Is there anything in the world of food more appealing than a gloriously fresh pesto, with its vivid green color and bright, bold flavor? I can’t think of anything more wonderful in early spring than this sometimes chunky, sometimes smooth sauce with its heady aroma and visceral connection to the earth and all things leafy green.

Almost any raw herb, leafy green, or vegetable can be turned into pesto–a simple, fresh, uncooked sauce consisting of the aforementioned greens, nuts, aged cheese, and oil. Additional ingredients can be added to these basic elements. Or, conversely, the cheese or nuts can be omitted. The options seem nearly limitless.

I was struck by a new surge of pesto love yesterday morning while taking in opening day of the Portland Farmers Market–in its newly expanded digs on the campus of Portland State University. Just harvested bunches of local cilantro, arugula, chives, sorrel, spring garlic, scallions, plus organic walnuts and hazelnuts were calling my name–which of course I answered by loading up my shopping cart with all of them.

Then I happened upon the vendor, Pesto Outside the Box, and tasted my way through their beautifully crafted collection of pestos: Basil, Garlic & Chive, Chipotle, and Cilantro Pistachio. When you don’t feel like making your own pesto, this option is definitely on a par with the best you can make in your own kitchen.

Hailing from Liguria in northern Italy, pesto is perhaps the quintessential pasta sauce—fresh, cheap, flavorful, and imminently satisfying. Traditional Italian pesto is made from fresh basil (with perhaps some parsley), garlic, parmigiano-reggiano, pine nuts, and olive oil, all staples of the region. In Provence, France, a similar mixture is called Pistou, which may contain cheese but usually no nuts.

In North America, cooks have been going wild with pesto since its debut on these shores in the 1980’s. And by wild, I mean No Holds Barred, Anything Goes. Check out the 562 pestos featured on TasteSpotting, which include Asparagus Pesto, Pistachio Pesto, Cilantro & Roasted Pepper Pesto, Parsley Fennel Pasta, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Artichoke & Hazelnut Pesto, Curly Kale Pesto, and Asian Pesto. And these are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

But what’s missing for me in all this creative exuberance is a sure-fire formula. What is it that makes pesto, well, pesto? What are the essential ingredients? What are the ideal proportions of these ingredients? A pesto GESTALT if you will. So that’s what I set about to provide for myself.

Within certain boundaries that keep me within the pesto corral and hopefully prevent me from wandering into the salsa, chutney, relish or chimichurri corrals, I am continuing to expand my pesto horizons. I settled on the proportions in the Basic Pesto below, which work perfectly with most of the leafy greens I managed to pulverize this past year.

The largest variable for me is how much oil to use. In the recipes below, ½ cup of oil makes a very thick pesto. If you need a thinner pesto, simply increase the quantity of oil to 1 cup or so. Whether I include cheese or nuts, or both depends on what I intend to do with the pesto. Nuts add an earthy element, while cheese adds a savory element. It’s a matter of harmony or contrast with the key elements of the dish to which the pesto will be added. And then of course there is the textural element. Pesto can be almost as smooth as butter or as chunky as a roughly chopped herb relish. I tend to prefer chunky, but, again, that decision is yours.

But what do you do with pesto once you have it on hand? That’s easy! Toss it with freshly boiled pasta or spaetzle, stir it into polenta, spread it on crostini, melt it over steamed veggies, slather it on a sheet of bread dough and roll up, blend it with cream cheese or goat cheese for a vegetable dip, add it to toasted bread crumbs and top a casserole with it, spread it on a fish filet before roasting, smear it on pizza, add it to risotto, melt it onto a baked potato, add it to a fritter batter, swirl it into hot soup, add it to a vinaigrette, stuff it under the skin of a chicken breast before baking, fill an omelet with it, add it to popped corn, dress a potato or pasta salad with it, add it to steamed clams or mussels, or freeze it in 1 tablespoon-size dollops. And this is just the beginning…

Basic Pesto  

This pesto formula is well balanced, with nuts in the starring role and a dry grating cheese in the supporting role. You can reverse or alter these two proportions for a slightly different effect, if you wish. You can also go light or heavy on the oil, which, along with whether you chop or puree the other ingredients, will determine the consistency of the sauce.

