Monday 16 May 2011

wild garlic pesto

i have been making lots of wild garlic pesto this year as the woods around our house are full of it, it is coming to an end now but if you can find it in a shady spot here is the recipe, an ammended version of a sarah raven one from the garden cookbook.

2 very big handfuls of wild garlic washed and blanched
50g of pinenuts or walnuts (i use walnuts as pinenuts seem ridiculously expensive at the moment!)
lots of olive oil (to get it to the consistancy you like)
1 small clove garlic minced
50g (ish) parmesan or pecorino grated
salt and pepper

squeeze the water out of the blanched wild garlic leaves in a seive,
put the walnuts in the food processor and pulse to break them up.
add the wild garlic, parmesan, minced fresh garlic and a couple of big glugs olive oil.
turn the motor on and pour olive oil in through the funel of the processor till you have the consistancy you like.
check for seasoning.

i have used it on pasta, under the skin of a roast chicken, on top of a chargrilled chicken breast, and dribbled over roasted peppers. it is really good.

ps do you like my spoon - a great charity shop find.........


4 comments:

  1. Yum! I've been making wild garlic pesto too...but a little differently - I don't blanch the wild garlic, and I use sunflower seeds (yes even cheaper!) + a little lemon juice. Stir in the cheese at the end - I use grana padano, again, a little easier on the pocket!

    Either way, it's delicious, isn't it! Wild garlic is hard to find down here in the far west of Cornwall, but we also have three-cornered leek in abundance, which slightly makes up for it!

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  2. I've posted a couple of articles about wild garlic too ... love the stuff! Love wild garlic butter and even just torn up leaves in a salad.

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  3. pebbledash - you need to come to glos we are over run with wild garlic - i am intrigued by the leeks though!, and vintage jane i am definitely going to try the wild garlic butter.

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  4. You have just reminded me I need to make pesto too. My basil plant is bending heavy with leaves.

    But I have never even heard of wild garlic before. It doesn't seem like anything I am going to find in sub-tropical Queensland!

    Enjoy:)

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