My Dad's Quick Apple Cake

My Dad & his girls.
From left to right: Riley, Olivia, Me!

Growing up with a stay-at-home Mom who's a professionally trained chef, my Dad rarely got a chance in the kitchen.  If left to his own devices, he can broil a mean Stouffer's french bread pizza, and makes a pretty good burger, but his truly creative ventures in the kitchen were pretty limited.  Two things he's known for in our family are his "Black Beans & Rice" as well as this Quick Apple Cake. When I was a kid, we lived in an awesome neighborhood that had lots of get togethers.  For pot lucks, my Dad would make this recipe, and it was always greatly enjoyed by everyone

I would say that my Dad is a foodie (although he just barely makes the cut since he would actually prefer PB&J over Lobster, which I do NOT understand).... he has an amazing palate and definitely knows and appreciates great food. This is sentimental, but true (so don't gag yourself with your wooden cooking spoon)... he's the best Dad a girl could hope for, so even if he couldn't cook worth a lick, I'd still love him. Here's his Apple Cake recipe, which I changed just a tiny bit - I made it last night and it's just delish.  The hubby and our dinner guests loved it too.  Tastes great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Slice of Autumnal Apple Amazingness!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 stick  plus 1 T unsalted butter
• 3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into thin wedges
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup plus 1 T granulated sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup fresh apple cider
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a medium sized glass baking dish with the 1 T of butter.

Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan and cook over medium low heat until golden, (this gives it a nice nutty and rich flavor... as if butter weren't rich enough already!) about 10 minutes, and remove from heat to let it cool slightly, but not solidify.

While the butter is melting, toss the apple slices with lemon juice, 1 T sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Spread the apples in the baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir the remaining sugar into the melted butter, then whisk in the milk, cider, and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and add the mixture to the dry ingredients.  Whisk thoroughly to make a smooth batter.  Pour evenly over the top of the apples (don't worry, it will seep into all the nooks and crannies) and sprinkle the top with some granulated sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown & crispy.

Boeuf Bourguignon - aka Fancy Pants Beef Stew

Bon Appétit!

Anyone who has seen "Julie & Julia" knows the significance ascribed to this dish. It just might be my favorite stew recipe ever.  It sounds fancy (shout out to my friend Kelli, who's adorable kids have dubbed me "fancy cooking pants" - this post title is for you guys!) and takes a long time to cook, but it's actually not that complicated and it tastes simply A-mazing.  The wine makes the meat incredibly tender and flavorful, and all of the butter sautéed veggies and the tomato paste add an incredible richness, while the thyme creates a woodsy heartiness.  So many layers of flavor, so incredibly delicious!

This recipe is not Julia's recipe, but the recipe that my Mom and one of my Aunts have always made.  This particular Aunt has a very discerning French husband, and this dish receives his seal of approval! It would be very French to serve it with a toasted buttered baguette, but I like it over a big scoop of mashed potatoes, a la American.  The final French touch, is a condiment - put a dollop of dijon mustard on the side of your bowl to dip the meat into - really brings out the flavor.

This makes quite a bit of stew - I would say it easily serves 6 people, so  have people over, plan for some delish leftovers, or halve the recipe.  SO without further ado - Boeuf Bourguinon.  Bon Appétit!!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs stew beef, trimmed (if it's in really large chunks, cut it into more bite sized pieces)
• 3/4 lb baby carrots, cut in half on the bias (aka diagonally)
• 1/2 to 2/3 bottle of nice red wine (nothing sweet)
• 2 cans reduced sodium beef broth
• 16 oz white button mushrooms (2 packages) cut into thin slices.
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/3 can tomato paste
• 1 cup of frozen pearl onions
• 1/2 cup frozen baby green peas
• 2 whole bay leafs
• 3 cloves garlic, mince
• Worcestershire sauce
• All purpose flour
• S&P
• Butter
• Olive Oil

Directions:
In a large dutch oven* melt 3 T butter and 3 T EVOO over medium high heat.  Season your stew meat with a bit of S&P, and working in small batches, brown the meat but don't worry about cooking it through.  The reason you do this in small batches is so that the meat doesn't get too crowded and steam which leads to gray meat.  When you give the meat more room to cook, it browns up to a beautiful color.  Remove the batches as they complete, and sprinkle them with some flour. Toss to coat.  The flour helps to thicken the stew later on. Set aside.

