Basil Butter Garlic Bread

I love buying fresh produce, and in particular, fresh herbs. They just smell so amazing, and they bring so much more flavor to the dish than dried herbs. Sadly though, fresh herbs don't have a very long shelf-life which means when you have them, you need to use them ASAP!

Which sometimes makes me question why grocery stores sell these herbs in such MASSIVE quantities?!! I go to the store for a little bit of parsley, and my only option of to buy a huge fistful, most of which will probably go bad before I have the chance to use it! How is that a smart purchase??

We had bought some (a lot) fresh basil for another recipe, but there was quite a bit left over so I was trying to think how I might be able to use it up. I remembered saving this recipe a while back, and I figured now was as good a time as any to try it out.

It also required me to use my magic bullet, and you know I never pass up a chance to put that machine to work!

The only setback I had with the recipe was the bread. It calls for a loaf of french bread, but I got to the grocery store and wouldn't you know it? The only type of bread that was completely sold out was the french bread. So I resorted to the next best thing, and went with the italian bread. I think it still turned pretty fine to me!

Last Month: Vanilla Malt Cake with Sprinkled Chocolate Bark

Basil Butter Garlic Bread
Bake Time: 20mins     Yields: 1 large loaf
Ingredients:
4 Tbsps butter
2 Tbsps olive oil
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
1 bunch fresh parsley (about a third as much as the basil)
2 cloves garlic
1 whole green onion
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 Loaf French bread
1 1/2 cups grated or shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 F
2) In a food processor, combine butter, oil, basil, parsley, gaelic, green onion, salt and pepper until desired consistency is reached (it should be pretty smooth).
3) Cut the loaf in half so it is open faced, and spread each side generously with the basil butter.
4) Put the halves together, wrap in tinfoil and bake for 10 minutes.
5) Remove from oven, open the loaf and spread the parmesan cheese evenly over the two sides of the bread. Return the bread to the oven and turn the heat up to 500 F, or cook them under the broiler for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and slightly golden/brown. Serve warm.


(Recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen)