The New Basil

This time of year I’m on the lookout for anything that will brighten the flavors of winter. I used to rely on basil for that, snipping it into pasta, soups and salads. Basil used to be rare and summery, but now it’s found all year round in those slim plastic packets.  Even the most modest supermarket usually has a packet or two of fresh basil.

Still, about a year ago I began finding basil rather harsh and even bitter. It didn’t inspire me anymore.  What can I say….I had grown tired of it.  So I looked around for a substitute and one day, on a whim, I brought home a package of fresh mint and snipped that into a green salad.

Wow! Pow! What a great flavor. It was sort of basil-like, but not. It gave an air of mystery to baby greens, turned out to be an herb that loves to mask its mintiness and take on some of the neighboring flavors of what’s around it.  In other words, it was a friendly and sociable leaf, willing to go along to get along.

I can use mint in salads of all sorts, and also in fruit-based desserts. Of course it’s a must in anything Asian, whether a stir-fry, a soup or anything in between.  And it’s’ brilliant in pastas, too. It adds a bright je ne sais quoi to everything it’s in, without being as declarative as cilantro (which just does not go well with strawberries, at least not in my kitchen) nor as old-school as those basil leaves.

Who knew mint could be so versatile?? I find the smell of mint energizing; every time I take some leaves out I hold them to my nose, inhale and feel the happier for it. Not only that, even though mint and basil are herbaceous cousins, mint lasts much longer than basil and you don’t wind up with dissolving black leaves in your fridge. So next time you’re at the store, buy some mint. And don’t relegate it only to dessert. Snip it on potatoes or peas, toss fine shreds in your next salad, sprinkle a little on shrimp, add it to a chicken breast. As far as I’m concerned, mint is the new basil!