4 servings
In the forests around us you know that spring is finally here, as soon as the wild garlic shows it’s beautiful, big, green leaves. The soft garlic smell of this herb just makes your mouth water, while going for a walk this time of the year.
Bene and I made very good use of the nice weather a few days ago and picked some wild garlic. Over the years we have discovered a few spots where we always find some. The spot we visited this year is a medieval castle ruin. We have been there before with a group of friends who are historical reenactors.
The forest was a sea of wild garlic. We really just wanted to dig in.
From all the possibilities of what we could have made from the leaves, we chose pesto. Why? Because it’s made super fast and goes well with so many dishes.
Ingredients
- 160g wild garlic
- 30g oil
- 50g water
- 70g sunflower seeds
- 10g rice syrup (alternative agave syrup)
- salt
- pepper
Tips
Always make sure it is wild garlic that you are picking. It always grows in huge groups of plants and smells of garlic as soon as you crush a leave in your fingers.
Only pluck a few leaves per plant, so it can regrow. Ripping a whole plant out is not the right thing to do.
Preparation
- wash you wild garlic
- grind the leaves in a food processor until it becomes a homogenous mass. You might to support your food processor a little, so it may grind all the leaves. Somehow they don’t glide well over another.
- Add oil and water, so grinding gets easier. It is said, that oil also delutes the vitamins from salat and herbs so the body absorb them better.
- nly in the end pour you sunflower seeds in. If you’re too hasty you pesto might get the consistency of cement. Not every food processor is sturdy enough to get it done.
- The final touch is to add salt, pepper and the syrup until it matches your taste.
We prepared whole wheet pasta to the wild garlic pesto. Though it also goes well with mild meat or just on a slice of bread. Maybe try it for barbeque with friends and family. If you add a pinch of lemon juice the pesto will keep its pure green color. Store in your fridge in any case. Tastes well the second day, too – that is, if any of it survives this long.
Have fun picking and processing!
Mirja and Bene