Wild Garlic Pasta

5 from 1 vote

This is the simplest wild garlic pasta recipe. And the best, probably, as well. A quick pesto stirred into freshly cooked pasta, and you could not be happier!

Prep Time10

Cook Time8

Total Time18

Course: Pasta and Rice

Cuisine: German, Italian

Servings: servings

Calories: 628kcal

Author: Adina

Ingredients

14 oz spaghetti or other pasta
3.5 oz wild garlic stalks removed
¼ cup whole raw almonds with skin on, Note 1
½ cup Parmesan Note 2
⅓ cup mild olive oil
⅓ teaspoon fine sea salt add more to taste
a few drops of lemon juice to taste

US - EU

Instructions

Cook pasta: Start cooking the water for the pasta. Once it’s boiling, add salt generously. Cook pasta according to the packet’s instructions. Drain well and reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water.
14 oz spaghetti
In the meantime, make the pesto.
Chop wild garlic: Wash and dry the wild garlic very thoroughly. Chop the leaves and place them in the food processor. Process to a rough paste, scrape down the walls with a spatula.
3.5 oz wild garlic
Add ingredients: Depending on the food processor, you might need to chop the almonds roughly. Add almonds, cubed cheese, oil, salt, and lemon juice, and pulse until the desired consistency is achieved. You will need to scrape the walls of the food processor a couple of times in between. Adjust the taste with more salt and a few drops of lemon juice.
¼ cup whole raw almonds+ ½ cup Parmesan + ⅓ cup mild olive oil + ⅓ teaspoon fine sea salt + a few drops of lemon juice
Combine pesto pasta: Mix with the cooked pasta. Add some of the reserved cooking water to loosen the consistency. Don’t add all the water; start with a little and add more gradually until it looks right to you.
Serve sprinkled with more Parmesan (Note 3).

Notes

Almonds: You can also use blanched almonds. You can also make the pesto with sunflower seeds or pine nuts.
Parmesan: I strongly recommend using Parmesan from a wedge and not pre-grated, it makes a lot of difference. Pecorino also tastes good.
You can make a large batch of wild garlic and almond pesto and freeze it in small jars; it will be great for at least one year. See the blog post for more details on that.

Nutrition