In the same pot, add another 2 T of butter, and add the carrots. Season with a bit of S&P. Sauté them for about 2 minutes and then add 3 T of flour to the pot.  Turn the heat down to medium.  Stir constantly and keep scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat bottomed wooden spoon.  If the pot gets too dry, add some more butter. (This IS a French recipe, after all... so there's bound to be butter!!) Some of the flour will coat the bottom of the pot, that's okay, and it's okay to let it get to a nice brown color, but don't let it burn (aka turn really dark brown or black).  If it starts to brown too quickly, turn your heat down and take the pot off the heat for a moment. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for another 3 minutes.

Take the bottle of wine and pour 1/2 to 2/3 of it into the pot.  This deglazes the pot, which means that the liquid releases all of the caramelized flavor goodness from the cooking process back into the dish. Scrape the bottom of the pot very well with your wooden spoon until all of the flour coating is loosened and incorporated into the stew.

Add your stew meat back into the pot.  Next, add the beef broth, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and 3 shakes/dashes of Worcestershire sauce.  Stir well so that the tomato paste incorporates, then cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

As this point, the hard works is done!  While the stew is simmering, sauté your mushrooms.  Tips on the perfect sauteéd mushrooms are here.  I like to do these in butter with S&P and a sprinkle of dried thyme, I also like to cook them down over low heat for quite a bit of time so that they get really nicely browned and delicious.

After the 30 minutes have passed, add the pearl onions and simmer covered for another 30 minutes.

Have a glass of wine (not required, but recommended).

Finally, add the mushrooms and peas, and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes.  Taste to make sure your seasoning is right, adjust if necessary.  Serve and enjoy!!

* I use dutch ovens ALL the time, I couldn't live without them. If you don't have one yet, I highly recommend getting one - click here to view my favorite. The 5/12 quart size is ideal, and cobalt is super pretty.

Inventing a New Thanksgiving Side Dish, Take 1

Close, but no cigar.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and the food that my family makes that day is something I look forward to all year. Seriously, all year (I will be sure to blog about that meal later on).  With the exception of a few people in the bunch, we're generally not much into sweets, so candied yams have never been all that popular, but they do make an appearance (something that green been casserole will NEVER do).

Today I was thinking about how I could take something like candied yams, and make it more to my liking, so I started to brainstorm.  I knew that if I was going to make anything sweet, I would want to have a savory component in the dish to counter that flavor note.  So, what I came up with was oven roasted sweet potatoes, goat cheese, and honeyed pecans with sage and crispy shallots.  They came out very pretty, and the hubby liked them, but I wasn't totally jazzed with the overall result.  Kind of reminded me of someone who's very attractive, but as you get to know them you find out they don't have much substance and aren't actually very enjoyable.

Whenever you make up a new recipe, you take the risk that it won't come out super well.  Don't be deterred!  Having a dish come out to an "ehh...." review isn't a bad thing.  There's nothing like room for improvement.  So, to all you aspiring home cooks, just keep chugging away!  You learn each time you cook - so take note of what you do: what you liked, what you didn't like, and improve it the next time around.

With that said, no recipe just yet. I'll work on this and hopefully have one to share, soon!

Beer Braised Chicken Stew with Baby Bellas & Fire Roasted Tomato

Now that's what I call stew!

I am in the midst of my full blown love affair with fall food, and tonight is the first night of the season that I made a nice slow cooked meal.  Stews are a wonderful way to make a big batch of food that's perfect for leftovers - in fact, oftentimes they taste even better the next day.

