MCCORMICK BASIL LEAVES
I love pasta. May be that’s because dad always prepare Macaroni soup or spaghetti every other weekend. And then during college we started to love carbonara and pesto, short orders along the university belt. I know pasta is an easy to prepare merienda however pasta with pesto gave me a challenging experience.
Pesto is an Italian sauce which is usually consists of crushed garlic and basil. And speaking of Basil, it’s important that we know distinct flavours of where we get our basil. Good thing there’s McCormick Basil, another product from their list of herbs and spices. Basil, the dried leaves are grayish-green with an aroma and taste similar to cloves and anise. Basil blends well with tomatoes and is essential in most tomato-sauced Italian dishes.
I used to complain why there’s a need to include basil leaves in some of the dished especially for Pesto sauce. So I made a little research and found out that there are actually a lot of different types of basil. These leaves are usually found in Indonesia and India. Some lemon basil has a fragrant citrusy smell and mostly used as dressing in salad. Chinese also use basil for their herbals. And Asian basils are known to have its distinctive clove flavour. What I love in McCormick Basil in the supermarket is that it is packed and sealed, (packed in 9grams bottle) to maintain its state.
Health Benefits of Basil
They say there is really no significant nutritional benefits in having basil into our dishes. However, some said it can help build up your immune system, protect you against heart disease, cancer and is packed full of antioxidants. And as we all know, these antioxidants is recommended for improving our cardiovascular health and is helpful for detoxification. Basil Leaves also is a good source of potassium, magnesium, calcium and iron, including Vitamin C.
McCormick Basil in Pesto Sauce
Ok Im going to share you my small recipe, preparing Pesto Sauce. Not that Im a huge fan of Italian cuisine but basically pesto sauce or simply pasta pesto is kind of expensive in Aveneto restaurant, to name a few.
1 cup of fresh McCormick Basil Leaves
2 or 3 cloves garlic, crushed
½ or ¼ cup pine nuts
½ cup extra virgin olive oil (extra to seal)
60g Grated Parmesan
Some salt
Just mix crushed garlic, nuts, some olive oil, McCormick Basil leaves. Keep grinding then add the remaining olive oil. Stir in the parmesan through your hand. Very simple and prepare you pasta noodles and voila!
McCormick Basil is also good when you add it to melted butter and brush on fish or scallops, in chicken and/or pork. You can also add McCormick Basil to salad dressings, potato, egg or macaroni salads, eggplant, carrots, cauliflower and yellow squash.
For more information about McCormick Basil, Visit their site HERE.
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