Equipment Note   I use a food processor to make pesto, but you can use a more traditional, large mortar and pestle if you like. Even a large mortar and pestle, however, will only accommodate a quarter portion of any of the recipes below. Also, it works best to chop everything coarsely before adding to the mortar.

Ingredient Note   The disadvantage of using basil as the only leafy green is that it has a tendency to discolor when pureed, turning from a lovely bright green to a somewhat less lovely olive green when exposed to air. To mitigate this, I usually partner it with parsley, which holds its color.

1 cup nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, or pine nuts; lightly toasted is nice)
2 cups packed fresh leafy herbs or greens (basil, parsley, spinach, sorrel, or arugula, either singly or in combination, plus perhaps mint, oregano, rosemary, or lemon verbena)
½ cup grated parmigiano-reggiano, pecorino romano, grana padano or dry asiago cheese
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon premium quality vinegar (or fresh lemon or lime juice)
½-1 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil (or grapeseed, walnut, hazelnut or other oil)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste

1. In a food processor, chop the nuts, herbs, Parmesan, garlic, and vinegar until coarsely chopped.
2. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until the desired consistency. Taste and adjust the salt as necessary.
3. Remove the pesto to a container, seal, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 1-1½ cups.

Pesto Oil 

Occasionally I want the flavor of pesto but none of its texture. For this, simply add an additional cup of oil to the completed pesto, macerate for ½ hour at room temperature, and then strain the oil through a triple mesh strainer. The mixture that is left in the strainer is still wonderfully flavorful. Simply add a little oil back to it to get the desired consistency.

Rosemary Hazelnut Pesto

This no cheese pesto is a contrast of flavors: the toasty earthiness of the hazelnuts, fresh sprightliness of the parsley, and pungency of the rosemary and garlic. Add lemon and BAM!

Technique Note   As is, this pesto is about the same consistency as traditional basil pesto, which is perfect for saucing pasta or spaetzle, or smearing onto crostini. However, you can also take a portion of it and add enough additional oil to make the pesto thin enough to drizzle over soups–a very pretty effect. You can even add considerably more oil and then strain the oil off to get a gorgeous and tasty green oil to garnish the most sophisticated dinner plate.

1 cup hazelnuts, lightly toasted and skinned
2 cups packed fresh flat-leafed parsley leaves (1 small bunch)
leaves from 1 medium sprig rosemary 
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½-1 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste

1. In a food processor, chop the hazelnuts, parsley, rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice until coarsely chopped.
2. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until the desired consistency.  Taste and add salt to taste.
3. Remove the pesto to a container, seal, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 1-1½ cups.

Cilantro Ginger Pesto

I love this refreshing blend of cilantro, ginger, green onion, and chile. It’s incredible swirled in Heirloom Carrot Soup.

1 cup macadamia nuts, lightly toasted
2 cups packed fresh cilantro
¼ cup peeled, roughly chopped fresh ginger
2 green onions, roughly chopped
1 jalapeno chile, stemmed, ribbed, seeded, and coarsely chopped, optional
½ cup finely grated Parmesan
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
½-1 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste

1. In a food processor, chop the nuts, cilantro, ginger, green onion, and lime juice until coarsely chopped.
2. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until smooth, about 1 minute.  Taste and adjust the salt as necessary.
3. Remove the pesto to a container, seal, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 1-1½ cups.

Herb Garden Pesto

I make this pesto when the garden is overflowing with fresh herbs, snipping anything that needs to be cut back. I pay hardly any attention to what I am snipping and have yet to end up with a combination that is unpleasing.

1 cup nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, or pinenuts; lightly toasted is nice)
1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
¾ cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves
½ cup finely grated Parmesan
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar  
½-1 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste

1. In a food processor, chop the nuts, herbs, Parmesan, garlic, and vinegar until until coarsely chopped.
2. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until the desired consistency.  Taste and adjust the salt as necessary.
3. Remove the pesto to a container, seal, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 1-1½ cups.

Basil Arugula Pesto

The arugula and pinenuts add a deep, almost meaty element to this savory pesto.

½ cup pinenuts (lightly toasted is nice)
1½ cups packed fresh basil leaves
½ cup fresh arugula
½ cup finely grated Parmesan
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon
½-1 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste

1. In a food processor, chop the pinenuts, basil, arugula, Parmesan, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice until coarsely chopped.
2. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until the desired consistency. Taste and adjust the salt as necessary.
3. Remove the pesto to a container, seal, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 1-1½ cups.

