I almost quit blogging this week after discovering that there’s no way I could ever find something more delicious in a refrigerator.

Photo credit: Alice’s dad.

I realized recently I hadn’t made homemade pasta in a while. Sometimes pasta can be kind of heavy and wintery depending on the sauce, though, so I needed something to keep it light!

I saw the recipe for basil oil on How Sweet this week, and it seemed like the perfect solution. Granted, this is ideal for someone who has a beautifully robust basil plant in their backyard garden. Just bursting with basil to the point where they’re giving it away.

(If this is you, can I come over?)

Mine is a sad window plant and I basically had to pick it clean to make half of the recipe. It’s still recovering. #cityproblems

But it’s super easy! Blanch the basil in 10 seconds of boiling water then into an ice bath. Blend it up with olive oil, salt, and pepper and then strain it. Done done. All that basil flava with none of the expense of homemade pesto. Though pesto still has a special place in my heart.

Then I made some pasta dough and used the spaghetti cutter on it. If you have the pasta roller/cutter attachment that I do, it comes with fettuccine and spaghetti. I initially had issues with the spaghetti one until I discovered you have to use a really high speed (like 6 or 8) to get it to cut properly. Now I’m in thin noodle glory.

I sautéed a few big fat shrimp in some olive oil and garlic. Quickly dropped the pasta in salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then into the oil and garlic (shrimp taken out). Poured in the basil oil and tossed. Oh plus a bunch of fresh grated Parmesan, because I put that on any and all pastas. Top with the shrimp. I love that coral color with the green.

The basil oil is so light and covers the pasta really lightly. We dropped the ball and forgot to get bread to mop up the extra, so I ended up toasting and buttering a hot dog bun so we wouldn’t miss a single drop. It’s that good.

This would be good for drizzling over bruschetta, or maybe some grilled chicken skewers. Or just for dipping! Ideally with something classier than a hot dog bun but no judgment.

Squeeze out the rest of basil season while you still can.