Weekend Herb Blogging - Basil

This week's Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Mele Cotte. 

This week's herb is basil.  I have a plant at the vegetable plot and 2 plants in a pot in my front yard.  The one in the vegetable garden is getting overtaken with the zucchini plant but is stretching to hold it's own.  I clipped just the top for a few leaves.

This weekend is the American Library Association conference in Washington, DC.   The most I could muster to do is attend the exhibits tomorrow with my kids and my daughter's book loving friend and her mom.  My good friend Jennie is in town for the conference so it was an excellent excuse to have a BBQ and invite a bunch of friends.  I've already slow roasted the pork and Sean chopped it all last night.  We'll have brats and chicken on the grill and Jennie's request was to eat from my garden.  So the menu is

From the garden:
Zucchini, garlic and basil:  Couscous salad with sauteed zucchini
Green beans and garlic:  roasted and tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper
Leeks: Leek and goat cheese galette
Fava beans, cukes and carrots:  Fava bean puree with pita and raw cukes and carrots
Sour cherries (picked from a local orchard): Sour cherry crostada

I think that's it!

Sean and I and the kids went to a new local pizza place last night and had a started that was a salad of Israeli couscous and grilled zucchini.  It was delicious so I tried to recreate it for the BBQ

Couscous Salad with sauteed zucchini

Cook 1 cup of Israeli couscous in lots of water, 7-8 min or until done.  Drain and then toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  While couscous is cooking, thinly slice zucchini and sauteed until brown in olive oil.  Toss with couscous.  I had some sun dried tomatoes so I soaked those for a little while in hot water, thinly sliced and added to salad.  Make a dressing of 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 minced garlic clove,  salt, pepper, 2 teaspoons sumac and 1/4 cup olive oil.  Toss with couscous and vegetables.  Take a handful of basil and slice into slivers and add to salad.

Zucchini, picked this morning

Basil

The salad