Our spring variation on a traditional pesto. Wild garlic has a short season, starting from mid March and finishing in May. It’s easy to forage, but we recommend purchasing from your nearest market.
We recommend blanching the leaves for pesto. It mellows out the vibrant flavours and preserves its bright green colour.
Wild garlic pesto with stuffed zucchini flowers
Course: MainCuisine: Italian, ModernDifficulty: EasyServings
2
servingsPrep time
30
minutesCooking time
15
minutesIngredients
- Pesto
30g pine nuts, slightly toasted (optional)
50g wild garlic leaves
50g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
Extra Virgin Olive oil (preferably a fruity one)
Pinch of salt
240g pasta (preferably spaghetti)
- Zucchini flowers
2 zucchini flowers
100g ricotta
½ egg
Small handful of pine nuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Small handful of basil
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt, pepper
Directions
- Pesto
- Prepare a pot with boiling water and a bowl with icy water next to it.
- Blanch the wild garlic leaves and then drain.
- Gather all the ingredients. Using a mortar, crush into a smooth paste adding each ingredient in the order above excerpt the olive oil. You can also blend all the ingredients.
- Only then incorporate as much olive oil as needed for the paste to acquire a viscosity and consistency similar to ketchup or mayonnaise.
- Meanwhile, boil a generous amount of salty water (‘salata come il mare’, calls for an abundant amount of salt).
- Cook the pasta al dente. Drain it, reserving a cup of water and return the pasta to the pot.
- Add the pesto to the pot alongside 2 tablespoons of pasta water and mix all together until the texture becomes creamy.
- Zucchini flowers
- Preheat the oven to 180C fan assisted.
- Try to carefully open the flower from the top and remove the stem.
- In a bowl, combine: ricotta, pine nuts, olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Fill the flowers with the ricotta mixture.
- Place them on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
- Place the tray in the oven and bake for about 10min.
- Assembly
- Divide the pasta with pesto into two places. Drizzle some olive oil and add some grated Parmigiano. Place the zucchini flower on the top and enjoy!
Notes
- Adjust the salt as the last thing, depending on how aged the Parmigiano is, you might need to add just very little salt.