Nettle pesto
Ingredients
- 100 g nettle leaves
- 35 g parmesan cheese
- 20 g pine nuts
- Few hazelnuts
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 10 cl olive oil
- lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon
- pepper
Instructions
- Pick nettles in your garden or in the woods with gloves on, taking the youngest leaves from the top (the nettle heads), and avoiding nettles already in bloom.
- Shake the nettles to dislodge insects, wash them in cold water and cut the leaves. Wring out the nettles.
- Cut the cloves of garlic, and crush the hazelnuts coarsely.
- In a medium blender, put half of the nettles, half of the olive oil and squeeze lemon juice on top. Blend on high speed.
- Add the other leaves, the rest of the oil and a little lemon juice. Blend again.
- Then add the Parmesan cheese, garlic, pine nuts and hazelnuts and mix, still on high speed.
- Taste to adjust the seasoning (add a little parmesan or lemon juice if you wish) and add pepper. If the consistency is not creamy enough, you can add a little liquid (oil, lemon juice, or a little water).
- Once the right consistency is obtained and the pesto is seasoned to your taste, put it in a glass jar and cover it with a layer of olive oil so that it does not blacken, especially if you do not eat it within 2 days.
Notes
You can add some aromatic herbs (parsley, basil...) or some radish haulm for instance to the nettle leaves.
I mix 20 g of parsley with 80 g of nettles for example.
You can also try other nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts...).
Above all, adjust the seasoning according to your tastes and ideas :)