The one problem that I have with stews, is that too many people make pasty, ugly, grayish-brown stews.  Cornstarch thickeners, unidentifiable proteins & vegetables bits with gloppy sauce... no likey!  This is so easily avoided by using the right blend of veggies, and carefully cooking all of your ingredients in stages.  This might take a bit longer, but it is so worth it - each ingredient is cooked properly to bring out its best, and then added back in at the end. Below, you'll find a recipe that I made up tonight where the broth is a lovely orangeish-red brew of umami deliciousness, with tender chicken and a great blend of veggies who's flavors really sing.  I served it with toasted english muffins and a simply dressed green salad on the side.

Ingredients

• 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into stew size pieces
• 8 baby bella mushrooms, sliced (each mushroom is slightly larger than a golf ball. If you can't find baby bellas, use your choice of mushroom - white button would be fine)
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 shallot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 parsley stems, leaves removed and set aside. 
• 1 bottle of beer (I used Sam Adams Oktoberfest)
• 1 32 oz box of reduced sodium chicken broth
• Flour
• Paprika
• Dried Thyme
• Ground Nutmeg
• S&P
• EVOO
• Butter

Directions:  

In a large dutch oven, melt 2 T butter, and add enough EVOO to just cover the bottom of the pan.  Take your chicken pieces, and season with S&P and sprinkle with paprika, a bit of ground nutmeg, and 2 T of flour (the flour helps the broth thicken later on). Toss to coat.  Cook the pieces of chicken over medium high heat until golden, but not necessarily cooked through.  Make sure not to crowd the pan so that the meat browns and doesn't steam, so this will take a couple of batches.  Remove chicken, and set aside.

Add the sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook over medium heat until they release their liquid. Season with S&P, a generous sprinkle of dried thyme, and a small sprinkle of ground nutmeg.  Continue to cook until nicely browned and cooked down.  Remove, and set aside. 

If necessary, you can add a bit more EVOO & butter at this stage. Add your diced onion, season with S&P and cook over medium heat until completely translucent, and just starting to brown, approximately 5-7 minutes.  Add your shallots and garlic, and cook until translucent, approximately 3-5 minutes.  Add your sliced carrots.  Sauté over medium heat for another 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.  

Add the beer, chicken broth, and the parsley stems. Scrape the bottom of the pan to release all of the caramelized cooking goodness.  Bring up to a low boil and then add the chicken and mushrooms back into the pot. Cook at a low boil for about 10 minutes so that the alcohol cooks out.  Remove the parsley stems, and add the can of tomato.  Turn temperature to low, cover, and cook for 20-30 minutes.  This is when all the flavors marry, and the beer does its job of tenderizing the chicken.  At this point, you can taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. You can either serve now with a sprinkle of fresh chopped parsley on top, or continue to cook uncovered until it reduces to your liking.

What's your favorite kind of stew?

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Sage

Voila!

Technically speaking, fall has arrived in Washington, DC.... although you'd never know it walking around outside today.  Temperatures hovering around the mid 80's!  I simply love fall - the crispness of the air, halloween, thanksgiving, birthdays, my wedding anniversary, the colors of the changing leaves, and most of all, fall food!

Even though it doesn't feel like fall, the bounty of this lovely season has begun to show up in the market, and I couldn't resist the mounds of butternut squash in the produce section.  Squash is an awesome food - so many different types, and so many things you can do with it - mash it, roast it, stuff it, turn it into soup, add it to cakes and quick breads, etc. etc. etc.  I came up with this butternut squash soup recipe last year, and I hope you give it a try!  It's slightly time consuming because you have to wait for the squash to roast, but the active cook time is pretty quick and overall, it's a cinch.

