Use the young shoots of garlic--a.k.a. green garlic--to make a flavorful spring "pesto" sauce.
This pesto keeps very well, covered and chilled up to 3 days or frozen up to 2 months.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound green garlic
- 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup freshly shredded pecorino cheese or other hard sheep's milk cheese
Preparation:
- Trim and discard root ends of green garlic. Finely chop green garlic, rinse thoroughly and pat or spin dry.
- In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook vegetable oil, green garlic, and 1/2 tsp. salt until soft, about 3 minutes. Let cool to warm room temperature.
- In a blender or food processor, pulse pine nuts to chop. Set aside. Add green garlic and process, scraping down sides as necessary, until bright green and smooth. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil. Pulse in reserved pine nuts and cheese. Taste and add more salt if you like.
Makes enough Green Garlic Pesto to coat 1 pound linguine.
