basil

Italian Garlic Bread Recipe

(serves 4)

Ingredients

1 ciabatta loaf (cut into slices)
4/5 tbsp soft butter
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
Fresh herbs to sprinkle on top (optional)

Method

1. Preheat your grill to a medium heat.

2. In a bowl mix the crushed garlic with the oregano, basil and butter. Once mixed, place your sliced bread on a baking tray and place under the grill until the bread is golden brown in colour.

3. Remove the baking tray and turn over all the slices of bread, cook again for around 1 minute and remove from the grill. Spread a layer of the garlic butter and herb mixture on each ciabatta slice until all mixture is used up. Place back on the baking tray under the grill until all slices are nice and golden in colour. Be careful to keep an eye on the bread as it can easily burn.

4. Remove the garlic bread slices from the grill and serve at once. If you want to make the garlic bread look a little more fancy then chop up some dill or basil and sprinkle on each slice before serving.

Margherita Pizza

Easy Margherita Pizza Recipe

(serves 2)

Ingredients

2 packets of pizza base mix, or
2 ready-made bases
400g (14oz) fresh mozzarella cheese roughly chopped
3 tablespoons fresh tomato pasta sauce or passata
8 ripe plum tomatoes
4 crushed garlic cloves
handful of fresh basil
4 tablespoons olive oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to around 220C.

2. If you are using a packet pizza base mix, make up the base following the instructions on the packet.

3. Remove the seeds, core and juices from the plum tomatoes then roughly chop them up, place in a food processor and puree them with the basil leaves. Stir in the fresh tomato pasta sauce or passata and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season well.

4. Roll out the pizza bases to 30cm (12 inch) circles and place them on lightly oiled baking trays. Drizzle each with a little olive oil.

5. Spoon the tomato sauce over the bases, spreading it up to the rim. Scatter the mozzarella cheese over the top of each on and drizzle again with a little more olive oil.

6. Cook the pizza in the top half of the oven for around 10-15 minutes (this depends on how hot your oven is) or until the base is light brown and crisp and the topping is cooked.

7. If desired, once cooked, tear the remaining basil leaves and add some to each pizza before serving.

Thank you to Simone Daley for this recipe.

Delicious Pesto Pasta Recipe

(serves 1)

Ingredients

150g tagliatelle
1 x good handful pine nuts
2 x handfuls of torn fresh basil leaves
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Method

1. To make the pesto, blend together in a food processor: all the freshly torn basil leaves, pine nuts (leaving a tablespoon of them to one side for later), extra virgin olive oil, sprinkling of salt and good dash of ground black pepper.

2. Cook the tagliatelle as per instructions on packet if fresh.

3. Drain pasta, add the pesto and mix so that all the pasta is coated.

4. Serve with the remaining pine nuts which you set aside on top. This is so simple yet tasty.

Thank you to Victoria for this recipe.