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. 😀

House Of The Rising Bun

 

The post for today was going to be Turkey Noodle Soup but considering that it really sucked because I accidentally put so much Spinach in it that it should have been named Spinach soup, time for a new game plan. So I’m going with the rolls that I made to go with the above mentioned sucky soup. Sucky Soup…hehe… maybe I can market that? Or…erhmmm… maybe not. Moving on. Honest; I’m fine. Really.

I asked on the Facebook page if anyone else had ever had days when they shouldn’t have been allowed to get out of bed, much let get near a stove. Well, today is obviously mine. When I started the oatmeal mixture for these rolls, I cooked it for too long and ended up with a gooey mess all over my microwave as well as a hardened clump of oatmeal in the bowl. Yes, yes, I can cook… not sure why you would think otherwise 😛

Getting to the rolls, which I have miraculously managed to finish with no casualties even though the firemen were waiting outside the house, hoses at the ready, these are quite easy as yeast breads go. If you are one of those with a fear of attempting to make anything yeast risen, this may be a good one for you to start with. They have never failed to rise well for me and always receive rave reviews. I will be using them in other recipes also. They make fantastic cinnamon rolls & herbed rolls as well as this simple dinner roll.

Oatmeal Rolls

  1. 2 cups water
  2. 1 cup quick cooking oats
  3. 3 tablespoons butter
  4. 1/2 cup warm water (110- 115 degrees)
  5. 2 envelopes active dry yeast
  6. 1 tablespoon sugar
  7. 4 cups all purpose flour
  8. 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  9. 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
    • Bring the 2 cups water to boil in a medium saucepan; stir in the oats and butter. Boil, stirring constantly for one minute. Remove from heat and let cool until it is 110 degrees (toasty warm to the touch but not “OW! Crap! Why did I just stick my finger in that?!”
    • Alternately, bring water to a boil in the microwave, add the oats and butter and microwave for about 1 minute (paying close attention so you don’t end up with an oatmeal volcano).
    • Meanwhile, add the yeast and one tablespoon sugar to the 1/2 cup warm water. Let stand five minutes.
    • Beat oat mixture, yeast mixture, flour, salt and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer, until smooth.
    • Turn your dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about five minutes. It shouldn’t be more than slightly tacky. Add more flour to your board if it is too sticky. By the same token, don’t add a ton of flour. Too much flour leads to a tough roll.
    • Place in a greased bowl turning the dough once to makes sure the top is greased too.
    • Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about one hour.
    • Punch the dough down (that’s the fun part hehe) and divide in half. Shape each half into 16 balls. Put into a greased 13×9 pan or two 9 inch round cake pans.
    • Cover lightly (a clean towel or plastic wrap works fine) and let rise in a cool place until the rolls are doubled in bulk.
    • Bake at 375 about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

    A hot roll and Blackberry jam. One of life's simple pleasures.

     

    *A shout out to my dear friend Mark for the title of the post 🙂