Nettle Pesto
Young and tender nettle plants are lush in flavour and packed with vitamins, minerals, and other health-giving elements. We make our pesto with foraged nettles rather than basil and always love the results. It’s quick and easy to make your own nettle pesto and add it to pasta, pizza, or serve with roasted potatoes and other vegetables. The possibilities are nearly endless. Nettle pesto is also perfect for freezing, so you can capture the life of greens.
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 15 min
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh and young stinging nettle shoots
- 4 garlic cloves
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup walnuts
- ½ grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Preparation
Wash stinging nettles under running cold water and drain.
Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the nettles to the boiling water and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes until they turn dark green. Drain in a colander and squeeze to remove as much water as you can.
In a food processor, chop almonds, walnuts, garlic, and parmesan cheese.
Add cooked nettles, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Blend until the pesto has reached a smooth consistency.
You can use nettle pesto like you would regular pesto in Italian recipes like pastas, pizzas, lasagnas, etc.
The pesto can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks in well-sealed jars. It can also be frozen in small portions for later use.
share this recipe
