Wednesday 25 March 2009

Wild garlic pesto with homemade pasta

The weekend just gone was a first for us in two senses. Firstly, I made wild garlic pesto for the first time; secondly we used the pasta making machine for the first time.

I collected the wild garlic leaves from Washingwell Woods and made the pesto as follows:

2 handfuls of wild garlic leaves
125g of walnuts
a good slosh of extra vigin olive oil (enough to ensure all the incregients are covered in oil - it acts as a preservative)
ground black pepper and sea salt to taste.

Put all the contents into the food processor and blend but not for too long. You don't want a liquified paste.

To use, simply mix a good dollop of it into hot pasta and serve. We were very pleased with the results.

Keep the pesto in a jar in a fridge and generally aim to use up within 6-8 weeks. You can keep making it until the end of the garlic growing season in June but I am looking for ways to preserve it in oil so that I can use freshly picked autumn hazel nuts instead of walnuts.

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