Health News Blog provides coverage of current health news.

Recipes using basil are legion. It can flavour almost any Mediterranean or Asian dish to advantage, particularly when ingredients from the warm sunny areas are used. It should always be used fresh, or added at the last minute if cooking, for the flavour becomes very bitter if it is heated for long periods. Basil is, by legend, a “herb of Mars”, a very powerful “masculine” one. Use it sparingly. One or two leaves of the sweet variety will flavour a whole dish. Try steeping a small handful of the herb in hock or chablis at room temperature for 24 hours, then chill again before serving. Try it in a salad bowl, one or two leaves chopped over fresh tomatoes, or egg dishes.

Omelette Sauce

Here is a Basque recipe.

4 small tomatoes

1 1\2 tablespoons olive oil

Raw sugar

Basil

Lemon juice (1 teaspoon), salt

Chop the tomatoes, simmer in the olive oil, sprinkle lightly with the sugar, add salt. Simmer 5 minutes. Add chopped basil, simmer one minute, add the lemon juice, and blend all together well. Pour over omelette.

Pesto Sauce

From Genoa comes the traditional sauce for all pasta dishes.

4 tablespoons fresh chopped basil

2 tablespoons ground pine nuts (or walnuts)

3 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

5 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons melted butter

Pound basil, nuts and garlic in a mortar with the pestle (hence the name). When quite crushed, add the cheese and pound till a thick puree is formed. Slowly add oil and butter bit by bit, grinding as you go. Blend all well together. The sauce can be gently heated for a few moments before pouring over the pasta.

Greek Meze

Here is another delicacy from the Mediterranean, an appetizer, served on hot toasted bread fingers.

2 oz. black olives (stoned) finely minced

1 hardboiled egg (discard most of the white)

2 tablespoons olive oil

teaspoons lemon juice. Several leaves chopped basil

1 tablespoon fried onion

Blend all well together, and refrigerate till needed. Can be made the day before, but if so add the basil an hour before serving, and bring to room temperature.

A Sauce with Basil for Spaghetti

2 or 3 zucchini 1 green pepper

1 crushed garlic clove

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 large tomatoes

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon anchovy paste

a few capers

several black olives

4 to 6 leaves sweet basil

8 oz. spaghetti

Saute the zucchini, green pepper and garlic lightly in the oil. Then add tomatoes, salt and pepper, and cook slowly for about 10 minutes over low heat. Add the anchovy paste, capers, olives and basil and cook a further 5 minutes. Pour this mixture over the cooked and drained spaghetti, and serve piping hot.

*49\181\8*

Related Posts:

• WHERE TO FIND PEACE – MILKY WAY
• CONCRETE STRUCTURES AND THEIR DANGERS – HAZARD TO HEALTH
• MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS – EFFORTS TO RETRIEVE THE LOSS (PART 2)
• WHOLE WHEAT AND OTHER CEREALS – GERMINATED CEREALS – AN INEXPENSIVE TONIC
• VITAMINS – VITAMIN Â COMPLEX (INTRODUCTION)
• THE PANCREAS – MIDDAY MEAL (LUNCH)
• TAPEWORMS – TEA TREATMENT
• A TYPICAL DAILY PROGRAMME – STARVATION
• THE URINARY BLADDER – ADDITIONAL TREATMENT (PROSTATE TROUBLE 2)
• MODERN HEART POISONS – STRESS – PACE AND HASTE (SPORT)