Nasturtium pesto with walnuts and cheese
Nasturtium flowers make an – in every sense – tasteful addition to salads, and the leaves blend into a most delightful peppery nasturtium pesto.
It had never occurred to me that the leaves of nasturtium – also known as tropaeolum – could be edible, until I found out that the proliferate plant with the pretty multicoloured flowers is a close relative to watercress. In fact, you can taste the resemblance in the peppery undertones of both flowers and leaves. And make make a wonderful nasturtium pesto, that is similar to and yet different from eg. rocket pesto, coriander pesto and green sauce. I serve it with gnocchi or bruscetta and goat cheese.
Ingredients
40 nasturtium leaves
200 ml olive oil
1 tbsp capers
2 cloves of garlic
50 get parmesan
50 g walnuts
Preparation
Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch the nasturtium leaves to make the pretty green colour stick.
Peel the garlic cloves and add them to the blender along with walnuts, parmesan cheese, capers and nasturtium leaves.
Pulse and blend for about 5 minutes till you have a smooth pesto.
Nasturtium pesto tastes good as a sauce with steak, as a condiment with salmon or as dressing on a tomato salad.
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