½cupSmude's sunflower oil or another good tasting oilor extra virgin olive oil
3tablespoonsparmigiano reggianoor another high quality parmesan you like
A dash of lemon juiceoptional
Instructions
Heat the oven to 350 or so, toast the sunflower seeds until they are aromatic and lightly golden, a few minutes. Cool and reserve.
Bring a pot of water to a boil large enough to fit your fresh ramp greens. Cook half the ramp leaves just until they wilt in the water and turn bright green, a few seconds, then immediately transfer them to very cold water to chill.
Remove the ramp leaves from the water and squeeze the water out with your hands or by placing them in a towel. Chop the blanched and raw ramp leaves together.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the chopped ramp leaves, toasted sunflower seeds, cheese, and oil. Begin the pureeing process by pulsing to break things up, then keep going until you get a smooth-ish paste.
After pureeing, if the pesto isn't creamy, fluffy and light, drizzle in some more oil and continue to puree until velvety smooth, this recipe is made for restaurant and highspeed blenders, if you don't have one, you may need to add small amounts of oil/liquid to get it smooth. Double check the seasoning and adjust as needed, then refrigerate or freeze.
Video
Notes
If you want the pesto coarse, don't puree it completely--it's up to you. I often make it smooth since I'll be adding other garnishes to dishes when the pesto is used.
A great way to preserve this is to fill ice cube trays with ramp pesto, freeze them, then pop out the cubes and freeze those for easy portioning, I like to use re-useable vacuum bags. Vacuum sealing the cubes will give the longest shelf life.
The lemon is optional, but the citric acid helps preserve the color.