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Wild Garlic Pesto
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5 from 3 votes

Wild Garlic Pesto

Wild Garlic Pesto triggers the memories of past spring times and will soon become an annual tradition in your family. One portion of this wild garlic pesto will cover at least 500g (1lb 2oz) of pasta.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Condiment, Pasta
Cuisine: International, Vegetarian
Keyword: Spring
Servings: 4
Author: Belgian Foodie

Ingredients

  • 100 g wild garlic leaves chopped (see notes)
  • 40 g pine nuts or walnuts grounded
  • 50 g Parmesan cheese finely grated (See notes)
  • 40 ml olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper

Instructions

By Food Processor and By Hand

  • Remove any stray or wilted leaves. Remove the outside layer around the white ends of the wild garlic leaves. You remove these layers in the same way as you would for green onions or leeks. Wash the wild garlic leaves and strain to remove excess water.
  • Grate the Parmesan cheese. For this I prefer using the fine mesh on the strainer so the cheese blends better with the other ingredients. See note below re: Parmesan cheese.
  • If you want a more nutty flavor in your pesto, toast the pine nuts in a pan over a medium heat on the stove or in the oven. Be careful to move the pine nuts around regularly to avoid them burning. This should only take a few minutes. If you don't want to enhance the taste of the nuts, you can skip this step. Grind the pine nuts (or walnuts) using a coffee grinder or using a rolling pin over a sealed plastic bag containing the nuts.

By Food Processor

  • Put the first three ingredients into the bowl of the food processor. Turn the food processor on about 10-20 seconds or until these ingredients start to blend.
  • Add the olive into the bowl as you continue to process the ingredients. The olive oil should be added gradually.
  • Continue to process until you have the consistency that you like. Add salt and pepper to taste . Now it's ready to use.

By Hand

  • You can use a pestle and mortar or a chopping board to prepare the ingredients. Start with a little salt and some of the wild garlic leaves. Start pounding down or chopping finely. Add some olive oil along with more wild garlic leaves. Continue in this fashion until the consistency is pretty much as you like.
  • Add the grounded nuts and grated Parmesan cheese and continue mixing together until you have the consistency that you want.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste . Now it's ready to use.

Notes

1. If you find the garlic taste too strong for you, feel free to blend in some other greens into your pesto to dilute the flavor.  Arugula, Spinach leaves, escarole lettuce, to name a few other greens, might each be a good choice for reducing the garlic flavor of this pesto.  If you use other greens, still add the same total quantity of greens to make this pesto.
2. You may not need all the Parmesan cheese indicated in the recipe.  The amount indicated is an average.  You might want less or more.  I'd recommend starting with about 20% less than what's indicated and then add more finely grated Parmesan cheese until you get the taste you want.  You can also make the pesto with less cheese and then put additional grated Parmesan cheese in a bowl on the table when you serve.  Each person can thus have the amount of cheese they want.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Wild Garlic Pesto
Amount Per Serving
Calories 205 Calories from Fat 171
% Daily Value*
Fat 19g29%
Saturated Fat 5g31%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 8g
Cholesterol 9mg3%
Sodium 249mg11%
Potassium 13mg0%
Carbohydrates 4g1%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 0.5g1%
Protein 6g12%
Vitamin A 0IU0%
Vitamin C 0mg0%
Calcium 0mg0%
Iron 0mg0%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.