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

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Garlic mustard:

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Ramsons:

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The finished pesto:

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

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