I have recently discovered the beauty of having a good pesto recipe up my sleeve. While you can find decent pestos at the grocery store, making your own is pretty much guaranteed to be more tasty and higher quality than anything you can buy. It's also absurdly simple to make. Traditionally it is paired with pasta, but there are so many other ways to use it, which makes it so helpful to have in the fridge for busy days when you want tasty food but don't want to work too hard for it. Try using it as a topping for fish, steak, or chicken, mixing it with canned salmon or sardines or with scrambled eggs, spreading it on a wrap, tossing it with some fresh or roasted veggies, or even mixing it into a dip or soup! 

Pesto purists might require a pesto to have specifically basil, pine nuts, garlic, and parmesan cheese, but I am personally fine with calling any kind of blended up greens a pesto.

This recipe follows a fairly standard pesto formula, but it replaces the traditional basil with Dandelion Greens - a staple green of the Spring Season. Dandelion greens are incredibly nutritious. They are rich in nutrients including vitamin K, A, C, calcium, and iron, and have earned a reputation for being a "cleansing" food, helpful for supporting weight loss and overall health.  Even if you aren't in a position to forage them from your back yard, you can usually find them on health store produce shelves during the spring season. Personally I find dandelion greens delicious, but they can have quite a bitter taste. I've found that blending them into a nutty pesto is a nice way to cut through and balance some of that bitterness while still getting their nutritional benefits.

*You'll notice I omit cheese to make this a dairy-free pesto. If you do okay with dairy you could certainly add some cheese. To be honest I find it perfectly delicious without the cheese!

Let me know how you like it!

Dandelion Green Pesto

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped dandelion greens (you'll need 1-2 bunches depending on the size of the leaves)
1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 clove garlic
zest of 1 organic lemon (optional)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt (or more to taste)

Method:

Combine all ingredients except olive oil in a food processor. Pulse a few times to get started.

Turn the processor to On, and gradually drizzle in the olive oil through the spout at the top of the processor. Turn off and scrape the sides down (you might need to do this a couple times). When all ingredients are combined into a creamy paste it's ready! 

Taste and add more salt or lemon if needed.

Enjoy! Store in a sealed glass jar in the refrigerator. You can also divide pesto portions into ice cube trays and freeze for future use.