I clearly remember the first time i came across wild garlic. It was gifted to me by a friend of a friend. I was amazed, it was so tasty (I love garlic anyway). I have always kept an eye open hoping to one day find some for myself as i have never seen it for sale. I am not by any means into foraging, mostly a bit caution about poisoning myself. Finally, just by chance as i was taking a walk on one of the warm spring days during Covid lockdown, i found a patch only a few meters from where i live. You see it doesn’t seem to grow in the open, but instead loves a more “covered over” area. So i was totally off track by thinking that i would stroll past it in an open field.
I had some in a salad, which was awesome, but also branched out a bit to make a gorgeous pesto. Here is how i did it….
Ingredients:
- 80 g (80 g) wild garlic
- 40 g (0.3 cups) toasted pine nuts
- 40 g (0.4 cups) grated parmesan
- 40 g (0.2 cups) olive oil
- 1 tsp (1 tsp) sea salt
- olive oil (to conserve)
Method
- Put all ingredients into a food processor.
- Roast the pine nuts over medium heat until golden.
- Wash the wild garlic and rinse all water. It works best in a salad spinner.
- Place the roasted pine nuts, washed wild garlic, and grated parmesan in a food processor and pulse until everything is chopped.
- Add the olive oil and sea salt and pulse again until you have a creamy pesto.
- Wash a glass jar with very hot water and place the pesto in it. Top the pesto with olive oil until it is covered entirely with oil.
Notes
You can store your pesto for at least two weeks in your fridge. But always make sure that it’s entirely covered with olive oil. Otherwise, the part which isn’t covered could start to mold. Pulse a few times to loosely combine, then with a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl. Blend and pulse for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture begins to clump and sticks to the sides of the bowl, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.
Portion the mixture into your hands, around 1 tbsp at a time, then roll the mixture into balls.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
