Wild Garlic Pesto

Pesto is a favourite of mine, I first got the taste for it a few years ago when I was dining with friends in a well known restaurant in Dublin. At first glance I was quite surprised at the texture and also the dark green colour but after one mouthful, I was hooked. Every since I have been making pesto and using it as not only a sauce but also as a dip, as well as a garnish for many foods.

Originating from Italy pesto is an Italian sauce traditionally made using basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. It is often made using a pestle and mortar but it can also be made using a food processor. Pesto is often used in salads, soups, pasta and is quite commonly used on bruschetta. Authentic pesto is made using basil leaves although there is now a wide range of different pesto's available including wild garlic, rocket and kale.

It's the season for garlic and fortunate enough to live beside woodlands and with the unexpected glorious sunshine, I took a wander into the woods to get my hands on some garlic. The outcome of my stroll resulted in delicious wild garlic pesto.


How to Identify Wild Garlic

The most obvious way of identifying wild garlic is by smelling it, as it has very strong garlic scent. Rub the leaves between your fingers and if it gives off a garlic scent then you can be sure it's wild garlic. Garlic starts as a small bulb and grows into large green leaves accompanied by white flowers. The bulb, leaves and flowers are all edible.

Ingredients

100g wild garlic leaves (washed and dried)
50g  pine nuts
1 clove of garlic (peeled and crushed)
80g Parmesan cheese
250-300ml extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
Method

1. Blitz the wild garlic, pine nuts, garlic clove, Parmesan and olive oil in a food processor or crush in a pestle and mortar.
2. Add a little more oil if you prefer thinner consistency.
3. Taste the mixture and season with salt and pepper.
4. Place the pesto into a jar and add a little olive oil to create a seal.
5. Store the pesto in the fridge in a sterilised jar. (Will keep for up to 7 days)
6. Pesto can be easily frozen conveniently using small jars.

Traditional Basil Pesto

As basil is the traditional ingredient used in making pesto, I could not write about pesto without explaining how to make basil pesto. To make basil pesto, follow the above steps substituting the wild garlic with basil.  Basil pesto will keep for up to seven days in the fridge and is also quite easy to freeze.

Best Wishes,

Sarah xx