Recipe From The Farm Box: Infusions

This Week's box brought forth an abundance of Veg fit to be consumed. But once again, nothing in particular screamed "make a recipe with me." Most of it was just "useful". Here's what I got:

• Curly Kale
• Tomatoes
• Lemon Cucumbers (Looks like Lemons, is a Cucumber)
• Alexandra Heirloom Zucchini (is what that big ugly thing from last week was)
• Mixed Potatoes (Red, White & Blue)
• Eggplant (long and thin)
• Chives
• Lemon Basil
• Lime Basil

So we're in the swing of Zucchini season, which is nice because it adds well to most basic dishes disappearing into the background but adding some texture and fiber where needed. Also fun are the Mixed Potatoes, which will sit until I am ready to use them. Everything else. I mean useful, but nothing really screaming USE ME. My only problem is that Lemon Basil and Lime Basil don't exactly stay. They tend to go bad immediately. I knew I needed to do something with them to capture those truly amazing basils but I wasn't really sure what. Until I remembered something I had consumed in a fancy rooftop bar in washington DC... Infused Liquors. I remember the bartender talking me up about his own PERSONAL infusions as he served me a cucumber gin martini. It was delicious. The flavor breaking highlighting the gin. And so I thought, if you can do that with cucumbers, could you do it with herbs? Could I infuse The Husband's booze of choice, gin, with the basils and make my own unique PERSONAL infusion.

The Answer is YES. Here is what you do.

Rinse and Pat dry the Basil. Remove the Leaves from the stems. I used the flowers too because they have a really strong smell and judging from last week's experience with the Garlic Flower they probably have an intense flavor as well.

Place the leaves into a mason jar or some other kind of jar that has a lid and that is sparkling clean. I did two jars, one for Lemon Basil, and one for lime. Cover with Gin (I used Gordons because some hipster on the web said to use it). Shake and place in a dark cool spot for at least 24 hours. Most of the guides on the web said you can do longer then that, but to taste it after 24 hours because over infusion can make the booze bitter. They also don't suggest with herbs to infuse over 3 days.

Once the taste is strong enough to your liking, strain the booze through a coffee filter into another container (I used new mason jars). Store in the fridge until drunk.

The result was an incredibly flavored Gin that had the distinct color of urine. But trust me it did not taste like Urine. On their own the gins were rather astringent, but you don't really drink Gin on its own. With some Tonic water I found the Lime to be rather delightful and play nicely with the Tonic. The Lemon Basil Gin was less so, but not unattractive, just fighting with the underlying flavor. I would probably try it as a modified Tom Collins with some sugar and soda water. Also, If I did it again I would probably use a higher quality of Gin, something with a really clean flavor. I'm not a fan of the astringent feeling of Gordon's Gin. 

Not into booze?

Not a drinker eh? Well don't worry, you can still infuse. One of the things I love to do in the summer is to make infused waters. It's really easy.

Just take Some cucumber, regular cucumber works great but I had lemon cucumbers so I used those, and if you have some fruit you can add it in, or don't, to each there own (I had a left over Asian pear)

Peel and cut into 1/4 inch chunks and add them to a Pitcher. Cover with filtered water and let sit at room temperature for an hour. Then Refrigerate. Use until Drunk over ice or not.

I really like this, it's refreshing and low calorie. Cucumber has a natural cooling effect so if you like the taste it can work wonders on a hot day. You can even pat some on your face if you are feeling particularly inclined or if you are sun burned... either way.

If you want to try other fruits you certainly can, the only thing I would say is that for berries like blueberries or raspberries I would give them a little bit of a mash, you need to break up the cell membranes to allow the infusion.

What else can you infuse? Coconut water, White wine (what do you think sangria is), sparkling water, Vodka, simple syrup, even oils... the list goes on and on. Just make sure your produce is clean and that if the final product is to sit in the fridge for a period of time you strain out the solids after 3 or so days to keep from spoilage.