A brush with basil

Of all the herbs in our garden at the moment, basil is one of our enduring favourites, writes Bevan Smith.

Synonymous with summer, the combination of basil and tomato is a cornerstone of Italian cookery, and growing it every year in the warmer months is almost akin to welcoming an old friend back into the kitchen.

My initial introduction to basil as a young cook was a revelation.

The strong, pungent aroma took my senses by surprise while the intense sweet anise flavour was unlike anything I had ever tried before.

On its own, it was indeed intriguing, but it was only when I was told to then taste it with a slice of gloriously sun-ripened tomato that I understood the power of flavour that basil can unlock in other ingredients.

Cooking can be full of seminal moments and this humble pairing of basil and tomato certainly was one of mine. Since then, I have grown basil almost everywhere.

Nothing beats picking fresh basil from your garden.

While supermarkets have made certain progress in making herbs more widely available, they are often expensive for what you get and the quality can be less than desired.

As long as you have light and warmth, you can grow basil. And a packet of seed is easily affordable. Three or four plants are more than enough for a family.

If space is an issue, a sunny windowsill is the perfect spot for a pot or two. We grow our basil in a tunnel house.

This gives good protection from unseasonal weather and strong norwesterly winds but also helps maximise the warmth required to get the plants really rocking and extends the growing season by a couple of weeks.

The Genovese variety is perfect in most culinary applications because it is very easy to grow, with large beautiful green leaves and a classic, clean flavour.

And while we have tried many other varieties, including holy basil, Thai basil, lemon basil and opal basil, Genovese is the one we continually return to plant each year and it seldom disappoints.

Although I could just about use basil in everything from simple sandwiches, to salsa verde, to basil tea, here are three simple recipes that make use of this amazingly versatile herb to give a real flavour kick this summer.

- Bevan and Monique Smith own Riverstone Kitchen, supreme winner of the Cuisine NZ Restaurant of the Year 2010, situated just south of the Waitaki Bridge on SH1. www.riverstonekitchen.co.nz.