Found and Foraged Pesto

Here atop our little hill on top of Fobes Hill the ground that was once a dark mass of soil peppered with leaf litter. That dark earth is now contrasted by the deep green of new plant life. Many of these plants are commonly referred to as weeds; however, many of them are fabulously nutritious wild foods.

Currently available for food are: Nettle, Purple Dead Nettle, Chickweed, DayLily Shoots (Hemerocallis fulva, the orange and yellow) Dandelion Greens and Roots, Lambs Quarters, and Woolly Lambs Ear.

As much as we love foraging, we love Pesto. Well, we love any of the green sauces, Pistous, Salsa Verdes, Sauces of Green, or however you wish to think of them; the green things that are pummeled into submission with various flavor and texture elements.

Pesto seems to be one of the green sauces that everyone understands: A little Basil, a little Olive Oil, a few Pine Nuts, a little Parmesan. What everyone doesn’t know is that Pesto is just Peasant Food. It’s meant as a sauce to make seasonally using what you got!

And this season, I got wild greens. In abundance is Nettle.

To make this pesto is all too simple:

1. Harvest roughly 2 cups of greens

2. Wash greens and remove tough woody stems. I like to use a salad spinner to wash my greens: Soak, Rinse, Drain, Spin. If using nettle, blanch the leaves in hot water for barely a minute in order to distill the sting. **

3. Put greens in the food processor or high speed blender; add roughly half a cup of nuts, I used Pecan. Half a cup of grated cheese, I used Pecorino. Squeeze in half a lemon, reserve the rest for adding to taste. Add a few Garlic Cloves, don’t even bother removing the skin. Add a Pinch of Hot Chili Flakes. Add a Pinch of Black Pepper. Add a few Tablespoons of a fruity or peppery Olive Oil to start.

4. Blend. Taste. Add more lemon if you want tartness, add more heat if you like, add more garlic if you’re not tasting it, add more salt if need be. Add liquid as needed to get to desired consistency.

5. Blend, taste again. Remember that as mixtures like this sit, the flavors become entangled and more pronounced, so while you adjust things to taste think of how they might become overpowering when left to linger.

6. Use as a dip, as condiment, as marinade. Slather it over Salmon before baking. Rub it on Cod and Poach. Settle a few seared Scallops on top of it. Make homemade Sweet Potato Fries and dip ‘em, do what you will!!

This keeps great in the refrigerator for a week. It also freezes really well. Do cover the top with a little extra olive oil lest it browns.

**For this batch I used Nettle, Chickweed, Woolly Lambs Ear, and Dandelion Greens

I love love love love Hostas

Especially this hosta. I can see it from my living room window all the way out to the pathway in front of my gazebo. She is a stunner.

I also have snails, and slugs.