I was fortunate enough to be invited to a private dinner at marijuana icon Steve DeAngelo’s house to celebrate his successful book launch. It was an amazing experience on many levels. The dinner was prepared by Jeff the 420 Chef, and it was mind blowing. The entire multi-course dinner was infused with cannabis, even the beverages.

Jeff is truly a talented guy, and it’s no coincidence that he has been featured in so many media outlets. He is the best cannabis chef on the planet right now, and sent over a couple of recipes to post for Weed News readers. The first is a cannabis infused sesame oil, which when prepared, can be used to make a number of things. It’s a very versatile recipe, and is a healthier alternative to cannabis infused butter. If you like the recipe below (which you absolutely should), then you should pick up Jeff’s new cookbook. It’s PACKED with cannabis foodie goodness:

Number of servings: 8 1-tablespoon servings

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 4 hours + blanching and decarbing

Idle Time: 24-48 Hours plus overnight

Approximate THC per Serving*

10%: 30.5 milligrams

15%: 45.7 milligrams

20%: 61 milligrams

What You’ll Need

Distilled water

Tea strainer

Medium/large-sized pot

Bowl filled with ice water

French press coffeemaker

Heat-resistant glass dish or baking tin

Aluminum foil

Glass jar

Ingredients

¼ ounce (7 grams) cannabis

3 ounces light or extra-light olive oil

2 ounces Sesame Oil

Steps

Step 1—Soak and Blanch Herb

Coarsely grind dry herb (also known as flower or bud) and soak in distilled water for 24-48 hours. Change the water every 12 hours. This cleans out a lot of the impurities that cause bad taste.

The next day, place “cleaned” herb in a tea strainer. Bring water to a boil in pot. Place tea strainer in boiling water for 5 minutes.

Immediately remove tea strainer after 5 minutes then place in bowl of ice water for 1 minute. Remove from ice water and pour distilled water over the tea strainer to rinse out any residual impurities. Remove herb from strainer and wring out excess water.

Step 2—Dry and Decarb

Spread cannabis evenly in a large baking pan and lay a large piece of aluminum foil loosely on top of it (i.e., don’t crimp it down tightly around the edges). Let it sit overnight.

Your cannabis should be dry by the next morning. You can skip this step if you use a dehydrator.

When dry, preheat oven to 300ºF. Now, crimp down the foil and “bake” for 20 minutes. (This is how to decarb your cannabis.)

Remove from oven. Let sit for 5 minutes so THC or CBD vapors can settle back onto the herb. Remove foil and loosely cover with a couple of paper towels. This creates a dark environment with airflow.

Let pan sit, covered with paper towels, on the counter for 1-2 hours to dry out any residual moisture.

Note: Your final yield will weigh +/-20 to +/-50% less than your starting weight, depending on how moist or dry your cannabis was when you started the process.

Step 3—Infuse Oils

Pour both oils into a French press placed standing up in pot of simmering water. Mix decarbed cannabis to oil and cover the French press. Press plunger to just above the oil. This will be your water line.

Gently simmer (slow boil) for 4 hours. Check the water level every 20 minutes to ensure it is even with or slightly higher than the water line.

After 4 hours, remove the French press from the pot, push the plunger all the way down, and strain the oil into a clean jar. Your final yield should be about 4 ounces.

Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. To re-liquefy oil that has solidified, place oil container in a pot of hot water for 15 to 20 minutes.

*Approximate dose per serving is based on infusing 5 grams of cured/dried/decarbed cannabis into 5 ounces of oil.

image via Wikipedia