Spring has been slow in establishing itself this year. It’s been sunny and dry — too dry if you ask gardens and plants — but also very cold. We’ve probably noticed it more than usual, as meeting friends is still confined to the great outdoors (for just a few more weeks!) which has made us yearn all the more for that mildness in the air.
I wrote about this forced but gleeful embrace of outdoor socialising in my latest newsletter, which you can find HERE.
In it too is this recipe for wild garlic pesto — that most welcome signal that the earth is waking up and spring has finally arrived.
Wild garlic pesto
A bunch of wild garlic leaves
Grated parmigiano
Nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, almonds)
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground pepper
Good olive oil
When I make this pesto it seems too fiddly to measure the ingredients precisely, but I do have rough ratios in mind.
3/5th wild garlic
1/5th grated parmigiano
1/5th nuts
Wash and coarsely chop the wild garlic.
If using almonds, start by chopping them briefly in the food processor before adding the other ingredients. If using walnuts or pine nuts it isn’t necessary to do so.
Place all the dry ingredients in the food processor and pulse blend, slowly pouring in a drizzle of olive oil. Continue adding the olive oil gradually until the ingredients have formed a paste that has the desired consistency.
Taste and adjust the salt and pepper if necessary.
Store the pesto in a jar in the refrigerator with a protective layer of olive oil over the top.
Nettle and Quince 
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