Dried basil: what are the beneficial properties of this seasoning and why it may be contraindicated for use. The best recipes for dishes with exquisite spices. These are the main, but not all, useful properties of basil. Spice is a real storehouse of elements important for the human body, which means that the regular addition of seasoning to food improves the functioning of all systems, organs and tissues.
Harm and contraindications to the use of dried basil
Despite the exceptional benefits of spice for most people, there are situations where adding spice to food can be harmful.
Contraindications to dried basil, as well as its beneficial properties, are explained by the peculiarities of the composition:
- Mercury compounds found in spices … This is the main reason for limiting the use of seasoning in food. For this reason, basil is contraindicated for diabetics, as well as for people suffering from thrombophlebitis, thrombosis, epilepsy, angina pectoris, ischemic heart disease. With caution, it should be added to dishes for pregnant women and hypertensive patients.
- Essential oils … They are also rich in spice. This is the second factor limiting the use of the seasoning for people with specific gastrointestinal problems.
In addition, such a factor as individual intolerance to the components, which can be exacerbated against the background of chronic diseases and / or if a person is allergic, cannot be ruled out. If you have health problems of one nature or another, it is better to consult with your doctor regarding the possibility of using basil. Also, with caution, the spice should be added to food for children, if the child has never tried it before.
Dried Basil Recipes
Basil is a spice popular all over the world, but it is especially loved in Italy. However, Italians know a lot about cooking. The pasta and pizza that this country gave us is adored in all corners of the world. So if Basil is loved in Italy, why isn't this a quality mark for a spice? Indeed, basil makes any dish delicious. Even a banal omelette seasoning can turn, if not into a culinary masterpiece, then quite into an original breakfast.
There are a lot of recipes using dried basil, however, of course, there are top signature dishes:
- Pesto sauce … Ingredients: 200 grams of hard cheese (ideally, sheep's pecorino or parmesan cheese, but you can replace and love it with another hard variety), 2 tablespoons of dry basil (if you are lucky to find a fresh one, you will need 1 glass), 100 grams of pine nuts (substitution for forest and walnuts), 2-3 cloves of garlic, olive oil - by eye for the desired density of the sauce. Grind the garlic with a special press or grate on the finest grater, grate the cheese on it, crush the nuts with a rolling pin, mix all the ingredients and add dry basil (fresh basil must first be finely chopped). Place the mixture in a blender and pour in the olive oil, "beat" the mixture until you get a sauce-like texture.
- Jamie Oliver's Basil Pasta … Ingredients: 300 grams of minced meat, 250 grams of spaghetti, 1 jar of tomatoes in their own juice, onions, carrots - 1 each, 2 slices of bacon, 1-2 celery stalks, 2-3 cloves of garlic, basil and oregano - 1 teaspoon each, parmesan, salt and olive oil to taste. Fry the bacon for two minutes, add the oregano and after another couple of minutes all vegetables, except tomatoes, simmer the mixture for 5-7 minutes. Add tomatoes, minced meat, basil and salt, simmer the sauce until the minced meat is cooked. While it languishes, boil the spaghetti, grate the Parmesan. Mix the prepared sauce with spaghetti, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with cheese and, if there is fresh basil, decorate the dish with its sprigs.
- Pizza "Margarita" … Ingredients: pizza dough, 100 grams of mozzarella cheese, 2 teaspoons of basil (if fresh, 6-8 leaves), 3 tablespoons of your favorite tomato sauce, 2 tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into thin rings, the cheese into coarse sticks. Roll out the pizza dough, spread the tomato sauce and spread the cheese on top. Now spread the tomatoes on top and sprinkle the spice on the pizza. Preheat oven to high and send the pizza to the bottom rack to bake for 5-10 minutes. Be guided by the cheese: it should lose its shape, but not turn into a puddle.
- Delicate creamy soup with basil and garlic … Ingredients: 1 liter of chicken broth, 100 grams of rice, 250 ml of cream, onions and carrots - 1 each, a teaspoon of basil, 2-4 cloves of garlic, 30 grams of butter, salt, black pepper, paprika - to taste. Heat a frying pan and fry the garlic in butter for a couple of minutes, add carrots and onions, sauté for 5-7 minutes. Boil rice in chicken broth, add vegetables, cream, basil and other spices, salt 3-5 minutes before being cooked. Serving this soup is great with croutons.
- Traditional Italian appetizer "Caprese" … Ingredients: 1 tomato, 200 grams of mozzarella cheese, dried basil, black pepper, salt to taste. Cut the tomato and cheese into thin slices and place on a plate alternating with each other. Season each layer generously with spices.
- Quinoa salad with basil and thyme … Ingredients: 200 grams of quinoa, carrots, bell pepper, celery stalk - 1 each, 50 grams of Adyghe cheese, a little green onion, juice of a third of a lemon, basil, thyme, black pepper, salt and olive oil - to taste. Send the quinoa to cook. In a frying pan, first stew the carrots and onions, add celery and pepper after 3-5 minutes, basil and thyme after another five minutes. Simmer everything together for a couple of minutes, then combine with quinoa, salt and pepper. It is better to eat the salad warm, not hot, and just before serving it is necessary to sprinkle the dish with lemon juice, add olive oil, cheese and green onions.
Basil goes well with any dishes - soups, hot dishes, light salads. It is harmoniously complemented by other spices of Mediterranean cuisine - thyme, oregano. Frankly speaking, it is difficult to find a recipe for an Italian dish, which will not include this seasoning. Basil is sometimes even simply added to vinegar or oil and infused to give these products a richer taste and aroma.
Interesting facts about the basilica
In antiquity, the attitude to the basilica was ambiguous. This plant was considered very strong, perhaps the reason for this was its bright unique aroma. The word "basil" comes from the Greek "royal", and for a long time it was believed that only the royal person had the right to harvest the plant. But ordinary people could also sow spice, while it was assumed that the more the sowers shouted, cursed and swear at, the better the harvest would be.
And this is not the only somewhat wild belief about the basilica. In antiquity, people were convinced that if you leave a leaf of a plant under a plate, it will turn into a scorpion. Particularly impressionable natures assured that if you smell the spice, the scorpion will settle in your head.
The spice even got into a couple of myths. For example, there is a myth that the famous Salome placed the stolen severed head of John the Baptist in a pot of basil in order to mask the smell of decay.
There was a similar legend about another unfortunate girl who also stole the head of her executed husband, placed it in a pot, planted basil in it and watered it with her tears. This story even inspired the British writer John Keats to write Isabella, or a Pot of Basil.
Fortunately, not all amazing spice facts are so sad. In Italy, she has always been considered a symbol of love, and in Romania, the man who gave the stem of this plant to the bride initiated the engagement. In Haiti, the seasoning was used as a talisman against evil spirits, and in Mexico, girls secretly planted a leaf of a plant for their husbands, because there was a belief that a man would never look to the side. But an interesting fact about basil hails from modern times: it is this spice that is most often used as a salt substitute for a salt-free diet.
Watch a video about dried basil:
Dried basil is not a frequent guest in Russian cuisine, and in vain. You can see that this Mediterranean seasoning not only helps to reveal the taste of any dish, but also has an unprecedented number of useful properties. Therefore, when you find yourself in the store again, do not forget to put this unique spice in your cart, especially since it is not expensive at all in dry form.
