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(28 votes, average: 2.75 out of 5)
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Wild Garlic Pesto
A foraging classic, for good reason: it’s simple, quick and delicious. You can serve it tossed through hot pasta, but more often than not we just eat it with some good bread and a leafy wild salad.
If you don’t have any sorrel, proceed without it and add some lemon juice to taste at the end.
Any leftovers can be stored in a jar in the fridge for up to 5 days: it will keep better if you pour a layer of olive oil on top to stop the air oxidising it.
Serves : 8
Prep : 5 minutes
Cook :
- 2 good handfuls (about 200g) of wild garlic
- Small handful (about 80g) of wood sorrel or common sorrel
- Handful (about 100g) of hazelnuts or pine nuts, or use a mixture of nuts as you prefer
- Good handful of (about 100g) grated parmesan
- Extra virgin olive oil, as needed (to give your preferred consistency)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Put the wild garlic, sorrel, hazelnuts and parmesan into a food processor or blender.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and blitz to a rough purée. With the motor running, pour in as much oil as is needed to give the consistency you prefer.
- Taste for seasoning, and serve.
Credits
Recipe by Wild Food UK; development and photos by Otherwise
COMMENTS
we roast our nuts before blitzing them
Oh my Gosh! this pesto was totally delicious!
….and thank you for a lovely afternoon of foraging on Friday 26.4.19 in Doveridge. So great that you have emailed all the information, I have now had chance to go over it all again to remember better. hope to see you again soon.
I use marmite instead of parmesan!
Quick question please; If a few nettle leaves or hogweed shoots were added, would it be necessary to first blanche them to nullify irritation from the hairs – or would olive oil and blitzing with the other ingredients achieve the same?
I have made pesto using nettles and the stings were destroyed by blitzing, I haven’t tried with raw hogweed. The best thing to do would be to blanch any hogweed or nettles for a few seconds in boiling water then add to the blender.