Wild Garlic Cashew Nut Pesto

Have you ever tried foraging? There are so many amazing things you can find in and around the countryside near your own home. Our parks, hedgerows and roadsides are full of delicious treats just waiting to be picked and used in your dinner recipes. We are lucky enough to have a huge supply of wild garlic available to us in a copse at the end of our road so one afternoon I headed down there to pick a few bunches. I thought a Wild Garlic Pesto would be a nice addition to our dinner that night!

I’ve made all types of pesto before, one of my favourite being my Rocket (Arugula) Pesto but it’s always great to use something that’s seasonal and literally found in your own backyard! Plus there’s something about fresh pesto which just tastes 100% better than anything bought from a store in a jar so I always try and make my own when I have the time! Wild and foraged foods are growing in popularity but there are a few rules you should follow when you’re foraging:

Firstly, know your foraging etiquette. Ask permission from the landowner or check with the local council that you can help yourself to a few things.
Secondly, take only what you need and don’t leave a mess behind. It should be left like you were never even there! Just take some cuttings, don’t dig up any roots.
And finally, if you’re not 100% sure – don’t eat it (especially when it comes to mushrooms)

Once I was back in the kitchen I realised we were out of pine nuts (a staple ingredient in any pesto)! No bother, I decided to try something different and switch the pine nuts for cashew nuts for a bit of a change.

So, on to the recipe. It’s so incredibly easy to make if you have a food processor. Firstly you need to toast the raw cashews in a frying pan over a low heat until they begin to brown. This can take a few minutes and helps release some of the toastier, nuttier flavours. Don’t look away though as once they begin to brown they can start to burn very quickly!

The next step is to add all the ingredients to the food processor, just hold back most of the olive oil. Add the wild garlic, toasted cashew nuts, grated Parmesan cheese and a small drizzle of the oil to get everything moving. (You can even add some chilli to it too if you like a bit of heat but this Wild Garlic Cashew Nut Pesto is firey all on its own).

Turn the food processor on and slowly drizzle in the rest of the oil, a bit at a time, until you achieve the required consistency (Add more or less olive oil depending on how runny you like your pesto and what you are using it for).

Finally, season the pesto well with salt and pepper and serve.

So that evening I smeared the Wild Garlic Cashew Pesto all over some chicken breasts and then oven-baked them but there is so much you can do with it. I like to stir it into soups, mix it through courgetti spaghetti and even add it to cauliflower mash! You could serve it with fish – it would go fabulously with pan-fried salmon and some roasted vegetables and I like to use it mixed through my Grainfree Foccacia before baking.

It’s also great spread on a flatbread or drizzled over pizzas. You can even thin it out with even more olive oil and use it as a salad dressing! So many uses in so many dishes – it will definitely become a kitchen staple once you’ve tried it and seen how easy it is to make!

And what about the switch I made? I found that using cashew nuts in place of pine nuts gave a much creamier, buttery, almost sweet taste to the final sauce! It’s amazing when you make a switch that makes a classic recipe even more delicious!

Storage – The Wild Garlic Cashew Nut Pesto will keep in the fridge for up to a week or you can freeze it in ice cube trays to use at a later date. I’m sure it won’t last that long though!