If you’ve ever grown garlic in your garden, you’ve noticed the lovely blades of green that spring up in clumps unbidden the next year from last year’s self-seeded garlic. Your garlic patch grows and spreads without any help from you. If you don’t have a garden, in early spring ask at the farmers’ market or your CSA for the greens. These nutrient-rich greens are much milder in flavor than the garlic bulbs that form later, but they still have a hint of the pungent sharpness of garlic, and they make a vivid green pesto that satisfies our bodies’ cravings for fresh plant life in early spring.
Yields 1¼ cups
Time: 10 minutes
2 cups lightly packed snipped or sliced garlic greens
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped toasted walnuts
Pinch of salt
½ cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese*
*This pesto can be made without cheese. If you’re making a batch to freeze, don’t include the cheese.
Using scissors or a knife, cut the garlic greens into ½-inch pieces until you have 2 cups, lightly pressed down. In the bowl of a food processor, whirl the greens for about 10 seconds. Add the rest of the ingredients and process to a rough paste. Add a couple tablespoons of water, if needed, to keep things moving.
This recipe makes plenty of pesto for a pound of pasta. Reserve about ½ cup of the hot pasta cooking water to use if necessary to thin the pesto a bit so that it coats the pasta smoothly. Top the pasta with chopped fresh tomatoes and/or cubed fresh mozzarella.
Garlic Greens Pesto is also good spread on pizza or sandwiches or crostini and to give a flavor punch to soups or stews. A little coating of pesto enhances steamed or boiled vegetables, such as green beans, potatoes, cauliflower, and zucchini. To make a delicious dip for crackers and crudités, add a few tablespoons of Greek yogurt to the pesto.