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks.
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 1 heaping T dried, crumbled sage
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (this provides the spice - but you can omit if you wish)
• 1/4 tsp ground thyme
• Scant 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 32 oz. box Chicken Broth
• 1 cup lowfat milk
• 1 cup water
• 3 T butter, diced, plus 1 T butter.
• S&P
• EVOO

Directions:

Above: Pre Roast.  Below: Post Roast.
See how the color intensifies?  That
means the flavors have, too!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Put your squash chunks into a large glass baking dish.  Drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with S&P.  Toss to coat.  Take your diced butter and dot it over the top of the squash.  Put in oven to roast. I don't have an actual time on this - but it takes at least 30 minutes.  Every once in a while, open up the oven and stir it around to help it brown well and to distribute the melted butter.  It's done when the squash evenly mashes under a spoon, and it has some nice golden brown coloring to it.

While the squash is roasting,  take your diced onion and sauté it in a stock pot or dutch oven in a bit of EVOO and the remaining T of butter.  Season with S& P and cook until it is tender a bit caramelized. Turn off the heat as soon as it's done, and wait for your squash.

When the squash is done, remove it from the oven and add it directly to the pot with the onions.  Add in the entire box of chicken broth, and turn your stovetop on to medium heat.  Using a flat wooden spoon, mix well and scrape up all the caramelized goodness from the bottom of the pot.  Add the milk & water, and all of your spices.  Side note - if you aren't crazy about the taste of curry, still use it in this recipe.  It's a very small amount that adds complexity to the flavor profile and leaves your tastebuds wondering, "hmm... what was it that made this SO good?"

Caramelized onion goodness.

Bring the mixture to a low boil and let it cook for about 5 minutes.  Then, turn off the heat, and using an immersion blender, blend to a nice smooth consistency.  If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a normal blender.  HOWEVER, it is VERY important that you never try to blend a hot liquid!  It will explode all over the place.  Trust me, I speak from experience (I was making pea soup and had scalding green goop all over the ceiling, cupboards, counter, floor, and myself, not fun!!). If you are going to use a traditional blender, let the mixture cool to room temperature before blending, then reheat prior to serving. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

I like to serve with a small dollop of nonfat greek yogurt to add a bit more creaminess, as well as a sprinkle of cayenne for a little more spice.  You could also sprinkle with some fresh chopped chives and chopped toasted cashew. Or a dollop of créme fraiche. Or whatever you feel like.   It's nice to have some nice crusty bread on the side for dipping.  Enjoy!

Super Delicious Canapés

This is an appetizer recipe that my family has been making for at least 40 years, and has become a staple at most family get togethers. Without a doubt, whenever anyone tries it, they love it, and ask what's in it!  I sort of hate to tell them, because it's soooo bad for you, but if you just have a couple pieces, that's not so bad, right?  Also, if you say that you don't like crab, you'll still like this.  As a kid, I hated crab, but still gobbled these down.

Last but not least, these are great when made ahead of time, which certainly helps make entertaining easier.  The wedges keep super well once frozen - just toss them in a ziploc freezer bag until you're ready to cook them.

Crabmeat & Cheese Canapés
Ingredients:
1 can crabmeat, regular size
1 jar Kraft brand Old English Cheese Spread
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp mayonnaise
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch of cayenne (optional, if you like a bit of spice, use it)
6 Thomas' brand English Muffins,  split

Directions:

The canapés - post-freeze, pre-broil.

Combine all the ingredients (except english muffins) and mix till thoroughly combined.  It's super important that your butter is completely softened, or it won't blend into the other ingredients.  Spread over the english muffin halves, and then place on a cookie sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap. Place in freezer and freeze thoroughly.  Once frozen, cut each half like a pizza into 6 wedges.

At this point you can either freeze the wedges in ziploc bag until ready to serve, or you can cook them now.  To cook, place under broiler and let cook until nice and browned on top.  Serve immediately.  And try not to eat the whole batch :)

Easy Pesto Pizza

Easy Pesto Pizza with Spinach Salad

I'm so behind on blogging!  Last week, the hubby and I celebrated both of our birthdays (27 for me, 30 for him), we had family in town, and a BIG 30th bday party on Saturday.... so I'm finally getting back to the blog.

