Pistachio and Basil

There's something I felt I was to make a few days ago and I decided to complete it today. I believe it began with feta, or a feta substitution, and then basil. From basil, I immediately knew I'd use pistachio and that's where we began this evening.

I started by hand chopping a bit more than a handful of raw pistachio meats, but rather quickly decided on using a hand blender instead. When adding to the blender, I also included olive oil— extra virgin. Likely only two tablespoons or so as there wasn't much left. After the blending and a little more hand-chopping, I picked 10 basil leaves: 1 for eating and 9 for their contribution to the blend. The 9 were lightly chopped and worked in.

Seasoning was not part of the initial compulsion a few days prior so I stopped to think what it was that belonged in that moment. First was a brush of salt, a small serving of crisped onions, then cumin, followed by crushed red pepper that'd previously been blended.

I then felt in desire of anise or some kind of mild licorice-like flavour, but I didn't know where to look so I set that aside. I went looking for cardamom instead; it's not a flavour I've ever been capable of identifying or describing, but I've heard it in passing and have an intuitive understanding of what I'd enjoy having it paired with. That was an easy find. In looking for cardamom, I also found cloves, another spice I've never really known the flavour, scent, or general profile of. I still felt inclined to smell it and quite serendipitously it was just right to fill the licorice-anise desire.

Everything was again chopped and worked in.

For heating, I allowed myself a drizzle of olive oil, but I mostly had to substitute with avocado oil.

I kept the heat on this quite low while preparing Ezekiel bread, another substitution as I probably would've used whole wheat sourdough had it been present. The bread was simply coated with the last of the olive oil I had to use before it was put in the toaster oven.

Once I began hearing any sound of popping or light cooking from the oil, I turned off the stove and just let it sit warm.

In the end, I spread this blend across the gently toasted Ezekiel bread, topped with feta [substitution], and had it with a serving of baked salmon I'd been simultaneously preparing.

All was good and pretty precisely as it was meant to be. Substitutions aside, the most significant change I may make on another occasion is preparing the basil separately before its incorporation. I believe I could bring out a stronger flavour this way without the addition of more leaves.