Nettle Pesto
Ingredients for 4
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3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
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200 g almond kernels, but you can also use pine nuts, or try roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds, different seeds/kernels will give different flavours
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200 g nettle leaves
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1 pinch of liquorice salt
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min 1 clove of garlic
How-to
Liquorice salt gives a pesto a very special, deep flavour. You can't taste the liquorice (if you don’t overspice), but other flavours are enhanced.
Healthy nettles are now springing up everywhere at the moment. Why not try a nettle pesto? Don't worry, it won't burn.
Remove the nettle leaves from the stalks and wash them. Dry them in a salad spinner, pick the leaves apart and finely crush them in a large mortar. Peel and roughly chop the garlic. Add to the nettles together with the almonds (or what kernels you have choosen) and salt and continue to crush until the oil comes out of the kernels. As soon as the ingredients form a homogeneous mass, add the oil and mix everything together well.
If you have a blender, put the coarsely chopped nettle leaves in with the other ingredients, chop everything up and finally mix in the oil.
Either serve the nettle pesto immediately or pour into a screw-top jar, cover with a thin layer of oil and store tightly sealed in the fridge.
Nettles can often be found on the edges of forests, by water, in meadows and generally in semi-shady locations. It is best to harvest young shoots as they contain less nitrate than older plants.
Silicic acid on the nettle hairs causes a burning sensation when touched and often causes itchy wheals. Therefore, wear leather gardening gloves when harvesting and processing the wild herb. The leaves wilt quickly and should be processed as soon as possible.
Serving
The nettle pesto goes well with pasta and tastes great on toasted bread. Vegetables are delicious when mixed well with the pesto and then grilled.
Bon appetite … with Mustheb is tastes better