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.  :)