I am sharing this now because it is one of those make-ahead gifts.  If you make it now, it will be perfect to use by the holidays.  This makes a great hostess gift, but this one is for my mother.  Don’t worry, this post isn’t a spoiler ~ she requested it!  She loves it on pizza and pasta.  It’s also pretty good for dipping fresh Italian bread.

All you need is a pretty bottle, a few sprigs of fresh thyme, black peppercorns (about a Tablespoon), a few dried chillies (more if your recipient like it really hot!), a couple cloves of fresh garlic (I smash then chop coarsely) and a few bay leaves (fresh or dried).

Drop all of the above in the pretty bottle, follow with two cups of good Olive Oil, add a cork and a swath of raffia or a pretty ribbon and viloa!  You have an inexpensive, heart-felt, not to mention tasty holiday gift.

I am thinking the next one will be fresh basil, fresh oregano, peppercorns, chillies & garlic.  Yum!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.