Garlic Mustard Pesto
A bitter, garlicky pesto made from garlic mustard leaves. Use it as a spread or toss with pasta in any recipe that calls for pesto. Makes a little under 2 cups.
Servings: 5 servings
Calories: 274kcal
Cost: 5
Equipment
- 1 Pint mason jar with lid
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Heavy chefs knife
Ingredients
- 8 oz fresh garlic mustard leaves
- 2 oz basil mint, lemon balm or cilantro
- 2 T lightly toasted nuts or sunflower seeds
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup light olive oil or your favorite oil *see note
- 1 clove garlic or a few ramp bulbs and leaves
- Lemon zest and juice to taste, about ½ teaspoon
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt to taste
- 2 anchovy filets optional
Instructions
- Wash and clean the garlic mustard leaves. Trim the leaves from the base of the plants, leaving as little stem as possible, ½ -1 inch is fine.
- Blanch the greens in boiling salted water for 30-60 seconds, or until the stems are just tender.
- Remove the greens to a bowl of cold water to cool, then squeeze them dry.
- Finely chop the greens in a cross hatch pattern to ensure there aren’t long pieces of stem which will give you grass clipping pesto.
- Put the chopped garlic mustard leaves in the bowl of a food processor, add the remaining ingredients except the oil and process, drizzling in the oil to make a spreadable pesto.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning for salt, cheese, and lemon zest.
- Transfer the pesto to a jar, cover the top with olive oil to cover and refrigerate. The pesto will last for a month in the fridge as long as it’s covered with oil.
Video
Notes
Tossing the pesto with pasta
To serve the pesto with pasta for two people as an appetizer, cook 4 oz of dried pasta or 8 oz of hot cooked pasta, toss with 3-4 tablespoons of pesto and 3 tablespoons of pasta cooking water. Toss the pasta with the pesto, heat for a moment to thicken, toss in a tablespoon of parmesan and a squeeze of lemon at the end and serve.
The oil
Using extra virgin olive oil will make the pesto even more bitter than it already is. I prefer to use Smude’s sunflower oil, but you can use light olive oil, or a mix of half light and half extra virgin olive oil. That said, if you can tolerate the bitterness of garlic mustard you can probably use all extra virgin. Use your best judgement.
Nutrition
Calories: 274kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 187mg | Potassium: 261mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 2059IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 167mg | Iron: 2mg