I had a club meeting tonight and I needed a quick fix for dinner, so I came up with this recipe.  It's a super easy one that tastes like you spent more time on it than you really did.  The big time savers are the store-bought pizza dough and the store bought pesto sauce.  By all means, if you have time to do homemade versions of these things, do!  But if you're in a pinch for time, use these shortcuts and  you can whip this up in just a few minutes -  it cooks very quickly too. 

Ingredients:

• Frozen Pizza Dough, thawed
• EVOO
• Store-bought Pesto
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Grape Tomatoes
• Chopped Cooked Chicken Breast
• Torn Basil
• Shredded Parmesan
• Hot Pepper Flakes

Directions:

Spread with Pesto

Preheat oven to 385 degrees.  Take your store bought pizza dough, and roll it out/stretch it out to fit a cookie sheet.  I find making square pizza is a bit easier.  Brush the dough with EVOO, and par-bake until it just starts to puff up, approximately 3-5 minutes, then remove.

Take a spoon and spread the pesto sauce all over the crust.  You won't use as much pesto sauce as you would a red sauce, but make sure you have good coverage because the pesto packs a lot of the flavor!

ready for the oven

Next, top with shredded mozzarella cheese.  I like to use Sargento brand low fat cheese, and I find that one standard size bag is the perfect amount for one pizza.  Then, cover with sliced grape tomatoes (slicing them might seem a little labor intensive, but it really only takes a few minutes - if you want, just halve them... whole ones roll off too easily). Next, add your chopped chicken breast.  I had leftover grilled chicken, so I just used that.  Finally, top with some torn basil leaves, shredded parmesan cheese, and a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes (if you like spice).

Put the pizza in the oven, directly onto the center rack, this let's the crust get all nice & crispy. Cook until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is nice and golden brown.  Let cool on a cookie sheet for a few minutes, then slice & serve.  Enjoy!

My Favorite Cooking Gadgets, Part 1

Gadget #1: My Apron
Okay, so calling an Apron a gadget is probably quite the stretch, but a good Apron is such a great companion to any meal you are cooking.  You save your nice clothes, have a very quick hand wipe station right on you, and they instantly make you feel very "chef-y."

Anthropolgie - cute cute cute.

Growing up, my mom ALWAYS wore an apron while cooking - in fact, my mom in an apron is one of the most indelible images from my childhood. She started with the very basic white chef apron, but with the help of countless Mother's Days, has grown quite a collection of really fun aprons.

You might feel kind of marm-ish thinking about wearing an apron - DON'T!  These days you can find the cutest aprons all over the place - Williams Sonoma & Anthropolgie always have adorable ones.  And ladies,  what husband wouldn't want to come home to his wife, in super hot heels, cooking him dinner in an apron and well... perhaps something more, perhaps not.

Gentleman - nothing says "I'm comfortable with my masculinity" like an apron does.  I just love it when I show up at a friends house for dinner and the dude is rocking an apron.  He gets immediate respect - this guy doesn't dabble in the kitchen, he can cook!

For the parents out there, there are COUNTLESS reasons to get your kids involved in cooking meals (I'll elaborate on that someday) and giving them their very own apron really makes helping mom and/or dad out in the kitchen a bajillion times more fun.  It's like dress up, but better - because you get to cook too.

Gadget #2: Silicone Spatulas
I got my first silicone spatulas about 6 years ago - I still have them, and they are in great shape. I use them pretty much every time I cook, and they clean up perfectly in the dishwasher.  Silicone is a pretty amazing thing, here's Wikipedia's explanation of Silicone:

"Silicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a wide variety of forms and uses. Typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, they are commonly used in cookware...(and other stuff like fake boobies)...Silicones are polymers that include silicon together with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sometimes other chemical elements."

Silicone Spatula: Must-Have Tool!

So enough for the science speak - what's amazing about silicone tools is that they can withstand SUPER hot temperatures (like 675 degrees fahrenheit).  I use my silicone spatulas all the time.  They're perfect for scrambling eggs, sautéing anything, and also work just like a rubber-spatula for your non-heat cooking tasks. 


