Pesto is one of those light summer dishes that I eat with almost anything from May to August. Pasta, toast, eggs, meat all benefit from the bright depth of a pesto. I like to add a unique twist to classic dishes, so for this version of pesto I use almonds instead of pine nuts, and jalapeno for a little spice.
Dandelion Pesto Recipe
Here is a Sprouts shopping list for this recipe.
Ingredients
1/2 cup of toasted almonds
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
4 cloves of garlic
zest of 1 lemon
~1/4 of jalapeno pepper
1 bunch of dandelion greens
1 bunch of basil
~1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Equipment
Blender
Saute pan
Pot
Instructions
Start by getting your mis-en-place (prepared ingredients) ready and boiling a pot of water to blanch the dandelion greens and basil)
Blanched dandelion greens and basil
Dandelion greens are hearty and bitter, so that have to be blanched to soften the flavor. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (it should taste like the ocean), and submerge the dandelion greens for at least one minute. Immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking.
Basil is soft and only needs a quick drop into the boiling water before submerging in the ice bath. After this step I usually save the water to cook pasta in for the meal.
After blanching greens, wrap in a clean dishtowel or paper towels and squeeze as much water from them as you can. Then roughly chop and set aside.
Saute garlic
Slice the four cloves of garlic thin, as shown. Pour enough olive oil into a saute pan to submerge the sliced garlic, add the garlic, then turn heat to medium high. Stir the garlic in the pan so it browns evenly; the goal is to reach a uniform, light caramel color. Turn off the heat slightly before the garlic reaches that color (it will continue cooking for a minute or so), and leave in the pan to cool.
Lemon zest
Use a peeler to remove the lemon zest from one lemon. This will provide the essence of lemon flavor without the acidity (which would also make the greens turn brown). To go an extra step and make this even more refined, scrape the pith (the white part) with a knife to remove it from the peel. I didn’t do that here. Then chop the zest into smaller chunks (shown below).
Chopped lemon zest.
Jalapeno
I forgot to take a photo of this step. If you have a gas stove then use the flame to burn the skin of the jalapeno and soften the pepper. Scrape off the outside skin, and remove the seeds (which removes a lot of the spicy heat). If you don’t have a gas stove, simply remove the seeds and chop up as much jalapeno as you want for your pesto.
Blend ingredients
In a blender or food processor (or mortar and pestle if you’re old school) place all the ingredients - chopped, blanched dandelion greens, blanched basil, sauteed garlic (with olive oil), almonds, lemon zest, jalapeno, and Parmesan cheese. Pulse until you get a nice, chunky consistency. Add olive oil as needed to keep the pesto moving inside the blender.
Once you have a nice consistency, remove the pesto and taste. Adjust with salt if it needs more seasoning.
Pesto on penne pasta
Dandelion pesto is a great addition to almost anything. A classic pairing is penne pasta, and for this meal I added pan-seared, seasoned chicken. A delicious summer meal. A great wine pairing with this pesto would be a Sauvignon-Blanc.
Sauteed chicken with dandelion pesto
Enjoy!