Basil

Teresa Giudice believes you don't have to give up hearty Italian fare to stay in shape. She labels some recipes in Fabulicious! Teresa's Family Cookbook as "S" for "skinny" and "Q" for "quick. " Some are both - and a few, like the Holy Cannoli Cupcakes below - are neither, but well worth the effort and calories. POOKIE'S PESCE PRIMAVERA (Q&S) 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced (about 2-1/2 cups) 3 cups broccoli florets or 1-1/2 cups each broccoli and cauliflower florets 2 large carrots, cut into matchsticks 1 celery rib, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 4 tilapia fillets 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/4 cup (1 ounce)

When pesto - that pungent combination of basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and olive oil - was introduced, fresh basil was about as common as a rare steak. Cooks in the know had herb gardens where they grew enough basil to supply half the world's Italian restaurants, and everyone else was envious. Now basil is available year-round in most supermarkets. (It must even have replaced the African violet as the most popular house plant by now.) So to put a fresh slant on what's become a summer perennial, substitute cilantro for basil in the usual pesto recipe.

Dear Polly: How do you store fresh basil leaves for future use - that is, for pesto dishes or whatever - after they have been picked from the plant. - Irene The best way to store fresh basil is to freeze it. You can do this by simply rinsing and blotting dry the freshly harvested leaves, then packing them snugly in plastic freezer bags or freezer containers. Pack in each container only what you will use at one time since the leaves will freeze into a mass that must be defrosted all at once.

Like fresh tomato sauce, pesto is ideally made in summer, when basil thrives on warmth and abundant sunshine. The dark-green basil sauce is pungent enough to enliven a banquet table of dishes, whether it's drizzled over a salad of sliced ripe tomatoes, tossed with hot pasta, spread over pizza, brushed onto grilled chicken, or slathered onto roasted potatoes, bread or bread sticks. A bit of pesto can turn even a simple soup into a magnificent dish like the minestrone served in Italy's seaport city of Genoa.

If the fresh basil in your garden survived the weekend's frost, take nature's warning and bring it into the house, where you can prepare for a refreshing taste of summer throughout the winter. But do it quickly, for basil is a very delicate herb, and one of the first to fall victim to the cold weather. It is a member of the mint family and goes well with a wide range of foods such as pork, lamb, veal, fowl, seafood, soups, eggs and squash. One of its classic uses is pesto, the Genoan sauce creation made with pine nuts and olive oil. To keep basil without drying it - which will let it retain its fragrant essence and render it less pungent - chop the leaves finely, mix with a little water and freeze in ice-cube trays to use when needed.

The seniors on the St. Basil girls' basketball team had set a couple of goals for this season. They wanted to go unbeaten at home in Athletic Association of Catholic Academies play and win the regular-season championship, something the school hadn't done since 1985. The Panthers accomplished their goals last night thanks to a 59-49 win on Senior Night. With the win over Villa Maria (10-2 league), the Panthers (19-3) finished league play at 11-1. Their only loss came against Nazareth Academy on the road.

The icing on the cake, Villa Maria coach Kathy McCartney was quoted as saying, would be to beat St. Basil yesterday in the quarterfinal round of the PIAA Class AAA girls' basketball state playoffs. "I walked into school on Friday and our principal [Sister Carla Hernandez] handed me the newspaper and showed me that quote," St. Basil senior guard Britney Izzi said. "She said, 'You've got to win.' " Following two straight losses to Villa Maria, in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies playoff championship and the semifinals of the District 1 tournament, St. Basil gained redemption and refused to be "icing on the cake.

Nobody on St. Basil's team hung her head or let her tears drop on the court last night. The Panthers were proud of their run of success, which ended in a 38-35 second-round loss in the PIAA Class AAA state girls' basketball playoffs to North Pocono at Parkland High. North Pocono will play in Saturday's quarterfinal game against the winner of last night's meeting between Villa Maria and Bishop Hoban. St. Basil (19-9) won its first District 1 title this season, stunning some top seeds.

Fort Myers, Fla., was a long way to go to play a school that's just a few miles down the road, but the girls' teams from St. Basil and Archbishop Ryan said the travel hassle they had to go through to get there was well worth it. The Ragdolls and Panthers were scheduled to play in the Fort Myers Tournament. But when a snowstorm hit this area after Christmas, it didn't look like either team was going anywhere. "Our flight [to Florida] was canceled," said St. Basil coach Terry Mancini.

After dominating the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies for nearly 20 years - from the mid-1960s through the mid-'80s - St. Basil Academy went nearly that long without another title in girls' basketball. The Panthers ended that drought Tuesday night with a 44-33 victory over Mount St. Joseph in the league title game at Philadelphia University. The Panthers were honored yesterday morning with a special assembly at school, where the league championship trophy was displayed to the student body of 334 girls.

