radish leaf pesto

They say when life gives you lemons, make some lemonade.

I was doing pretty much that when I made pesto out of the lush foliage that grew in our recycled pots instead of the anticipated radishes.

The idea of radish leaf pesto arrived to me via the Mini Matriarchin blog, but because we are trying to avoid butter and cheese I searched for other versions, and based my pesto recipe on this vegan one.

I had about 3 times more of the radish leaves shown in the first picture, and used all of it in the recipe right down to the pink-tinted roots where the radish bulbs should have grown. It made two small jars of light, delicious raw pesto (all gone by the time this post goes out). 

We ate it with roast cauliflowers, over boiled new potatoes, and simply spread on a slice of bread - I can recommend all of these, they were all delicious ways to enjoy the pesto. Based on its flavour, which is a slightly spicy fresh green flavour, I can imagine it going well with gnocchi or in a portabello mushroom burger. Here's the recipe:

Radish leaf pesto

2-3 big bunches of radish greens

a handful of raw cashew nuts (or pine nuts)

3 cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of sea salt

juice of 1/3 of a lemon

a pinch of ground black pepper

Blitz all ingredients in a food processor until desired consistency. Spoon into small jars and consume within a few days. To preserve it a little longer (up to a week) pour olive oil on top of the pesto in the jar then seal well. Keep in the fridge in either case.

Thanks to Steph for the initial idea, and hope this recipe will delight with yummy results as much as it did in the above picture!