Spring is on its way. Fresh by green shoots are starting to emerge all around the forest near I live. So I decided it was time to make a wild pesto for lunch.
It's one of the simplest things you can make with wild food, and ideal at this time of year when there aren't copious amounts of wild greens available.
An extra benefit is that by using a little bit of lots of different plants you are doing wonders for your gut microbiome which thrives on biodiversity (check out Dr Tim Spector's recommendation that we should eat 30 different types of plant a week).
Ingredients
1 Tupperware of freshly foraged greens. I used nettles, cleavers (aka sticky willy), garlic mustard, bittercress, chickweed, & crow garlic - so 6 varieties of wild plant!). Start with what you know and always verify plant identification 100%.
Spoon full of Parmesan.
Splash of olive oil.
One garlic clove.
A squeeze of lemon juice.
Method
Blitz it all together using a blender if you have one (you could try a pestle and mortar if you don't!) and add to pasta.
Concluding thoughts
I love this meal. It's so simple and in my opinion utterly delicious. But be warned, it's bitter! That's what you learn about wild foods, there are a range of tastes which we just aren't used to anymore. So give it a go, experiment and see what works for you! Bon appétit!