Salad burnet Pesto

Salad burnet leaves (Sanguisorba minor), have a cucumber-like flavor. A fresh and surprising taste, excellent for a quick raw pesto.

For the cheese I use, in this case, the Grana Padano. Parmesan and pecorino have too strong an aroma that excessively covers the freshness of the small burnet (in my opinion). I don’t use garlic just because I am intolerant, but you are obviously free to use it, if you like it. If you go for a wild edible you could use ramps. For the doses I leave you the fun of experimenting with them, depending on your taste.

Ingredienti:

a handful of sald burnet leaves
pine nuts
grana padano
extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

If you feel like trying out the classical italian way of making pesto, you could try using the mortar and pestle. But salad burnet has more fibers than basil. Smashing the rachis could be a hard job. You can strip the leaves and discard the tough stems. Using the food processor makes the job easier and returns an acceptable result, because small burnet does not turn dark (oxidation) as much as basil. The choice is entirely up to you!

Basically it’s all here: throw everything in the glass, blend it all and it’s done. Use it to season a nice summer pasta, or on croutons as an appetizer.