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Wild garlic pesto

Jar of wild garlic pesto

Wild garlic pesto

Name: Wild garlic pesto
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 17 min
Yield: Makes 275g jar
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 150g wild garlic leaves or young nettles, or a mixture (foraged – see tip); 50g parmesan or vegetarian alternative, finely grated; 1 garlic clove finely chopped; ½ lemon zested and a few squeezes of juice; 50g pine nuts toasted; 150ml rapeseed oil

Barney Desmazery

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Makes 275g jar

Easy

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 2 mins

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.62 ratingsRate

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Transform your foraging finds into a tangy sauce by combining wild garlic leaves with parmesan, garlic, lemon and pine nuts. Or, use fresh young nettles

Egg-free

Gluten-free

Vegetarian

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Try this homemade wild garlic pesto, then check out more wild garlic recipes.

Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

150g wild garlic leaves

or young nettles, or a mixture (foraged – see tip)
50g parmesan

or vegetarian alternative, finely grated
1 garlic clove

finely chopped
½ lemon

zested and a few squeezes of juice
50g pine nuts

toasted
150ml rapeseed oil

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Nutrition: per tbsp

kcal65
fat7g
saturates1g
carbs0g
sugars0g

low
fibre0g
protein1g
salt0g

low

Method

step 1

Rinse and roughly chop the wild garlic leaves.
step 2

Blitz the wild garlic leaves, parmesan, garlic, lemon zest and pine nuts to a rough paste in a food processor. Season, and with the motor running slowly, add almost all the oil. Taste, season and add a few squeezes of lemon juice.
step 3

Transfer the pesto to a clean jar and top with the remaining oil. Will keep in the fridge for two weeks.

RECIPE TIPS

USE NETTLES

If you're making this pesto with nettles, bring a large pan of water to the boil, then drop in the nettles and cook for 2 mins. Drain and run under cold water, then squeeze out as much water as possible before roughly chopping them, and adding to the food processor as above.

BARNEY’S FORAGING RULES

Take a pocket guidebook, and check it before picking anything. Make sure that it's legal to forage in a public area or that you have the landowner’s permission. Use all your senses to identify the plants you're looking for; it may look similar to wild garlic but if it doesn’t smell of garlic – don’t eat it! Never pick leaves next to busy roads or lanes, or low down, where dogs are regularly walked. If foraging for stinging nettles, wear gloves when picking and make sure to cook properly.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, April 2015

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A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.62 ratings

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