Family Cookbook & Beef with Basil

A flavorful, fast, new favorite dish of ours.  Beef and Basil with a splash of soy sauce.  Serve with rice and a favorite vegetable side and you are done.      

My cast iron skillets are the best.  I have had this one for a few decades and nothing sticks to it.   I have a 14" cast iron pan that I got a few years ago, we call it the big ass pan!  It's so heavy! But it has seasoned up so nice.  

 

We made the beef and basil in the smaller 10" pan and put the rice in the rice cooker while I was gathering up the ingredients for the dish.   The rice was done just about the same time the hamburger was done.  The rice stays warm for a long time after cooking, so no need to try to time it perfectly.  

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After this batch, we added a lot more basil to the finished dish.  Of course, I didn't take a picture of that dish, but oh well.  Just imagine more green! 

In 2016, Steve and I wanted to create a little recipe book for our families.  The idea was to include as many handwritten recipes from family members as possible to help keep the memories of those who had passed still alive in those pages.  We gathered recipes from our immediate family, scanned and deciphered as many as we could.  

We quickly discovered this was a huge undertaking for even a small book.  The recipes from grand parents sometimes had no instructions only ingredients or had just a list of ingredients and no measurements.  We had to pour through online recipes to figure out the proper measures, baking times and even modern day ingredients.  Some of the recipe cards were so stained and soiled that you knew it was a family favorite.

I called on family to send in original recipe cards, made some of the dishes and photographed them for the book but the hardest job was putting it altogether - the cards, text, photos, etc.  The brunt of that work was done by my husband.  I have to mention that because he worked tirelessly for over a month to get that recipe book gift ready.  The cookbook making site we used (Heritage Cookbook) is a membership site but gives a month free.  So we hustled our fannies to get that book perfected and done in that month!  

Of course I made sure that some of my favorites were included and I love that they are now all contained in that book. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time trying new recipes.  Even though these were family favorites, I still didn't venture past the ones I knew very often.  The other night however,  Steve suggested we try one from his brother in law.  Goodness, how did I miss this recipe?  Beef and Basil.  So easy and it sounded great. 

Well, it's in our rotation now and I really love the simplicity and flavor.  I think we've made this a dozen times already.  

Recipe:  Ground Beef with Basil 

1½ pounds ground beef

½ cup fresh basil

2 -3 cloves of garlic

1t soy sauce 

Brown hamburger in your pan.  Add crushed or sliced garlic (I've done it with both) when hamburger is close to being done.  Then add in chopped basil and soy sauce.  Stir. 

Serve over rice. 

...for the leftovers we added in some chopped green onion.  Next time I think we'll fry them up with the ground beef, maybe near the end.

I know, you had to read all that to get to the recipe.  You probably already make a version of this, but adding in the fresh basil is wonderful.  It's so fragrant and completely makes this dish.  I made a salad and we had that, too.

Fresh basil is usually easy to find in the grocery store, if not in your garden.  Fry up some hamburger and add it in.  You will love it. 

Have a great day,

Kristin 

P.S. I had written this months ago, but never posted.  Basil was growing like crazy in gardens around the country, but now that it's November, it's not as easy to find in your backyard.  So go get some at the grocery store.  This recipe is a nice, warm meal for a chilly day.  Enjoy!