Kudos to you for taking the time to make this pesto, whatever your reason. There are some advantages to this method.
You’ll need:
Wild garlic leaves
Nuts - I used 70% cashews & 30% walnuts for this recipe but you can use pretty much any nut
Hard Cheese - Parmesan is the most common, adding more than one kind of cheese will give a depth of flavour. I added Piave, (a northern Italian cheese) to this recipe since I had some already.
Olive oil
Sea sat
Food processor or a Mortar & Pestle
a note on ingredients
Pesto follows a template composed of the four ingredients. Technique doesn’t matter as much as the quality of the ingredients, and you can make it as you like by modifying ratio and texture.
STEP 1
Rinse and roughly chop the wild garlic leaves. Pat to dry or leave it to air dry.
Gather any past anger and bash the leaves with a pinch of sea salt into a coarse paste using a mortar and pestle.
STEP 2: COMBINE
If you are using larger nuts than pine nuts, bash the nuts into smaller chunks before adding to your wild garlic paste.
STEP 3
Slowly add the olive oil and mush it into the paste. Then add the grated cheese and keep mixing.
NOTE: YOU CAN BASH/MUSH/GRATE THE INGREDIENTS SEPARATELY AN D COMBINE BUT YOU DO NEED TO MIX THE OLIVE OIL AS YOU MIX IT SO THAT IT EMULSIFIES.
SETP 4
Mix in the grated cheese until the mixture looks even. Taste test at this point and add more salt and/or cheese
LAYER OF OLIVE OIL TO KEEP AIR OUT
SAVED TAKEAWAY SAUCE CONTAINERS FOR FREEZING ARE THE PERFECT MEAL SERVING SIZE
STEP 5: STORAGE
Once its ready, pop it in a jar or container. Top up with a layer of olive oil to keep the air out. This will preserve it for 4-6 weeks, if not disturbed.
I also like to freeze the pesto and have wild garlic when the season is over. Its easy to pop out and make a pesto pasta or to defrost and use as a sauce over steamed/roasted veg