Radish leaves? I tasted one when I got home and it had a nice bite to it - like arugula with more texture. I ground the leaves in the food processor with some young stalks of green garlic, a handful of pepitas (pumpkin seeds), some grated cheese and a slug of olive oil. The pesto emerged bright green and held onto its color for days in the refrigerator. And the taste - assertive, peppery, and completely mysterious.
I spread the pesto on fresh mozzarella grilled cheese sandwiches, mixed it with goat cheese to pipe into little cucumber cups, served it on pasta, and ate a whole lot of it on baguette slices straight up. Divine, every time. And the best thing about radish leaf pesto: You can make it all year long.
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Radish leaf pesto with green garlic and pumpkin seeds
You'll never throw away your radish leaves again. Use this pesto just as you would basil pesto. It will keep at least a week in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
2 cups radish leaves1 large stalk green garlic (or 1 clove regular garlic)1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)1/2 cup parmesan cheese, gratedjuice of 1 lemon1/2 cup olive oil salt and pepper to tasteInstructions
Wash the radish leaves well to remove any grit. Place the leaves, green garlic, pumpkin seeds, grated cheese, lemon juice and olive oil in the food processor and whizz until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 1 cup
17 comments:
That sounds truly amazing - something I would never think to do but will try. Thanks for an interesting an awesome alternative to traditional pesto!
I love this idea, so creative! Now you have me imagining what other greens I can do this with... :) I love spring.
hmmm i love the idea of using other greens for pesto. i think it makes a very complex pesto. great light and color in your photo- nice!
happy friday
louise
What a great pesto recipe, so interesting!
I never would have thought to make pesto out of radish leaves. Now i can't wait to plant some in the garden and to hit the farmers market. Looks delicious.
Fantastic idea! Will try this with my home grown radishes this year!
What a great idea! So simple and yet so delicious!
Thanks for all the compliments. And guess what? I was at the farmers' market again this morning and the woman next to me didn't want her radish tops. Guess who brought them home? :)
Okay, I have never used radish leaves and I am so excited to try this pesto. Very inventive!
I recently heard you could use the radish leaves but still haven't tried it. I love beet greens though. A few weeks ago I made arugula walnut pesto for the first time. I ended up adding pine nuts since I didn't think the walnuts had enough of a kick. Ok, TMI, but your pesto looks lovely and very nice pic!
Another great way to use those greens! Love making pestos with different greens and herbs but I haven't tried radish yet.. that of course is now going to change after this post!!!
How interesting! I would have never thought to use the radish leaves! Very cool, I'll have to give this a try sometime soon with all the radishes I've been buying at the farmers market
Erika, again you have me obsessing over green garlic! I've even researched growing it myself. This dish looks amazing, but until I can find green garlic, I think I might have to substitute something else.
Love this inventive idea! I've used almost every green I know of for pesto and never thought of these. It looks really fresh, can't wait to try it. Great pic, too!
This looks so good! I grew up in a household where things like radish leaves and mushroom stems got thrown away. Slowly I'm learning to look at them differently. Thank you!
I just made a version of this and it's crazy good! Thanks for the inspiration! (I subbed cashews for pepitas & cotija cheese for the parm... just because that's what I had in my house!)
Moira, that's what I love about pesto - it's a method, not a recipe, really. Whatever you put in, it always seems to work!
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