Ramson Pesto

Using the Wild Garlic leaves collected, make a very simple, but fantastically tasty, pesto sauce for pasta dishes or to add flavour to stews and soups.

Ingredients:

Generous Handful of Wild Garlic

Olive Oil

Grated Parmesan (or similar hard cheese)

Salt & Pepper

Lemon Juice

1)       Finely chop the Wild Garlic leaves, and add to a pestle or bowl.

2)       Add a teaspoon or 2 of olive oil, add salt, pepper, lemon to taste, and grind together to make paste.

3)       Add a good sprinkling of grated Parmesan and stir in.

This is the basic paste – I have deliberately left the quantities vague as personal preference plays a role, and it’s all about seasoning to taste! The pesto should be added immediately to pasta, stirring thoroughly through spaghetti for example, as it doesn’t keep longer than a few days - the Ramson takes on a bitter taste. Mix with left-over chicken or bacon, for example, or even halved cherry tomatoes, to create a more full pasta sauce, or just experiment as the garlic and parmesan taste goes with just about anything.

The pesto can be frozen very successfully – try using ice cube trays, as a single cube of frozen pesto does for a single serving of pasta, and it will keep for many months – certainly past the Ramson season, and perhaps into the next!