I first learned about pea shoots a few years ago – it seems that they were all the rage for a while on food blogs and cooking shows. I have to confess though that I hadn’t actually eaten a pea shoot until this past weekend, as I could never stand the thought of pinching off any part of a pea plant that might produce a pea. We were at the farmer’s market, and one of the vendors had hearty bunches of pea shoots for $2.00 a bunch. I had to have some. I took them home, washed one shoot off and nibbled – pure pea concentrated. I was in spring overload.
I’ll pesto just about any green you put in front of me, so I had to make pea shoot pesto. I saved about a quarter of the pea shoot bundle for a salad – pea shoot pesto, pea shoots, asparagus, assorted micro-greens, and hard-boiled eggs have made the perfect mid-day meal to get me back on track for eating real food. This makes me think it would have been worth it to sacrifice a few pea pods just to eat the pea shoots – it’s that good.
Pea Shoot Pesto
1 bunch pea shoots
12 basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup olive oil
Combine ingredients from pea shoots through lemon juice in a food processor and process for a few pulses. Add olive oil slowly and continue to process until the pesto is a smooth paste. Pesto can be frozen for several months.