Basil Olive Pesto

The parsley adds a sprightliness to the flavor in this pesto and helps keep it bright green. The olives make it nearly addictive.

½ cup walnuts (lightly toasted is nice)
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
½ cup finely grated Parmesan
¼ cup brine-cured black olives, pitted
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon
½-1 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste

1. In a food processor, chop the walnuts, basil, parsley, Parmesan, olives, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice until coarsely chopped.
2. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until the desired consistency.  Taste and adjust the salt as necessary.
3. Remove the pesto to a container, seal, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 1-1½ cups.

Every year, I rush to Seattle’s Pike Place Market (PPM) in March, expecting to be greeted by a jubilant array of local vegetables, tulips, and daffodils. The tulips and daffodils are always there, and this year is no exception. They are over-the-top magnificent. The local vegetables though are never anywhere to be seen. I know this will be the case, but I can never quite believe it.

Well, think about it. Up until a few weeks ago, the ground was still frozen. The long anticipated sunshine went on hiatus to some other part of the country for the entire month of March, which was bitterly cold. Then, as a kicker, there were many days of heavy rain onto the already soaked ground and that precipitated widespread flooding. Early spring crops don’t fare well under these conditions and many growers sadly lost their first plantings.

In addition, Pike Place Market (although still a favorite haunt of mine) is sadly no longer a true local farmers market (except from June through September on Summer Farm Days and the selection then is not what you will see in other top-rated Northwest farmers markets).

Produce comes into the market from all over the world and it is sometimes difficult to tell whether a particular item is local or imported from elsewhere. In March and April, you get no real sense of local crop availability, except for the glorious flowers. The only vegetative sign at PPM that spring has sprung in Northwest fields and gardens are the crimson displays of hothouse rhubarb, which are welcome harbingers of the bounty to come. (For an early taste of rhubarb, the Zeppole with Housemade Rhubarb Jam & Vanilla Creme Anglaise served at Branzino in Seattle is a lovely dessert.)

But, perhaps PPM’s seafood bounty makes up for the shortcomings in the spring produce department.

These razor clams are gorgeous. In my cookbook, Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking, there is a recipe for Baby Clam and Spinach Soup with Pepper Bacon that could easily be adapted for razor clams. Or use these in your favorite clam chowder.

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The manila clams look incredible right now; so small and perfect. The same goes for the Washington blue mussels from Penn Cove. I have rough sketched a recipe for Clams and Mussels in Spicy Black Bean Sauce, and there is no better time than now to try it out. Perhaps I can throw in a handful of the wonderful greens that are also available right now. Plus the lovely spring garlic. Wow, I can actually smell this!

I am not a fan of precooked Dungeness crab, but they are also available live. I will share with you sometime the “best” way to dispatch and cook a crab, which I learned from Frank Bradley (MauiJim’s Dad) while he was living on beautiful Birch Bay. Now that I have tasted the difference, I always buy them live, rush them home in a cooler, and then quickly and humanely dispatch them with a knife. No boiling water (cruel!), which causes the pungent gastric juices to permeate the flesh, thus muddying the otherwise pristinely clean flavor.

So an entire month has passed and now it’s April. I bundled up this morning and rushed off to the University District Farmers Market to check out the local produce scene. Surely something must be growing by now.

Well, dandelions never stop growing, right? They are delicious served as a wilted salad with a hot, garlic-infused vinaigrette and toasted hazelnuts.

I was amazed at the variety of produce that is available this early in the season. One of the growers told me that after the flood, he took a look at his beaten down crops and decided to plow them all under and begin again. True grit! With the help of a thick insulating material to jump start germination and then an improvised plastic tunnel to keep the young plants from freezing, this grower had several heaping tables of produce to sell, including …

… the most beautiful baby radishes I have ever seen. I wanted to grab a bunch and beg some salt off someone so I could eat them immediately.

I can’t remember when I last saw such an interesting mix of young seasonal greens: arugula, dandelion greens, green kale, red kale, Italian kale, mibuna, mustard greens, sorrel, and spinach.

