Monday night preserves - basil infused olive oil

I wouldn't expect to be saying in October, almost November that I had basil growing in the greenhouse.  In fact, I'm pleased that I managed to grow any basil at all.  I'm having one of those realisation moments when I think about how far we have come.  We hadn't successfully grown anything before we moved here and to think I am preserving regularly and enjoying meals from the veg plot is a really satisfying feeling.  Preserving in general is a great feeling for me, be it shop bought, gifted or grown items and I hope that even if just one person could be inspired to preserve as a result of these posts then that would be amazing.

The basil I grew are green and red.  The red one came free with the Grow Your Own magazine that I subscribe to which send seeds with each order.  I also grew standard green basil which just loves to grow and I plan to fill my window sills with it next year!

Tonight I started to tidy up the greenhouse and brought the basil indoors.  The kids picked the leaves off for me and they did a great job.  Grace washed the leaves and put them in the salad spinner for me.

I put both red and green in together so I hope they will work out.  I sterilised a jar and packed the leaves in.

 

Once full of basil leaves, I filled with olive oil and put some cling film under the screw top. 

 

It's now on the preserving windowsill with the plum wine (which is going 2 different colours randomly).  It'll stay here for 2 weeks before being strained and rebottled in time to go in the Christmas hampers.

 

A really quick, but hopefully tasty preserve.  I'll use this to cook with and also as a salad dressing to remind me of long lost summer days :)