Wild Garlic and Stinging Nettle Pesto

For a nutritious taste of Spring which you can freeze and use to tide you over in between each wild garlic crop! This pesto also contains stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) one of the most nutritious wild edibles we find in the UK, full of iron, protein and a whole host of vitamins.

This pesto is exceptionally easy to make and versatile to a fault as it can be served stirred through pasta, spread on toast, tossed with new potatoes or even basted on a roast.

If you’d like to check up on your identification we have more information about wild garlic and stinging nettles, their uses and the best ways to forage them in our species directory.

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Ingredients

50g of Wild Garlic leaves – A mixture of young and older works well
50g Nettle tops
50g Nuts – these can be mixed or all of one type. My favourite is 50/50 cashews and blanched almonds
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
5 Tablespoons mild olive oil
(Optional- 25-50g Grated parmesan)

Method

1. Steam the nettle tops over a pan of boiling water for a few minutes until they have wilted down, or blanch for a few seconds, remove from the heat and allow to cool before squeezing out any excess water. Cooking them denatures the sting but does not remove the goodness!

2. Chop the wild garlic roughly, my technique for this is to align the leaves roughly with each other and roll them lightly into a bundle. This can be held like a bunch of chives or spring onions whilst you slice finely one way, then at a right angle to your initial cuts. Keep to one side in a bowl.

3.Chop the nettles as you did the wild garlic.

4. Use a blender to blitz the nettles, wild garlic and half of the lemon juice. Add some olive oil if you need to loosen up the mix.

5. Next add the rest of the lemon juice and olive oil, and the nuts (and parmesan if using). Blitz the entire mixture until it is the consistency you prefer.

6. Finally, season to taste with salt and pepper. If you like your pesto smoother and thinner then add a little more oil.

Notes:

This pesto should be kept refrigerated and consumed within 2 weeks. It also freezes amazingly well so you can have the taste of spring all year round!

If you’d like to learn more about Wild Garlic, we’ve compiled our most popular articles, recipes and guides in one Ultimate Guide to Wild Garlic.

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From forests and meadows to seashore and coastal – all of our courses are focused on food, ecology and giving participants the confidence to go and find these foods for themselves.