Give Us All the Green Things:
How to Make a Spring Pesto
Credit: Christopher Testani
There’s nothing quite like a good pesto: Fresh, vibrant, green, with just enough richness (thanks, cheese and nuts!) to keep things from feeling austere. We slather it on bread, sauce our pasta with it, and use it as a dip for veggies. While we happily make due with winter’s heartier greens, we’re thrilled to be shedding our heavy jackets and trading in fresh, tender greens for last season’s kale and collards.
There aren’t many rules to making pesto, but they are important ones. First, the greens should be fresh and rinsed clean—nobody likes a sandy sauce. Using perky, not-wilted greens ensure that your pesto will be smooth, not gummy.
As for what greens to use, the sky’s really the limit. If you can eat it in a salad, you can pesto it. Okay, well, except for actual lettuce. That’s a littletoo delicate to purée; stick with sturdier greens, like peppery watercress. Let the season’s bounty be your guide. The flavors of spring are delicate (tender fresh herbs, like parsley and tarragon); grassy, like spinach; and funky-oniony, like garlicky ramps and chives. Tempering the more intense alliums with another green can help stretch the batch and make it more palatable. Chives and parsley go together particularly well.
Spring’s most compostable ingredients are also pesto-perfect: Well-rinsedcarrot tops and radish tops cut down on waste and blend together well. Don’t forget about peas, which are particularly good this time of year. Lastly, lemony sorrel is a great pick for sauce. It’s astringent and juicy, and can stand up to stronger ingredients, like red chile flakes and mint.
To keep the color of the sauce bright, you can blanch and shock the hardier greens, like chard and ramp tops. The quick boil will take the edge off, and the subsequent dunk in ice water will stop the cooking process and keep things verdant.
Second, pesto begs for something fatty to round out the greens. Traditional basil pesto calls for pine nuts and shredded Parm, but feel free to mix it up. Walnuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds are all great options. Our carrot top pesto recipe even uses macadamia nuts. Just be sure to dry-toast them in a skillet or in an oven, and wait for them to cool completely before pulverizing in the food processor. You can choose any cheese you’d like, but we’re big fans of harder, aged cheeses that impart a salty, funky note. Coarsley grate the cheese, and add it to the pesto once it’s almost done processing, so it doesn’t get too obliterated by the machine’s blades. Don’t forget the salt and pepper.
The last rule of spring pestos is an unofficial one, but every bit as important: Whenever possible, consume with a glass (or two) of rosé. ‘Tis the season, after all.
source: http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/spring-pesto-ideas
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