Mibuna? I admit, I had never heard of it. But thanks to Green Living and the Royal Horticultural Society, I now know that Mibuna is a rather recent entry to the western garden. It can be eaten raw, lightly steamed, stir-fried, or in soup. Young flowering stems can be cooked like broccoli. It can also be pickled. It has a nutty, mustard-like flavor and is similar to mizuna. It is excellent as a garnish or as part of a salad. Next week, I’ll buy a couple of bunches and give them a go in the OtherWorldly Kitchen.

Sautéed Greens Trim and clean two bunches of mixed greens (chard, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale, mibuna, or spinach). Sauté in olive oil; add minced garlic, salt, black pepper, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. When tender, remove to a serving plate with a slotted spoon. Reduce the juices in the pan until syrupy. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and drizzle over the greens.

I do, however, know what to do with sweet, earthy, nutty-flavored sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes): sauté, roast, deep fry, raw in salad, puree into soup, bake in gratin, grate into pancakes, whip with potatoes. Try them in Potato and Five Onion Soup, using half potatoes and half sunchokes.

In addition to the more typical creamy-colored sunchokes, there is also a red-hued variety. They both looked young, tender, and fresh.

Apple Sunchoke Slaw Julienne equal quantities of apple and scrubbed sunchokes. Combine quickly with minced jalapeno chiles and green onions. Toss with a cumin-flavored vinaigrette.

This fragrant young garlic (also called green garlic) is milder and sweeter than later season garlic. It can be used almost in its entirety, as with green onions or leeks. You will find a recipe for Garlic Soup with Sage Leaves and Herb Profiteroles in my cookbook, Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking. Miners Lettuce Salad, with Baby Beets, Beet Greens, Rapini, & Spring Garlic also sounds wonderful.

You know it’s spring when you begin to see fiddlehead ferns on local Northwest menus and in the farmers markets. Buy soon though because the season is short. I LOVE the fresh pickled fiddlehead ferns that are served in season at Higgins in Portland, Oregon as an accompaniment to Herb-Marinated Chèvre Cheese with Olives & Parmesan Toasts. Sensational!

Parsnips rarely look this young, tender, and delectable. You might like to try these in Spicy Roasted Parsnip Soup or Parsnip and Potato Rosti.

I’m showing you only the sign here because the nettles were packaged in plastic bags, as a safety precaution for unwary shoppers. We live part of the year on five acres in the Cascade foothills and the woods are filled with nettles. I have yet to actually harvest them, however. I may have to step gingerly into the woods now though, because Dana Zia of The Go Lightly Gourmet just posted a recipe for Spring Nettle and Leek Frittata, which looks delish.

Northwest Farmers Markets: Early April Highlights

Pike Place Market

• artisan cheeses
• artisan dried cherries
• artisan cheesecake
• artisan honey
• artisan sausage
• cherry blossom branches
• daffodils
• Dungeness crab
• halibut (first of season)
• hothouse rhubarb
• hyacinths
• lamb
• manila clams
• oysters
• pussy willows
• razor clams
• tulips
• Washington blue mussels

University Farmers Market

• artisan breads
• artisan cheeses
• artisan chocolates
• artisan cookies (lavender shortbread!)
• artisan hummus
• artisan jams
• artisan fresh pastas
• artisan pastries
• artisan pies and tarts
• artisan soups
• arugula
• baby leeks
• bacon
• beef (pasture raised)
• bok choy
• Brussels sprouts
• cabbage
• carrots
• celeriac (celery root)
• chard
• cherry blossom branches
• chiogga beets
• cilantro
• crocus
• daffodils
• dandelion greens
• dried cannellini beans
• edible pansies
• eggs
• fresh yogurt
• forsythia branches
• garlic
• golden turnips
• green kale
• hazelnuts
• hyacinths
• Italian kale
• ladyfern fiddleheads
• mibuna
• mustard greens
• organic eggs
• parsnips
• pork (pasture raised)
• purple sage
• pussy willows
• radishes
• red kale
• red potatoes
• rosemary
• rutabaga (gill feather)
• rye
• sage
• salmon jerky
• sorrel
• spiced apple cider
• spinach
• spot prawns
• stinging nettles (fresh and dried)
• strawberry plants
• sunchokes
• triticale
• tulips
• turnips
• verpas (false morel)
• wheat berries
• Yukon gold potatoes

Resources
Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance

University District Farmers Market

University District Farmers Market Vendor List

Pike Place Market

Portland Farmers Market

Hillsdale Farmers Market