Sorrel Pesto and the Mystery Plant

We love pesto, but it's definitely not cheap. That's why the idea of making our own pesto has always interested me. I tried making a kale and walnut pesto once, but I forgot to add salt and it didn't really turn out. But that was a long time ago, and I decided it was time to try making pesto again. Before I share the recipe I used, I first need to tell you the story of the mystery plant.

We moved into our current home in January—while there was snow on the ground—so we didn't have much of an idea of what we'd find growing in the gardens. We were told there would be tulips, and we could see a couple rose bushes and hydrangeas, but other than that we got to be surprised as things came up. As the spring and summer progressed we were able to identify most of what we found in the gardens, but one thing had us stumped: a set of three large plants that looked very much like spinach. The problem was that they came up from root balls that have clearly been there for a long time—and spinach is an annual plant, not a perennial. We made guesses and asked around and did some Google research, but nothing seemed to make sense. So I just gave up for a while. I felt sure that they must be edible because they are growing in what had clearly been a vegetable garden, but I didn't want to harvest it unless I knew what it was. The plants grew and went to seed and died back. But then once the cooler weather of fall arrived, the plants started growing again, and once again I got the motivation to find out what they are. I decided to try eating a leaf, and found that it was sour and lemony and tasty. That gave me something to work with, and after some research I came to the conclusion that it must be sorrel. It looks right and tastes right, and sorrel is a perennial plant. Mystery solved!

Now that I had three large sorrel plants, I really wanted to do something with them! I looked around for recipes and discovered that you can make sorrel pesto! I knew that I had to give it a try.

The recipe for sorrel pesto is very simple: two cups of packed sorrel leaves, half a cup of slivered almonds, two cloves of garlic, some salt and pepper, and a quarter cup olive oil. You mince the first five ingredients in a food processor and then add the oil. You can find the recipe I used here.

Apparently two cups of packed leaves is a pretty vague measurement. I think I managed to fit a lot more sorrel into my two cups than I was supposed to, because my pesto definitely needed more almonds, and oil, and everything else really. But it was easy to make the additions, and turned out beautifully!

I put the pesto in a canning jar in the fridge and we have enjoyed it for a couple different meals now. You can definitely taste that it is made from a plant, more so than pesto from a store, but it is still really good! I consider sorrel pesto to be a success!