TITLE: Foraging and making wild garlic pesto
DATE: 2018-05-05
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
====================================================================
It was the Dirty Weekenders' annual charity ceilidh last Thursday,
and there was a raffle to raise money for the Scottish Wildlife
Trust, so I decided to make some pesto as a raffle prize. I got all
the leafy ingredients from Roslin Glen, which is a Dirty Weekenders
project location, and one of my favourite places in the world.
I collected Allium ursinum (Ramsons), Allium paradoxum
(Few-flowered Leek), and Allaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard), all of
which are really easy to identify and in full growth at the moment
(late April). I used the following recipe:
# Ingredients
* 100 g garlicky leaves
* 50g Parmesan grated
* 50g pine nuts, toasted
* Olive oil
* Lemon juice, to taste
* Salt & pepper
# Method
1. Blitz all of the leaves in a food processor until
homogenized, but not pasty
2. Add the parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice, blitz again
3. Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan until fragrant, then add
to mixture
4. Blitz again, but keep some chunky pine nuts
5. Season
Few flowered leek:
![Few
flowered-leek](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/leek_1.jpg)
![Few flowered-leek
2](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/leek_2.jpg)
Garlic mustard:
![Garlic
mustard](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/mustard_1.jpg)
![Garlic mustard growing
tip](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/mustard_2.jpg)
![Garlic mustard
plant](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/mustard_3.jpg)
Ramsons:
![Ramsons
leaves](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/ramsons_1.jpg)
![Ramsons
plant](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/ramsons_2.jpg)
The finished pesto:
![Pesto](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/pesto.jpg)
Bonus flower, a Grape Hyacinth (Muscari sp.):
![Grape hyacinth
flower](
https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/flower.jpg)