Oh. My. God. This was good. Soooo easy. The best part, other than this recipe being so easy, is going hiking to find the wild ramps. My brother showed us what they looked like just this past Easter so we recognized them immediately on our hike near our home a few weeks ago.
Wild leek have an almost moist, garlicky-onion taste so I left out the garlic that is traditionally found in pesto sauce. I kept this recipe very simple, knowing they would steal the show. And they did. My kids took one bite and couldn’t believe how delicious it was.
Here’s a shot of some more wild ramp from my fridge (which I am definitely turning into more pesto sauce). These were picked about 10 days ago, so considering that, they are looking pretty good still, the leaves are just a little limp. I have them standing in a container with water, with a wet paper towel wrapped around the top and a med ziplock bag over the paper towel (covers at least half of the leeks).
The leek I used in the pasta were wrapped in only wet paper towel in a ziplock bag (because they didn’t have bulbs I omitted standing them in water). Both sets of leeks kept well in my fridge over the last 10 days.
Feel free to use your favourite pasta. I used Go Go Quinoa’s fusilli with rice and quinoa. It is gluten free and delicious. It never gets mushy, always firm. (As a tip, I always undercook gluten free pasta.)
wild leek pesto pasta
• handful of wild leek – approx 2 cups
• 1/3 c macadamia &/or walnuts (I used mostly macadamia but was short so topped it off with walnuts)
• 1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
• bag of pasta, Go Go Quinoa’s fusilli
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
PUREE above sauce ingredients in hand mixer or blender. Add to drained (and rinsed, if you prefer as I do) pasta. Serve. Enjoy!
