TITLE: Foraging and making wild garlic pesto
DATE: 2018-05-05
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
====================================================================


It was the Dirty Weekenders' annual charity ceilidh last Thursday, 
and there was a raffle to raise money for the Scottish Wildlife 
Trust, so I decided to make some pesto as a raffle prize. I got all 
the leafy ingredients from Roslin Glen, which is a Dirty Weekenders 
project location, and one of my favourite places in the world.

I collected Allium ursinum (Ramsons), Allium paradoxum 
(Few-flowered Leek), and Allaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard), all of 
which are really easy to identify and in full growth at the moment 
(late April). I used the following recipe:

    # Ingredients

    * 100 g garlicky leaves
    * 50g Parmesan grated
    * 50g pine nuts, toasted
    * Olive oil
    * Lemon juice, to taste
    * Salt & pepper

    # Method

    1. Blitz all of the leaves in a food processor until 
homogenized, but not pasty
    2. Add the parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice, blitz again
    3. Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan until fragrant, then add 
to mixture
    4. Blitz again, but keep some chunky pine nuts
    5. Season

Few flowered leek:

  ![Few 
flowered-leek](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/leek_1.jpg)

  ![Few flowered-leek 
2](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/leek_2.jpg)

Garlic mustard:

  ![Garlic 
mustard](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/mustard_1.jpg)

  ![Garlic mustard growing 
tip](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/mustard_2.jpg)

  ![Garlic mustard 
plant](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/mustard_3.jpg)

Ramsons:

  ![Ramsons 
leaves](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/ramsons_1.jpg)

  ![Ramsons 
plant](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/ramsons_2.jpg)

The finished pesto:

  ![Pesto](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/pesto.jpg)

Bonus flower, a Grape Hyacinth (Muscari sp.):

  ![Grape hyacinth 
flower](https://johngodlee.xyz/img_full/pesto/flower.jpg)