Garlic Mustard Pesto: Our first harvest of the year!

Here are the things I know about Garlic Mustard.  1)  It's prolific (ok fine, invasive to the point of being an environmental problem) 2) It's delicious and garlic-y in the spring and becomes more pungent (think horseradish) as the season goes on 3) the entire plant is edible and the roots can be used as a substitute for horseradish 4) it's one of the first plants to green up in the springtime around here and it has pretty (edible) flowers later on in the season.


We went for a walk the other day.  Things are still pretty dormant, but the Onion Grass  (wild chives) and Garlic Mustard are growing like mad.  I brought my eldest daughter to help me harvest.  I pulled the Garlic Mustard (root and all) and she picked me a bunch of Onion Grass. 

There was quite a bit... so I made a recipe that used quite a bit.

First I washed and seperated everything.  Then I cut the roots off of the Garlic Mustard, leaving the rosettes intact.

I pickled the roots later in the week.

The leaves, I turned into pesto along with some of the Onion Grass and a few other ingredients that I had on hand... and it turned out lovely!

Garlic Mustard Pesto

• 3 cups garlic mustard greens, chopped and packed.
• 6 ounces sunflower seeds (or pinenuts or walnuts)
• 4 tablespoons fresh Onion Grass (or chives), chopped
• 6 ounces virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• add water to desired consistency

If you enjoy the pungent flavor of fresh garlic, simply toss all of the ingredients into a blender and thoroughly blend until you reach your desired consistency.  For a less pungent flavor (for kids, and people like myself) , first saute your garlic mustard greens and onion grass in 2 additional tbsp of olive oil.  Salt to taste, and then add to blender with the rest of the ingredients.

Enjoy!  Over pasta, on potatoes, on veggies, mixed into salad dressing, on eggs...  and freezes well too!