As you’ll come to see from other recipes, I’m a ‘make by feel’ rather than a ‘make by measure’ (which would explain why I don’t get on with baking). So you’ll have to forgive the approximations. However, I really do feel that especially with wild foods where strength and taste can vary greatly that this is an approach thats needed.
This will make enough for 6 hungry people.
Ingredients
- Small basket of wild garlic (about a colander’s worth) – washed in a sink of water to get rid of any shield bugs and slugs.
- 100g of parmesan/parmesan-like cheese – grated.
- 300g pine nuts – toasted in a pan on a low heat. Keep an eye on these – they can burn pretty quick
- Small cup of olive oil
- 2 lemons – rind grated and lemons squeezed
- Good glug of white wine – about 2 tablespoons worth
- Salt and freshly cracked pepper
- Chipotle chilli flakes – just a small teaspoon
It’s pretty simple really – combine all the ingredients in a fairly narrow container, blitz with a hand blender. Done.
You can keep it portioned in the fridge for a couple of weeks if you ensure you cover with a little olive oil, or alternatively you can freeze it.
Make sure you add a ladle of the cooked pasta water to loosen the pesto before stirring it all together, or just drain the pasta, but not until drip dry.
Job done.