Homemade wild garlic walnut pesto (also known as Bärlauchpesto in German) with mild garlic-y taste and lovely fresh texture (with walnuts, green olives and no cheese or no pine nuts). It can be added to pasta, salads, roasts and veggies. This wild garlic pesto recipe is also vegan.
Wild garlic season’s just around the corner, and we’re buzzing with excitement at our place. There’s nothing like bringing a bit of fresh spring flavor to the table, right? If you’ve got some wild garlic handy, you’ve got to give our recipe a go—it’s a bit different from the usual cheesy ones. This wild garlic pesto is brilliant tossed through salads, pasta, roasted veggies, or meat.
I didn’t want to add cheese the first time I made it, and I didn’t have pine nuts either, so I had a little experiment—and honestly, it turned out absolutely delicious. I’m sure you’ll love it too.
INGREDIENTS & SUBSTITUTIONS
- Wild garlic – fresh
- Crispbread wafers, German style
- Walnuts – or any other type of nuts you like
- Lemon juice – always freshly squeezed
- Green olives – pitted
- Olive oil – extra virgin
- Sesame Seeds – for sprinkling
- Salt to taste, optional
WHAT IS WILD GARLIC?
If you’ve never come across wild garlic (sometimes called wood garlic), it’s a lovely flowering plant—basically a wild cousin of onions and garlic—that’s native to Europe and Asia. You’ll find it used a lot in German-speaking countries, as well as the UK, Ireland, and Eastern Europe. It’s packed with nutrients and tastes pretty great too.
HOW TO USE WILD GARLIC
Wild garlic leaves can be used in cooking for preparing soups, salads, main meals (with or without meat / fish) and even desserts. We usually eat is appetizer on an Italian bread called Granetti.
HOW TO MAKE WILD GARLIC WALNUT PESTO (without cheese)
1) Measure your wild garlic – adding more or less wild garlic leaves definitely changes the taste and texture of the pesto. Depending on your preferences you can adjust it to fit your own taste.
2) Add sesame seeds to the pesto or use crispbread with sesame seeds on. These seeds bring additional flavor to the pesto you do not want to miss. Alternatively, add 1 tbsp. tahini if you do not have sesame seeds on hand.
3) Use freshly squeezed lemon juice. It might be tempting to use a store-bought lemon juice in a bottle, but adding real juice in makes all the difference.
4) Store in air tight container, preferably made of glass. My granny used to say if you want to preserve something do not use plastic, use glass – and for a good reason – glass containers preserve food taste and quality much better.
5) If you want to have a finer pesto consistency, remove stems before blending. I personally do not like to waste the stems, so I leave them in.
6) Blend well to reach a creamy, smooth texture or leave pesto a bit chunky depending on your own taste.
7) Use whatever nuts you have on hand – in the recipe we like using walnuts, but it get pretty tasty with hazelnuts or cashews as well.
Wild Garlic Pesto
Ingredients
- 100 g wild garlic
- 2 wafers of crispbread (German thin crackers)
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 60 g walnuts, finely chopped
- 10-15 green olives pitted
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds or 1 tbsp tahini
Instructions
- Wash wild garlic under cold water. Remove stems if preferred.
- Then crush crispbread with your hands in smaller pieces and place with remaining ingredients (wild garlic leaves, olives, lemon juice, olive oil, sesame seeds (or tahini)) in high speed food processor and blend until well combined.
- Check regularly if desired consistency is reached. Enjoy over crispbread, salads, pasta, veggies or roast.
- See above recipe for best tips and tricks.
Notes
Nutrition
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