These days, you can find silicone tools pretty much everywhere that sells cooking supplies. You can also find silicone muffin pans, bread pans, pot holders, and (next on my list) basting brushes.  And because they're a synthetic material, you can get them in all sorts of fun colors.  What's not to love?

Chicken Caprése Wraps with Herb Balsamic Reduction

Yummy yum yum.

Tonight is the last official night of Summer (apparently fall begins at the autumnal solstice at 11:09pm, specific enough for you?), so I figured I better start using up the bunches of basil growing in my herb garden (the stuff grows like a weed!) and I should enjoy tomatoes while they still taste like, well, tomato.

So when you put basil & tomato together, you get a insalata Caprése, meaning a salad in the style of Capri, Italy, where these ingredients are abundant and loved by the locals. Typically they will just add some S&P and EVOO, but I'm going to put a party dress on this Caprése wrap tonight, while taking some labor saving short-cuts at the same time.

Ingredients:

• 1 Grocery Store Rotisserie Chicken 
• 1 Package of wraps of your choice (I had tortillas in the fridge, so that's what I'm using)
• 2 T store bought pesto (I like "Contadina" brand when I don't have time to make it myself, found in the refrigerated section)
• 1 Ball of Fresh Mozzarella, sliced.
• Handful of Fresh Basil
• 1 cup rough chopped Tomatoes (the grape tomatoes at the market looked and smelled great today, and they were local!)
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 Stems Fresh Thyme
• 1 Shallot, minced
• 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1 T Butter
• EVOO
• S&P

Directions
Start by making the reduction.  Over medium heat, sauté the shallot in some butter for about 2 minutes.  Then, add the minced garlic and some S&P.  Continue to cook until the onion is translucent, do not brown it.  Then, add the balsamic vinegar and your fresh thyme stems. Bring the mixture up to a gentle boil, and let it boil until it reduces to a syrupy consistency. You can check this by dipping the back of a teaspoon into the mixture, and then wiping your finger across the center of it - if the liquid holds the line, then it's thick enough and is done. Remove from heat, pull out the thyme stems (many of the leaves will have fallen off, that's fine, just get the twiggy parts out), and set aside. You now have a deliciously sweet and flavorful special sauce.

Tip - do not put your face over the vinegar while it is reducing, or you will get a nasty whiff of eye stinging, nose burning evaporating vinegar.

Above, clockwise: Shallots & Garlic sautéing, the mixture once vinegar is added, and the spoon passing the finger wipe test. 

All ready to wrap up!

While the vinegar is reducing, make your chicken salad.  Take the breasts of your rotisserie chicken, remove the skin, chop into bite size pieces and put in a mixing bowl.  Next, take your tomatoes and rough chop them. I used grape tomatoes so I just halved them.  Then, do a chiffonade of your basil.  (Learn what a chiffonade is by clicking here).  Add these ingredients to the mixing bowl.  Then, add 2 heaping Tablespoons of pesto  to the bowl, along with some S&P and a drizzle of EVOO.  If you want to kick it up a notch, you could add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes at this time.  Mix well, and set aside.

Now it's time to make your wraps!  Heat up the tortillas either in the oven wrapped in foil, or in the microwave wrapped in damp paper towels.  Take your tortilla, spread some of the reduction along the middle of it, then make a line of the sliced fresh mozzarella. Top with some scoops of the chicken salad, and then drizzle with the reduction.  Roll it up, slice it in half, and enjoy!

If you're cutting carbs, this would also be great as a salad on its own - in that case, I would cube up the mozarella and mix some of the reduction right into the salad.

Technical Term: Chiffonade

Chiffonade, is a fancy word that is no more than a very basic technique utilized to take a leafy food (such as basil) and cut it into nice thin ribbons.  Here's how you do it:

1.  Take your leaves, de-stem, rinse & dry them.

2. Stack the leaves into a nice neat pile (PS - excuse my need for a manicure!!)

3. Roll the leaves into a long thin roll. 

4. Hold Tightly and the slice across the roll, creating nice ribbons of basil.  then just toss to fluff them up, and add to your recipe!