And naturally being away from home for some time means a bare bones supply of food in the fridge. But not to worry, I have learned that I do my best creative cooking when I have little to choose from. It is when the magick is at its best.
So as I contemplated what to create for dinner, I could feel those wonderful stirrings of ideas coming forth. Marinated grilled steaks topped with chickweed pesto! With scissors in hand, I headed out to the front garden to gather that most abundant chickweed to make the pesto.
Ingredients for chickweed pesto |
Chickweed Pesto
- 2 to 3 cups chickweed
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Wash chickweed in a bowl of cold water, letting any sand or dirt settle to the botto. Lift greens out of water into a colander. Pat dry with a towel or dry in a salad spinner.
- Place peeled garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Process to chop. Add the chickweed and process to chop.
- Add the nuts, grated cheese, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Process until gound into a fairly smooth paste. If the mixture is too dry, add a little more olive oil.
Chickweed Pesto |
But of course I still needed to figure out what to eat for lunch. Rummaging around in the fridge and the pantry, I pulled out a variety of items and mixed them up into a salad. Romaine lettuce, leftover quinoa, avocado, walnuts, dried cranberries, pastrami, feta cheese and to my delight I topped it off with some chickweed pesto! I had never thought of using pesto as a salad dressing before!
"Leftovers in the Fridge" salad with some chickweed pesto as dressing |
So I'm anticipating a delicious dinner tonight. I can just imagine the chickweed pesto melting over my tender steaks. mmmmmmm
How else can you use chickweed pesto? On top of grilled chicken and seafood, tossed with rice or pasta, dolloped in a soup, drizzled over baked root vegetables, as a dip for crudites and crackers. The possiblities are endless!
How will you use chickweed pesto?