Looking for a way to get more nutrients into your meals? Try Nettle Pesto!
INGREDIENTS:
- A whole lotta fresh nettles (washed & dried leaves and seeds)
- minced garlic
- pine nuts
- olive oil
- lemon
- parmesan cheese (or nutritional yeast if you don’t do dairy)
- salt to taste
In a food processor, fill up the whole thing with nettle leaves. This might total about 6-8 cups. The amount isn’t super important, you just want *lots* of leaves and as many seeds as possible. Add in about 1/2 cup of olive oil (you’ll likely add more in a bit), roughly a cup of pine nuts, and, if you’re a lemon fan, the juice of one lemon. Use organic everything if possible. If you’re adding in parmesan cheese, toss in about half a cup or swap the cheese for nutritional yeast for a non-dairy option. Sprinkle in a small amount of salt, and then add more later if you need to.
You can see that the measurements are of the “ish” variety. That’s because some days it’s nice to have more garlic or a thicker pesto, and other days you may want it a bit different. Don’t overthink the lack of precise measurements. Let this be an experiment. If you want it a thinner consistency, add more oil. Want it cheesier? Up the amount of parm or cheese alternative. Don’t like lemon in your pesto? Ditch it from the list.
Once all of the ingredients are inside the food processor, blend it up, adding in more oil if you need to (and you probably will). I go light on things to begin and then add more as I go along. You’ll also want to stop blending after about 30 seconds, stir the mixture, give it a taste, and make any ingredient additions necessary. Repeat the blend/stir/sample process until you’re happy with your concoction.
That’s it!
You can use your nettle pesto on pasta, in a sandwich, or even add it to your scrambled eggs (which I know sounds weird, but lemme tell ya how amazing it is!).