Harmony Kitchen

May 17, 2025 Recipe of the Week

We’ve had lots of interest in last week’s pesto recipe. What’s not to love about a delicious meal you can make in minutes? And big batch for even quicker future meals?!

This week I experimented with a few other pesto flavours. I have some other delicious options for you to try!

We are transitioning from the greenhouse to outdoor garden beds this week (to make way for tomatoes!!) so there will be a bit less variety while we wait for the soil to warm up.

In the meantime, we will rely more on cold hardy and perennial crops. With the cool weather we have had, we still have sunchokes and ramps available. The garden sorrel is crisp, sour, and delicious.

Our last crop to come out of the greenhouse will be our winter carrots. They have been slowly growing throughout the winter. This is their first week on the menu of options for 2025. The roots are small and sweet and the tops are luscious and just perfect for making (you guessed it) pesto!

Our pesto recommendations this week:

Chervil, Carrot Fronds and Garden Sorrel

Pantry items: – Extra Virgin Olive Oil (~1/2 cup) – 1/4 Lemon (or, if you have one, a whole calamondin lime) ~1/2 cup parmesan or other cheese of your choice (for sorrel I used feta and it was delicious!) ~1/2 cup nuts (pine nuts are my favourite with chervil, cashews with carrot fronds and walnuts with sorrel but you can use what you like/have in the cupboard from pine nuts, walnuts, blanched almonds, pepitas or raw cashews) ~1/2 tsp salt

Method

The method is very similar to (the same as!) last week’s recipe. All pestos follow the same basic formula.

Differences this week include

1. No need to add kale as the flavours are not as strong (but if you want to sneak it in, go for it!)

2. Since the base ingredients are not garlicky, you will need to add some garlic flavour. As we are out of last year’s summer garlic, we are offering baby spring garlic with the recipe boxes this week. You can go ahead and use a clove of garlic from your counter, fermented garlic/garlic scapes.

I have repeated the recipe here for those who didn’t already try it last week. If you already made last week’s pesto, no need to read on, you’ve got this!

Start by toasting the nuts. Place them in a dry skillet on medium high heat and keep moving them around so that they don’t burn. Soon they will start to smell delicious and will have a light browning. Remove them from the heat until you need them.

Next, wash and chop the main ingredient (carrot fronds, sorrel or chervil. You don’t need to throw away anything unless there are tough or woody stems. It will be chopped up so tiny that all parts are good to include. Once washed, they can be roughly chopped. Or you can rough chop first then triple wash and then dry in a salad spinner.

For the lemon, you can use an entire 1/4 lemon wedge. Wash the rind carefully and cut off the pithy ends then cut the wedge in slices. Cut the little edge of membrane at the thin edge of the wedge and remove the seeds. If you are using calamondin lime, cut it in 1/4’s to check for and remove seeds then throw the entire lime in the mix.

Place the greens, salt, lemon slices and about 1/2 of the olive oil in the food processor. Pulse until the greens are partially chopped then turn the processor on until they are very finely chopped. Add olive oil as it chops to keep the mixture a smooth and creamy consistency.

Finally, add the nuts and cheese and do a final run in the processor. Add more oil if you need it to keep the pesto consistency nice and creamy, like soft serve ice cream.

Pause and taste the pesto. Add a bit more salt or some pepper if you need it.

That’s it! Serve it right away with some pasta or put it in a jar with a bit of olive oil over the top to keep it from oxidizing. It will keep well in the fridge for pasta or sandwiches later in the week or you can pop it in the freezer and have it on a day when you have even less time:).

Time Savers, Storage Tips and Spin off Recipes

• Saving your veggie scraps as you cook makes for amazing home made stock to enhance many future meals.
• In this recipe, you can save the garlic tops.
• If you keep a zip lock bag in the freezer, you can add scraps as you go. Include carrot peels, onion peels, celery leaves and bases, herb stems, and so on.
• When you have a full bag or two and some time in the kitchen, throw it all in a large pot of water. Add saved chicken bones if you like. Boil, then simmer until it smells rich and delicious. This process takes a few hours.
• Once strained, you can freeze or pressure can the broth in 1, 2 or 4 cup portions. Use it anywhere you would use chicken or veggie stock.

Did you Know?

Store bought broth often contains ultra-processed additives including “natural flavouring”.

This term can be quite confusing and misleading.

Natural flavours are complex mixtures created by food chemists or “flavourists”.

People tend to form positive opinions when they see the term “natural”.

These ingredients are often highly processed even though they are derived from natural sources.

There is increasing evidence linking ultra-processed foods and ingredients to a host of health issues. These include gut disorders, inflammatory disorders, diabetes, and obesity.

Making a large batch of your own stock is easy. Saving it allows you to increase control over what you are using in your cooking.

This Recipe’s Plant Count: Five, 6 if you add pepper and 7 if you decide to sneak in that kale!

Time Required: ~10 minutes, just enough time to boil some pasta!

Number of Servings: Dinner for four people, with leftovers