BASIL ... SWEET BASIL! ~ (FRIDAY SEAFOOD FEAST) PISTACHIO PESTO LINGUINI with GRILLED LEMON SCALLOPS
~ Basil ( Ocimum basilicum ) _______________ "This important culinary herb, with its warm spicy flavor, send cooks into poetic raptures . A native of Africa and Asia, basil is held in reverence as a plant imbued wit divine essence, and therefore the Indians chose this herb upon which to swear their oaths in court. Basil was found gr owing around Christ's tomb after the resurrection , so some Greek Orthodox churches use it to prepare the holy water, and pot of basil are set below church altars. There are many varieties of basil, including shrubby basil, which is a tropical species. In Haiti, it belongs to the pagan love goddess Erzulie , as a powerful protector, and in rural Mexico it is sometimes carried in pockets to magnetize money and to return a lover's roving eye." ~ The Complete Book of Herbs ________________ PISTACHIO PESTO PASTA with GRILLED LEMON SCALLOPS ~ Before the frost hits, harvest basil for this deliciously sweet meld of flavors ___________ PES...