Purslane Pesto

5 from 2 votes

This fresh purslane pesto uses a leafy plant that's technically a weed, but tastes great in this easy recipe. Ready in 15 minutes!

Prep Time10

Cook Time5

Total Time15

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American, Italian

Diet: Kosher, Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 413kcal

Author: Candice Walker

Equipment

Food Processor or Blender

Ingredients

5 oz. purslane leaves stems removed, some small stems OK
3 cloves garlic Rough chopped
½ cup toasted pine nuts
½ cup olive oil
½ cup parmesan grated
¼ tsp pepper to taste
salt to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To trim the purslane, know that the tops taste the best, so remove all the large and medium stems and keep the leaves, tops, and thin stems. Taste the different parts to see which ones you want to keep.
Quarter or roughly chop the garlic (if you put it in the food processor whole they will not break down)
Toast pine nuts over medium heat. Keep your eye on them to make sure they don't burn.
Put the purslane, garlic, pine nuts, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in the food processor.
With the food processor on, slowly add the olive oil.
Finely grate the parmesan into a medium sized bowl. The parmesan is salty so we don't add salt until the end.
Add the contents of the food processor to the parmesan.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

You can toast the pine nuts on the stove in a fry pan or in the oven on a baking sheet. See blog post for detailed instructions.

Pesto is perfectly good to freeze. If you’ve made a lot of pesto, it’s a good idea to freeze it in small portions so that you can remove and defrost small amounts as and when needed. The easiest way to do this is to use an ice cube tray. Pack each tray with some of the pesto mixture, and freeze so that you have little pesto cubes. Then. remove the frozen cubes and store in an airtight container/bag in your freezer, and defrost as needed.

Nutrition facts calculated using spinach because purslane was not an option.

Nutrition