Nasturtium Pesto

Name: Nasturtium Pesto
Total time: 1200 s
Yield: 2 people
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 cups packed nasturtium leaves; 1 handful nasturtium flowers; 3 garlic cloves, crushed and diced; 1/2 cup pine nuts or walnut pieces, toasted; 1/2 cup finely grated hard cheese like parmesan; 2/3 cup good olive oil

Stephen Brown @beevesb

I planted nasturtiums this summer in my kitchen garden for beauty and garnishes. It grows and grows and grows! I read about this online after eating one nasturtium salad after another and pickling the seed pods for faux capers. Apparently Thomas Jefferson even ate them. Now I have the perfect use for it! Delicious!

Stephen Brown @beevesb

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Ingredients

20 minutes

2 people

2 cupspacked nasturtium leaves
1 handfulnasturtium flowers
3garlic cloves, crushed and diced
1/2 cuppine nuts or walnut pieces, toasted
1/2 cupfinely grated hard cheese like parmesan
2/3 cupgood olive oil

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Steps

20 minutes

1

Assemble everything... mise en place!
2

Toast nuts in dry skillet on high heat
3

Add oil, nuts, and garlic to a bowl and puree with immersion blender
4

Add nasturtium leaves and puree them in with oil, nuts, and garlic. (See next note)
5

If your nasturtium leaves are a bit old and tough and too spicy you can tone them down by dipping them in boiling-temperature water for 10 seconds then squeezing out the water before puree. I did this for my pasta, but not for baking on top of salmon.
6

Lightly puree in the flowers
7

Stir in the grated cheese and you are done! You can freeze it if need be.
8

Enjoy!

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Cooksnaps

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Stephen Brown @beevesb

on September 19, 2021 20:31

I'm a scientist, a geologist, but when it gets right down to it ... what can I say? I just love cooking. It's kitchen science and such a great human endeavor.