Thai Basil

I planted some Thai basil this year because I had gotten some seed I-don't-know-why and I generally plant whatever I have seed for. 

It's a small and very sweet smelling basil.   And it blooms like crazy.   All. Summer. Long.   

We think it's OK, but prefer the Genovese style basil.

The bees, on the other hand,  love it.   Love. It.

I'll be planting rows and rows of it again just for them.  

Asian Chicken Salad

This is one of my favorite meals.  It's beautiful and delicious.  And good for you - as long as you don't drown it in the dressing, which is to die for.

Start with a bed of your favorite greens.   Add some pineapple and mandarin oranges.

Top it with some chicken bites marinated and then cooked in Orange Honey Basil Garlic Glaze. 

Toss it a bit and drizzle a bit of Oriental Salad Dressing on the top.  You can sprinkle sesame seeds on the top, too.   I love those.

It's so good, you'll want more for dessert.  Seriously.

Here are the recipes.

Orange Honey Basil Garlic Glaze
www.rurification.com

• 1 can frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 large cloves garlic, sliced in quarters
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

Put all the ingredients in a small pot.  Bring to a boil.  Let simmer for a while so the flavors will meld.  Strain out the garlic and basil leaves.  Yield:  2 cups or so.

Chicken Bites in Orange Honey Basil Garlic Glaze
www.rurification.com

• 2 chicken breasts cut in small pieces
• 1 cup of Orange Honey Basil Garlic Glaze
• Oil for cooking the chicken in

Marinade chicken in glaze for a couple of hours.    Heat the oil in a heavy pan and drop the chicken and glaze in.  Cover for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through, then remove the cover and let the chicken brown and the glaze reduce.  You want those tasty crunchies.

Oriental Salad Dressing
www.rurification.com

• 1/4 cup sugar [or less, if you like]
• 1/4 cup vinegar.  We like our Oriental Spice Vinegar
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup oil
• drizzle of sesame oil
• 3 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper, ground

Orange Garlic Basil Chicken, Quinoa and Veg Stir Fry

I gave a friend of mine a jar of this beautiful Orange Garlic Basil Glaze that I made last year.   She's a much more creative and knowledgeable cook than I am and I was thrilled when she emailed me the recipe that she'd come up with for this glaze.  You'll love it! Take your time and enjoy the resulting feast.  

Thank you, Sharon!! 

Sharon's Orange Garlic Basil Chicken and Quinoa w/Vegetable Stir Fry

www.rurification.com

• 1 small half pint of Robin’s Orange Garlic Basil Glaze  (you will use most if not all of it)
• 1 chicken breast half – butterflied
• ½ cup quinoa
• 1 cup of water, plus 3 TBS of water for veggies.
• 3 cups (or more) vegetables - cut small (eggplant, onions, zucchini, brocollini, mushrooms, carrots – whatever combo you like!)
• 1 TBS soy sauce
• 2-4 TBS chopped fresh basil
• Olive oil – as needed.

Thin 2-3 tbs of Orange Garlic Basic Jam in enough Olive Oil to thin to a thick liquid in a zip lock bag.  Add 1 butterflied skinned chicken breast.  Let sit in the refrigerator 4 hrs or longer.

25 minutes before you are ready to eat pre-heat the grill.

20 minutes before dinner put the chicken on the grill.  At the same time, combine ½ cut of Quinoa in 1 cup of water, salt to taste and simmer.  

Meanwhile: chop ½ small onion, sauté in a bit of olive oil, when translucent add up to 3 cups of vegetables (brocollini, mushrooms, kale, grated carrots, or whatever you like)

About 9 minutes later flip the chicken. At this point add a bit of water to the vegetables to help steam them (if the vegetables are thick – cover to condense heat – else, leave the lid off!).  Your vegetables should end up a bit on the crisp side.

15 minutes after you started the chicken and quinoa, take the chicken off the grill, take the quinoa off the stove (the quinoa should be a soupy and a bit underdone – adjust your time if needed).

Dump the soupy quinoa in the vegetables.  Dollop 3-4 TBS (or to taste) of Orange Garlic Basil Glaze in the pan and stir to dissolve.  Slice the chicken and add it to the same pan.

Continue “evaporating” the liquid until thickened – about 5 minutes.  Add 1 tbs of soy sauce and some fresh chopped basil. Serve.  Will easily feed 2 – 3 if accompanied with a side dish (VERY filling – and light at the same time)

Orange Basil Garlic Glaze

So,  yesterday we started talking about glazes.   Remember?

Today I want to talk about another option you have when you're making glazes.  It's the plain juice vs. juice concentrate option. 

You can make fabulous glazes with regular old fruit juice or with concentrated fruit juice - like the frozen stuff.

Which means, you can use it straight out of the frozen juice can.   I don't think it gets much easier than that.  In fact, the hardest part of the whole process is opening those frozen juice cans in the first place.

I just don't think you should have to use pliers to get to your juice, is all I'm saying.

When you use concentrate, the flavor is much more intense.  That's a good thing.   This recipe has plenty of sugar and herbs to compensate for the extra kapow of concentrated orange flavor. 

A note about the garlic and basil.   They're really really good in jam this way.   In fact, you can add a bit of ginger, too for a totally knock your socks off glaze for chicken.

For more terrific recipes like this one, check out my book - A Simple Jar of Jam.   Follow the links in the sidebar for a preview and to purchase the ebook from our Etsy shop.  

Orange Garlic Basil Glaze
www.rurification.com

• 2 cups orange juice or orange juice concentrate
• 2 Tablespoons Ball Low Sugar pectin [optional – use if you want jam instead of a syrupy glaze]
• 4 cloves garlic sliced in half long ways 
• 1 cup basil leaves or sprigs. 
• 1 inch ginger root, sliced [optional]
• 3 cups sugar

Combine juice, pectin [if making jam] and herbs in pot. Bring to boil. Boil one minute. Add sugar. Return to boil. Boil one minute. Remove herbs. Ladle into jars.

Basil

I kind of overdid it on the basil this year.   Last year I only planted one row and it didn't do great.  This year I planted three and it turns out that basil loved the heat and the daily watering.   I have loads of basil.

Loads, I tell you.

This is a pic of our second picking, but we've done one more since.   I expect at least one more before frost.    That's a seven gallon tote that it's in.   That's a lot of basil.

There will be plenty of pesto in the freezer this year.   Here's a link to how I make the pesto.

In the tote there, I have Italian Sweet Basil, and Opal Basil and some Thai Lemon Basil.     It's easy to find seeds for those at your local hardware type store.  

This year, since I planted basil all over the place, I learned a few more things about what it likes.  

• Basil likes heat and wet and well drained.   It loves very sandy soil.  
• If you direct sow the seeds, then make sure to water them every day to keep them damp until they sprout.    It's true.   If you don't water them, they probably won't sprout and if they do sprout, then it'll take a couple of weeks or more before you see them.   If you do water them every day, then they come up in just a few days.  [Note, this is only true if you have very well drained soil.  If you have heavy wet soil, then the rules are completely different.  My advice is to dig a lot of sand in.]
• Basil much prefers soil that has some manure in it.    The leaves and plants are much bigger in the beds where I turned in some manure this year.  
• Don't bother planting basil early in the season.   It turns brown if the temp gets below 40 and then it will be forever stunted.  For. Ever.   Wait until the middle of June to plant it and you'll still have plenty of time to make loads of pesto all season.   I planted the last batch of seeds at the beginning of July and I'll still get three harvests.
• When I cut the basil, I cut it just above the bottom sets of leaves. After it's cut, the plant will branch off at the base of those leaves and produce another nice harvest for you.