I’ve been hanging out a lot with my friends at their booth at the Union Square Farmers Market. Sipping iced herbal tea and eating fresh fruit in the shade of their tent really isn’t the worst way to spend an afternoon. Finally, I found some time to make it to the herb farm in upstate New York. AC wore her animal hide, her knife and nothing else while giving me a tour of the farm. She filled her basket full of tender greens as we walked around the property. We went to the outdoor kitchen and prepared some kale and mixed green pesto. This pesto is a great way to get a serving of greens and works well as a dip, on pasta or sandwiches.
Ingredients:
- 3 and 1/2 cups mixed greens (kale, violet greens, lambs quarters, cilantro, basil…)
- 1/2 cup mixed spicy greens (wild mustard, bee balm leaf, oregano, ground ivy)
- 10 cloves garlic -3/4 – 1 tsp salt (less if Himalayan)
- 3/4 – 1 tsp pepper
- 1 cup olive oil (add more for desired consistency)
- 1/2-1 cup nuts or seeds
- 1TBS lemon juice (optional as preservative; will keep your pesto from turning brown)
Directions:
- Harvest greens. And prep veggies. Wash and pat dry or use salad spinner. De-stem hearty greens like kale. Peel garlic.
- Add some greens to food processor / blender, add garlic, nuts, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while you pulse mixture in blender. Add more greens and remaining olive oil.
- Blend until macerated. Stop mixer. Add more salt, pepper and garlic to taste. Pulse 1 more time.
- Add to pasta or use as a spread on bread with tomato.
*This recipe will stay in the fridge for a month or freezer for a year. If you’d like to add cheese, do so when you serve the pesto as it is harder to preserve.
