Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Wild Chive, Arugula, and Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta


Tonight's dinner came courtesy of Mother Nature and was almost entirely free, except for the pasta, slivered almonds, sea salt, and olive oil.


This time of year wild edibles in the allium family (chives, ramps, garlic) and greens (dandelion) are in abundance, and they make the perfect ingredients for a quick meal.


Last year's crop of collard and kale are putting on a blazing show of yellow flowers in my garden (making the bees happy!), and they're still producing tender green leaves.  The arugula is also flowering, and the leaves are sharp and spicy, making a nice base for pesto.


I added some garlic scapes, chives, slivered almonds, olive oil, and sea salt to the food processor and whisked up a batch of pesto to toss with penne pasta.


After blanching a generous handful of collards, kale, and dandelion greens, I tossed everything together.  This lovely meal came together in 15 minutes and it was ideal for a spring cleanse.  


4 comments:

honest college said...

Scrumptious looking pesto! So fresh

Unknown said...

Thank you for your comment, honest college. Yes, I love this time of year with all the fresh greens from the garden!

Anonymous said...

A cooking class with using garden pickings would be great. Do you ever provide this type of class?

Unknown said...

That's a great question. I haven't done that before, but I'll be giving a cooking demo at the Bethany Farmer's Market on June 30 and will definitely give that some thought!