Is There Such A Thing As “Basil Rehab”?

Cause if there is, I think I need it. Every year I plant a handful of Basil plants and every year, I have the poor things picked down to baby leaves before we even get to July. I need Basil Twinkie Curry and Cheeto rehab. At the rate I’m going I am going to have to buy every basil plant at the store come Spring each year. The first year it was one plant. It was  a mild addiction. I used fresh basil in spaghetti sauces and in tomato sandwiches and periodically went out and just crushed a leave in my fingers and smelled it,. Then I would be caught sniffing my hands for hours afterward. Talk about awkward.  The next year I bought three. That was when I ventured out into making homemade pesto and using the Basil on anything involving tomatoes and cheese. there was also the time I was found on the back porch by my husband, late at night, with my head buried in the basil leaves and suspicious green streaks around my mouth. But we don’t talk about that. It traumatized him. This year I bought five plants. They are already nubs. I think I have been doing sleepwalking basil eating. that or my love of Caprese has also turned into a serious addiction.

Todays recipe probably doesn’t help if I were to deny a Caprese problem.

Everyone knows what Monkey Bread is right? Well, with my mind wrapped firmly around the idea of “pant pant drool drool… what else can I do with basil? Slurp slurp.. BASSSSIIILLLLLLLL”  the idea occurred to me that a version of Caprese would make a good Monkey bread. So I tried. I tried first stuffing rolls with a yummy Sun dried Tomato Bruschetta topping I have but that didn’t work. Too oily and the rolls wouldn’t seal. So instead I took rolls, stuffed them with a mix of sun dried tomatoes, fresh Basil and mozzarella. Then I sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning , drizzled the whole thing with garlic butter and baked it. Oh my God. Talk about cheesy basily (yes that is now a word cause I said so 😛 ) Heaven. Between the tart chewy sun dried tomatoes, the gooey cheese, that wonderful addictive Basil and the garlic butter and oh yeah the soft yeasty rolls, this was so full of flavor it should have been illegal. I’m glad it wasn’t though or I’d be in jail for eating three of them in quick succession. What!? I was hungry! My husband never feeds me. He’s mean like that. Plus, I can’t tell all of you what it tastes like If I haven’t tried it. Right? Of course right. 😀

So give this a try. If you have a thing for Caprese or just love cheese, I think you’ll love this one. 🙂 Enjoy!

Caprese Stuffed Rolls

A La

Monkey Bread Style

  • 28 frozen raw store bought yeast rolls 
  • 1 pound block mozzarella cheese, cut into 28 cubes
  • 28 to 56 fresh basil leaves (depends on the size of the leaves how many you will need)
  • 28 bite sized sun dried tomato pieces
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) SALTED butter
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
  • Grated Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning for sprinkling
  1. Thaw the rolls on a greased piece of foil or waxed paper.
  2. When rolls are thawed, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a monkey bread pan or any circular straight sided and flat bottomed baking pan.
  3. Take each roll and with your hands, flatten out into a circle. On each roll, put one to two basil leaves, a chunk of the mozzarella and a piece (or two if small) of the sun dried tomato. Press the roll around the cheese, making sure to seal well so they don’t pop open as they bake.
  4. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the salted butter, garlic powder and red pepper (if using) on high. Should take about 60 seconds. Stir well to mix
  5. Make a layer of the stuffed rolls in the greased pan. Drizzle liberally with the garlic butter.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.  Make one more layer. Drizzle with the rest of the garlic butter. Sprinkle with more Parmesan and Italian seasoning. Bake at 350 until puffed and golden brown on top. Let sit in the pan for about 3 to 5 minutes then invert over a large plate. Eat until you’re going to burst. 😀

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Website Pin Facebook Twitter Myspace Friendfeed Technorati del.icio.us Digg Google StumbleUpon Premium Responsive

38 thoughts on “Is There Such A Thing As “Basil Rehab”?

  1. OMG!! I am going to try these this week, they look amazing!! And I too have a basil addiction….er, I mean I like to use basil.

    Keep up the good and yummy work Janet…I love your site!!

    Lisa Marie~

    • Thanks Lisa 🙂 You’ll have to update me on how you liked them after you try them. They are so easy but soooo yummy.

    • Thanks Julie. 🙂 yeah, I was thinking of meaty options too but wanted to stick to the purist version of Caprese this first time lol 😛

  2. Thanks Mike! 🙂
    Alana, thank you. Yum works for me 😀
    Thanks Marybeth. We’ve been doing a lot of pulling apart and enjoying ourselves 😛

  3. You are too funny!!! I’ve not had great experiences with basil plants. The one year that I had them thery were full of horrid looking bugs. I’ve been traumatized for life.

    • Awwwww, try again. Maybe the buggies won’t get you this time. Or if they do, you can consider it another protein source ;-D

  4. No such thing as basil rehab because it’s a great addiction to have!! Our basil plants are starting to explode now that they have sunshine and this recipe is perfect. So glad I found it.

  5. Sherpa, hope you like the recipe. It’s a great way to use that Basil 🙂
    Alana, I can identify. Bread and cheese is one of lifes little pleasures 😀

  6. Fresh basil is so freaking expensive when you buy it in the store (or it used to be… haven’t done it in my new home yet) that the only way to get it with out paying a small fortune is to grow it. And then I wouldn’t use it cause its “too expensive to use for just anything”. I however now swear to buy some basil plants, grow it and make a ton of caprese style monkey bread no matter the cost 😀

  7. we are over run with our basil plant here-wish you were here-I would give it to you only if you promise to give me some of that bread. The last picture makes my mouth water! buzzed it.

  8. Oh My…..That looks sooooooooooooooooooooooo yummy. I wonder how well basil grows indoors…..and if I could keep the cat away from it!!

    • Joe, if you have a balcony or deck or even a sunny window ledge it should do fine, especially where you live. Right now stores like Wal mart and Lowes will have the bedding plants. All you’d need to do is repot one.

  9. Have you ever had deep-fried Thai basil? It comes sprinkled over one of my favorite dishes at my very favorite Thai place.

      • There’s not any coating or anything on them. I think they’re just plunged in the oil briefly. The leaves look normal, just a little darker, and they’re wonderfully crispy.

        The crispy garlic chicken they come on top of is pretty darn good too.

  10. I’m addicted to basil leaves. It’s so bad. Now that winter is here I’ve had to figure out what my problem is with basil. It makes me happy. I would think I about it and need it. I had no idea the power it would consume in my brain. I have a small patio and decided to buy a beautiful basil plant from Walmart and I seeded some too. Oh my, I lived walimng outside and eating a few basil leaves as I talked on the phone with whoever. I feel like it’s my nicotine. I do not smoke cigarettes but basil makes me happy. I truly believe it did something to my brain chemistry and I crave it now. I’m going to be 50 this year and feel like basil is my lost live that i found. Cheers.

Leave a Reply to Bel Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *