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Wild garlic pesto

Wild Garlic lends itself perfectly to a pesto and pignuts make an excellent wild replacement for the familiar pine nuts.

Method

The simplest method is to put everything except the oil in a food processor, blitz for a few seconds, then continue to whiz while slowly adding the olive oil through the funnel. I prefer to leave things a little coarser and take the traditional path of finely chopping the Wild Garlic leaves, then grinding them with the Pignuts and Parmesan, using a large pestle and mortar, and adding the olive oil towards the end.

Whichever you decide upon, transfer to a jar, pour sufficient olive oil on top to keep the pesto covered, close the lid and store it in the fridge. Under its layer of oil, the pesto will keep for several weeks.

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Ingredients

Makes one small jar

  • 50g Wild Garlic leaves, washed
  • 30g Pignuts, sliced and briefly toasted in a little oil in a frying pan
  • 30g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
  • 80ml olive oil, plus extra to cover
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

This recipe is taken from...

River Cottage Hedgerow Handbook