Monday, May 9, 2011

Sheep Sorrel and Seedling Pesto

Not the prettiest pesto you've ever met, but a tasty one.

It's exciting times in the garden. Yesterday, I spent a while in the garden doing a task I never enjoyed: thinning the seedlings. That is, until I started eating my seedlings. I wait until they're a decent size, and cull them. Once they are washed, roots and all, I can do various things with them, like putting them on a sandwich, like sprouts (which they are), or make soup (along the lines of this garlic mustard greens soup), or make a pesto-like sauce.

To call this pesto is a stretch, as there is no cheese or nuts, or any of the traditional pesto ingredients. I gathered all of my seedlings, a mix of mustard greens, arugula and radishes and added a good amount of wild sheep sorrel, a tangy lemony green that grows wild in my garden. Sheep sorrel is very tasty, and makes a great soup. It's also an indication that your soil is acidic, although every time I test my soil it's very alkaline. Go figure. Sheep sorrel is high in oxalic acid, hence it's tanginess, and the radishes are a little tough, so I blanched them quickly in boiling water. This turned the sorrel a horrible color, so the finished product is not that jewel-toned green hue that I love so much.

After blanching, the greens went into the food processor and got pureed with some olive oil, and a few cloves of garlic. I'll eat this as a condiment on sandwiches, tossed with pasta or steamed veggies. It's garlic-y and peppery, with a lemony tang.

Wild sorrel.

7 comments:

  1. What a great idea! I'll have to copy before the garden is ripped-up.

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  2. Sorrel does not grow wild around here and I have never tried growing it. It sounds delicious and I will have to try this with some substitutions from my garden this summer.

    ~Brenda

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  3. adventuresindinner - I eat anything I can get my hands on!

    Sense of Home Kitchen - Thanks for visiting, Brenda! I'm looking forward to making some sorrel soup. You can get seeds for a different kind of sorrel, but similar tasting at many seed companies.

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  4. I've got some gorgeous lemon sorrel that would be perfect for it. You can order plants from richters.ca that are super healthy.

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  5. As a household that can't put nuts & cheese in our pestos; your pesto counts as pesto to us :) This sounds really wonderful. I need to find some sorrel as this really sounds great. I had never thought of using microgreens in my pestos- especially argula- bingo!

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  6. Julia Thanks for the post about your sorrel and seedling pesto, that sounds really tasty! I have lots of french sorrel and love that citrusy tangy flavor, so packed with lively nutrition! I'm sharing a link to your blog spot with my fb friends.

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