Wild Garlic Pesto Pasta (Printable Version)
Vibrant spring pasta with fragrant wild garlic pesto, pine nuts and Parmesan in just 25 minutes.
# Ingredient List:
→ Wild Garlic Pesto
01 - 2.6 ounces wild garlic leaves, rinsed and patted dry
02 - 1.8 ounces toasted pine nuts (or walnuts)
03 - 1.8 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
04 - 1 garlic clove
05 - ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
06 - Juice of ½ lemon
07 - Salt and black pepper, to taste
→ Pasta
08 - 14 ounces dried pasta (spaghetti, linguine, or penne)
09 - Salt, for pasta water
→ Optional Garnish
10 - Extra grated Parmesan
11 - Freshly cracked black pepper
# Step-by-Step Instructions:
01 - Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente. Reserve ½ cup of the starchy pasta water before draining.
02 - While the pasta cooks, combine the wild garlic leaves, toasted pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and garlic clove in a food processor. Pulse several times until the ingredients are roughly chopped and combined.
03 - With the food processor running continuously, slowly drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil until a smooth, vibrant green paste forms. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
04 - Add the drained pasta to a large bowl or back to the pot. Pour the wild garlic pesto over the pasta and toss vigorously, adding splashes of the reserved pasta water as needed to achieve a silky, even coating.
05 - Divide among serving bowls immediately. Finish with extra grated Parmesan and freshly cracked black pepper if desired.
# Tips from hearthlykitchen:
01 -
- The color alone is worth it, a vivid green that makes everyone at the table stop mid sentence.
- It comes together faster than delivery and tastes like something from a tiny trattoria you cannot quite name.
- Wild garlic season is brutally short, so this recipe feels like a secret you stumbled into at exactly the right moment.
02 -
- Wild garlic wilts and discolors fast, so make the pesto as close to serving time as you can manage.
- If you add all the olive oil at once instead of streaming it slowly, the emulsion breaks and you get a greasy separated mess instead of something creamy.
03 -
- Toast the nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan constantly, and pull them off the heat the moment you smell warmth and sweetness because they cross from golden to burnt in seconds.
- Reserve more pasta water than you think you need, you almost never use all of it but the one time you do you will be grateful it is there.