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHOP ANYTHING!!

yields: 100ish mL of basil oil
TIME: between 45 minutes to an hour

INGREDIENTS

165 mL grape seed oil (or other neutral oil)
100 grams fresh basil

EQUIPMENT
Large stock pot for blanching
Food processor or blender
Frying pan or wide sauce pan
Fine mesh sieve
Coffee filter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. BLANCHE YOUR BASIL: Put a pot of water to boil and prep an ice bath. Once the pot reaches a boil, drop your basil in the water and leave it for 20 seconds. Then, strain the basil from the water and drop in the ice bath. Congrats, you’ve blanched your basil!
   
   
2. SQUEEZE YOUR BASIL: Strain the basil out of the ice bath, then squeeze out as much extra water as you can. Keep squeezing until you have a weird little ball of leaves clumped in your hands. Resist urge to put it in your mouth.
   
   
3. BLITZ YOUR BASIL: Add basil and grape seed oil to a food processor or blender. Blend, baby blend. The consistency should be liquid, the basil really well incorporated.
   
   
4. SAUTEE YOUR BASIL: Pop that delicious green stuff in a pan. Cook on LOW HEAT for 30-45 minutes to help cook off the excess moisture and steep the oil. The longer you cook, the more flavor you’ll get, but everyone’s burner is different. Taste at the 30 minute mark and go from there. NOTE: The longer you cook, the darker the oil will be, so if you want a subtler tasting, bright green oil, you can actually skip this step.
   
   
5. STRAIN YOUR BASIL: Strain through a fine mesh sieve and then take the strained liquid and pass it one more time through a coffee filter or cheese cloth. Now, grab a piece of bread, dip it in the basil, add salt, and feel like the queen of summer.
   
   
   Refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze in ice cube trays for up to 3 months.
   

How To Use It

You can use this oil literally anywhere.

• Cocktails: Drop into herb-forward or savory cocktails (think Bloody Marys or green chili martinis).
  
  
• Crudites: Drizzle onto raw vegetables for an addicting snack.
  
  
• Carpaccios: Thinly slice radishes, sushi-grade fish, tomatoes, or whatever!
  
  
• Salad Dressings: Incorporate into even a simple vinaigrette recipe and your salad will thank you.
  
  
• Bread Dipping: Bread and salt is all you need to show off your cheffy skills at a dinner party.
  
  
• Sandwich Spreads: Mix with a little kewpie mayo to fake a very tasty basil aioli.
  
  
• Pastas: This could be the whole sauce–just toss some still-hot pasta with this stuff, bit of pasta water, pepper, and parmesan. Then say, “Damn, Lexie. You’re a genius.”
  
  
• Soups: This would be PERFECT on tomato soup.
  
  
• Croutons: Toss with stale bread chunks and pop in the oven at 400 for a few minutes for an incredibly fragrant level-up to soups and salads.
  
  Got any other usage ideas? Drop a comment and tell me!!