Wild Pesto
As a gardener & a knitter the transition between hobby seasons can be slightly jarring but always exciting. One of the best parts of having my own yard & garden has been experimenting with all the things you can eat. I grew saffron this year! Yes, saffron in Upstate NY. I love food & am a pretty adventurous eater so when someone mentioned that you could eat the noxious weed Mustard Garlic I was all about it! For those of you new to Garlic Mustard, in this case noxious means it’s a weed you always want to pull & not compost them bc the roots have a compound that will inhibit growth of fungi & other roots you want for a healthy ecosystem. The Nature Conservancy has a great, quick article if you want to check out the more full explanation.
One of my favorite early Spring “yard treats” is Wild Pesto. I use a mix of garlic mustard & wild garlic for mine, here is where I tell you DO NOT EAT ANYTHING you are unsure of what it is. There are so many apps & books for IDing wild plants, these two as far as I know don’t have any real lookalikes but the main way to ID them is they both smell very strongly of garlic/onions. Wild garlic is thin hollow stems like chives & Garlic Mustard (pictured below) has heart shaped leaves a slight purpleish tinge to the stems & undersides of leaves. I think they taste best before they flower & when the leaves are still quite small.
If you are new to foraging a there are couple “best practice” tips, besides & I mention this again, DO NOT EAT IF YOU ARE NOT SURE. I always collect wild edibles in a basket or colander & then leave it unwashed in the sink for half an hour or so, this will allow any passengers on your plants to escape before being washed down the drain. Probably, it’s a good idea to only eat from your own yard as parks, neighbors & municipalities may be spraying things you would not want to ingest onto these beauties.
I think that’s it, a quick recipe(ish) below. These measurements are rough, taste as you go! This is like a fresh, garlic-y, grassy taste of Spring to me. I like mine especially on a pizza w ricotta & goat cheese. I’d love to hear if you make it what you eat yours with!
Wild Pesto
Several loosely packed cups of a mix of garlic mustard leaves & wild garlic (~6 fit nicely but snugly in my food processor)
1/4c pine nuts (any raw nuts you have on hand will work)
~1/4c Olive oil (you will adjust this as you go to get the texture you prefer)
juice of 1 lemon
a hunk of salty hard cheese (asiago is nice)
1-3 cloves of garlic chopped (this is a huge range but so are garlic clove sizes! I LOVE garlic & you will not want more than 3 I think)
1/2tsp salt
After rinsing the greens & letting them dry, blitz a few times in the food processor. Add the pine nuts, garlic & cheese, blitz a few more times then add the salt & lemon juice. While the machine is running add a slow stream of olive oil until is reaches the consistency you like. This made ~6oz of pesto for me.