Thai Basil Infused Olive Oil

Now for what I did with the Thai Basil  :)   At the Farmer's market I found some lovely thai basil.  I just loved the purple leaves and flowers.  I have a pretty wicked lasagne recipe that takes a ton of basil- so I grabbed a bunch to make that for the weekend.  :)  But what to do with the rest.......  I've always wanted to try to make an infused olive oil, so I decided to give that a try.......
I learned a few things, and made a few screw-ups that I've never seen in anyone else's recipe or blog, so I'm adding my hiccups here... :)

Above you will see the bunches of basil in clean, sterilized Ball jars waiting for the heated olive oil.  You can use any tpe of olive oil, I'm trying Pure olive oil, and Virgin olive oil.  I want to see if it makes a difference in the flavor.

Heat the  olive oil in a Pyrex or stove friendly glass bowl.  The recipes and research I've found states that you have to do it in glass to be able to see the oil "swirl"- which means it's heated to the correct temperature.  You DO NOT WANT IT TO BOIL!!!!  Once the oil starts to swirl around the Pyrex, remove it from the heat with a pot holder.   

Pour the oil into the jar that you've already loaded with the basil.  I used a whole bottle of olive oil- and pint jars.  The oil was only enough to fill the one jar above.  As soon as I get another Pyrex cup I will do the other one.  That I'll explain in a little bit :) The basil will make popping sounds and fizz up- I WAS SO NOT EXPECTING THAT.  Although, it did make me feel a bit like a mad scientist.  AND!  The smell was awesome.  ahhhh basil.  Now- take care when setting down the hotter than hot Pyrex cup.



If you place it down on anything that is room temperature or colder.... it will shatter.  Not just crack and then fall apart- SHATTER- EXPLODE-POP!!  That too scared the bejezus out of me, and I lost my favorite Pyrex measuring cup :(  

Hence the hiccup I mentioned before!!!

After a few hours the oil will get cloudy.  In a day or 2 the oil will go back to a clearrer consistency. 

I'm going to try this with a bunch of habaneros soon.... 

If any of you try this, please let me know your alterations or what additions you put in your oil.  :)

Mahoogan's Spicy Drink Sticks

Wednesday is Farmer's Market day up here in my little area of San Francisco- can't pass up $1.00 a bag for peppers, green beans and basil!  Most of the time I have no idea what I want to make, I just walk around and see what is available- this time I had a request from a fellow fan of all things spicy-drink sticks for Bloody Marys (or any other drink that a super spicy, pepper infused, pickled vegetable could go into.)  *The basil I set aside to make basil infused olive oil- I will post that one later.  I also threw a sprig into the pot while it was boiling because I love love love the smell of basil.  Anyway, I digress....  on to the drink sticks.....

MAHOOGAN'S SPICY DRINK STICKS

1 and a half pounds of green beans (I used wax, green and purple) trimmed
3 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons of sea salt
2 table spoons lime juice

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

1/2 pound of the peppers *

1 bunch chives- trimmed to fit the jar

6 cloves garlic, peeled, plus 2 tablespoons minced

Clean and trim the beans.  Add beans to a pot of boiling water and a teaspoon of salt to cook- about 5-6 minutes.

Don't they look pretty with all 3 colors... 

unfortunately the purple guys turn green when you cook them. 

Clean the peppers and throw into a pan/skillet with a lid.  On medium heat cook the peppers so that they get soft. 

Should take about 15 minutes.

 They will get burn marks on them- which is fine- perfect actually.  You can also grill them instead of cooking them in the pan- I ran out of room on the stove.  Clean and cut the chives so that they fit into the jar.  I wanted to be able to use them as a "stick" also, so I didn't chop them up.

I placed the chives ontop of the peppers in the pan to wilt them and removed them after abot 5 minutes. 

In a sauce pan combine the water, vinegar, peppercorns, garlic, lime juice, and salt. 

Bring to a rolling boil.

Now is the time to load the jars.  I layed mine down so that it was easier to layer all the stuff in there- you can do it however you wish, I just found that this was way easier.   Load each jar with the beans, peppers, and chives.  * Remove the tops and seeds of the peppers if you want them to be less spicy. 

Make sure the jars are sterilized and that they are still warm.  We will be pouring hot liquid into them in a minute and if they are cold- they will break. 

Ladle the liquid into the jars- leaving about a half inch of headspace. 

Add the lids and bands- adjust to fingertip tight.

                                      
Viola!  Let them sit for at least 2 weeks- and you have some spicy garnish for your drinks. 

Next up- Basil infused Olive Oil......

New sewing table

Here is the before .... (except for the white tray)  The table had 2 holes for glass inserts- I made one larger to accomodate the tray for my scissors and other items- the other side will house a pin cushion.

Next I painted the legs a blue that matches the stencils on the walls- It's the same paint :)  I sanded down the wood a bit- but I added a bit of primer into the paint so it will hold better.  I've also used a gloss trim paint that's meant for wood.  (I wanted shiny motifs on the walls so I used a gloss paint- handy for right now)

And then I added a moasic peacock made from tile- surrounded by some pretty blue/green/light blue glass tiles I got from Lowes. I used a spray tile adheasive from Lowes that I adore!  Just spray it on and it sticks... no trowling it on :)  This part isn't easy to keep straight.  With all the curves on the peacock there are some spaces that are weird- the grout fills them in a bit- but you can't be anal about perfect.

Here is the glass tile all filled in..........

All my items are currently available on Etsy..... CLICK HERE

or go to

www.prettylittlepeacock.com