1/2 pound farfalle or other bite-size pasta 1 teaspoon salt, divided 1/2 pound tomatoes, cored, halved, and seeded 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips 1 tablespoon chopped garlic 1/2 cup chopped red onion 1/4 pound sharp provolone, cut into ¼-inch cubes 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 ounces olive oil 1/2 cup basil leaves, loosely packed 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)...

The chant began as soon as Villa Joseph Marie coach Chris Clark emptied his bench to wrap up the last minute of a double-digit victory. "We are Villa!" the Jems' cheerleaders and fan section shouted in unison from the Harriton High School bleachers. Villa Joseph Marie's 41-23 win over St. Basil on Tuesday night in a District 1 Class AAA semifinal earned the team a chance to prove it is the best Villa team of this girls' basketball season. In the semifinal that followed, rival Villa Maria topped Nazareth Academy, 61-47, setting up a rematch of last year's district final.

The first time it happened, St. Basil's Erin Fenningham had just stepped onto the basketball court for her first varsity practice as a freshman in 2008. She was involved in a one-on-one drill when she went to take off after the ball was rolled to her. She immediately felt something strange in her right knee. She had torn her anterior cruciate ligament. She got back in time to play her sophomore season, averaging seven points coming off the bench as the Bulldogs won the District 1 Class AAA championship.

The Ridley girls' basketball team has not won a Central League championship since 1994, but the Green Raiders are certainly putting in a bid for one this season. Thanks to a couple of key victories last week, Ridley (10-4 overall, 7-2 league) is now tied for the league lead. Ridley stunned defending league champion Lower Merion, 38-21, on Friday night. Tuesday night, Ridley ended Radnor's nine-game winning streak with a 50-36 triumph. Ridley, Radnor, and Lower Merion each have two league losses.

Basil D'Oliveira, 80, the South African-born British cricketer who became a key figure in the sport's battle against apartheid, died Saturday after a long illness. His death in England was announced by Cricket South Africa. Mr. D'Oliveira played 44 tests and four one-day internationals for Britain, his adopted nation. He was prevented from playing top-level cricket in South Africa in the 1950s because he wasn't white. He was the central figure in cricket's decision to finally turn its back on South Africa during its apartheid era. In one of the game's great controversies, Mr. D'Oliveira was on the England team that was to tour South Africa in 1968.

Basil is officially inescapable. It's exploding in my garden. Neighbors are leaving their surplus on my stoop. Huge bouquets, from local farms, are front and center when I shop at Whole Foods. And when life hands me basil? I make pesto. The garlicky, herby sauce pretty much pairs with everything (watch your back, ketchup), which is why I like to plow through my bounty by blending up a batch of pesto, and then getting creative in the kitchen. Here, with my Garden Fresh Pesto recipe, you can effortlessly pull together a complete and elegant meal, add zip to a healthy weeknight dinner, and spruce up a side so it becomes the star.

Get piggy with it Serious kitchen geeks should run to Rittenhouse's Saturday Farmer's Market to snap up slabs of chef Matthew Ridgway's PorcSalt charcuterie, which he now sells to the public. The meats - red-wine-cured bacon, duck prosciutto, guanciale - are crafted, aged, and smoked in his Bucks County workroom and are adored by East Coast chefs. Take that, Daniel Boulud. PorcSalt red-wine-cured-bacon, $14.50/pound, and duck prosciutto, $30/pound, available every other Saturday (next up: July 30th)

First look at 'Footloose' remake From David Hiltbrand's "Dave on Demand" http://www.philly.com/dod Blame it on the dancing. That's the familiar premise of Footloose , the remake of the classic 1984 film about a town that bans its kids from shaking a tail feather. But don't you see, Gramps, that's only going to make them want to dance with greater abandon? The trailer for the film, which opens in October, has just been released. Looks like a hot time in the old town.

There is only so much pea and potato salad or buttery peas and mint or pea risotto a girl can eat each spring. Having planted, harvested, and shelled pounds of peas, and eaten some at every meal this week, I am looking forward to serving cold pea soup - sometime much later this summer - fresh from the freezer. While many devoted cooks wait until late August to put up tomatoes and peaches, they miss out on preserving many of the tastiest and most fleeting treasures of spring and early summer from local fields, forests, and gardens.

Nazareth Academy moved a step closer to defending its Athletic Association of Catholic Academies softball championship with a convincing 11-1 semifinal win over visiting Gwynedd-Mercy on Monday. The unbeaten Pandas (15-0), four-time league champions, got a five-hitter from freshman pitcher Taylor Lichtenhahn and three stolen bases from Melanie Kalesse. St. Basil also earned a berth in the final thanks to a 9-5 semifinal win over visiting Villa Maria as Sam Gibson went 3 for 3 at the plate.