Recipe: Pea Shoot Lemon Pesto

Feeding my mental wellness with creative culinary experimentation means another recipe was born! I bought some pea shoots from Groundwork Organics and had the thought to make another pesto.

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I still had some cilantro from Gee Creek Farm, walnuts from Sun Gold Farm and some garlic from Salmon Creek Family. This particular variety of garlic is quite potent when raw (in my opinion), so I opted for a lighter use in this recipe so that the pea shoots and cilantro could be the star flavors coming through.

I paired the pea shoot pesto with angel hair noodles from Miracle Noodle and, appropriately, snap peas also from Groundwork Organics. I love these noodles because they don’t add unnecessary carbs, and they remind me of rice vermicelli, one of my all time favorite kinds of noodles.

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Recently I haven’t been bothered by timing all the dishes of our meals so that they’re all ready at the same time. Instead we’ve been eating things as separate courses as they become ready. This was our first course, and it was a good one!

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Since I’ve never used pea shoots in a pesto, I wasn’t sure if I should use the stems. I did a test run, and they didn’t breakdown very well in my food processor, so I took the time to pluck the leaves off the stems, but I did use the super thin tendrils at the end of the vines. I saved the pea shoot stems for a chicken-vegetable broth, which also turned out great!

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🌱Pea Shoot Lemon Pesto🍋

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2 cups peas shoot leaves and small tendrils

1/4 cup cilantro

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 - 1 garlic clove (or to taste)

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

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Place all ingredients into food processor and process until combined to desired consistency. Enjoy!