I love nasturtiums and plant them every year. Their colourful petals are to bright and sunny against all the greenery of my herbs and the whte of the giant dasies that are prolific in my garden. I use them in this nasturtium pesto and lots of other recipes too.
Keen readers of this blog will be well aware of how I like to use anything that is growing in the garden in as many ways as possible. Nasturtiums have already been used to make a delicious soup here and also my favourite nasturtium hot sauce. This time I’m making Nasturtium Pesto.
I’ve just been playing with this recipe so it isn’t in my eBook A Passion For Pesto, but there are well over 50 other pesto recipes in there so if you are into pesto go take a look.
What’s in it?
You will need nasturtium flowers and leaves for this, flaked almonds for the nutty part, I love the light flavour of almonds for this one, 1 clove of garlic, parmesan cheese grates, salt and pepper and of course good quality extra virgin olive oil.
How To;
Well you can go the old fashioned traditional route and grind everything in a pestil and mortar which although takes time is rather relaxing and you really get to smell the garlic and nasturtiums as they are crushed together with the other ingredients.
Otherwise whip out your food processor and whazz things up. But firstly toast those flaked almonds in a dry pan till just golden then remove from heat immediately and allow to cool. Now you can whazz up the nasturtium flowers and leaves, garlic, almonds and parmesan. Season the mix then drizzle in the olive oil till you get the consistancy you prefer.
I like to make thick pestos for spooning into soup, spreading on sandwiches and using as dips, thinner pestos for pasta sauces. The choice is yours. I love this pasto in a baked potato, yum!
So that’s it, hot and peppery nasturtium pesto, the taste of summer sunshine.
K x
NASTURTIUM PESTO
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup flaked almonds
- 1 cup of nasturtium flowers
- 1 cup nasturtium leaves
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 cup parmesan grated
- salt and peppr to taste
- extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Toast the flaked almonds in dry pan for 1 minute till golden and aromatic then remove from pan immediately and allow to cool
- Whazz all ingredients in food processor drizzling in the oil till you have the consistancy you prefer
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