Pesto is a base recipe for food as medicine. The herbs you use for pesto are concentrated sources of health-enhancing nutrients. Through the seasons, you can make several batches for use on cooked vegetables, grains, really anything and everything.
Pesto is also a great recipe to begin exploring a little wild plant medicine.
When I speak of wild plants, I’m talking about plants you collect from your (unsprayed with chemicals!) lawn or the edge of a forest. I’m talking about dandelion greens, garlic mustard, mugwort and the like. Many of these wild plants are strongly flavored – I think of them as the wild game of the plant world – and just a little wild food does a human good. So, in pesto, I will mix familiar herbs like basil with a bit of the stronger wild stuff like dandelion or garlic mustard, depending upon what’s tender and not overwhelming (dandelions, for example, get more and more bitter as the season progresses).
Here is a base recipe for pesto I use and modify based on what’s available. Sometimes I use cheese, often not (I love to eat a lot of it, and cheese is not the most health-enhancing food for me, so I use just a smidgen). I can use creamy pine nuts, toasted walnuts, or sweet almonds depending on the herbs I have, the flavors I’d like to play with, and what I’m hankering for.
Here it is:
2 1/2cupsfresh leafy green herbsbasil, cilantro, thyme, parsley or your favorite
1/2cupwild savory herbsgarlic basil, dandelion
2garlic clovespeeled and center woody section removed
1/2cupnuts or seedspepitas, walnuts, almonds
1/2tspsalt
Instructions
Pour oil into a blender, add garlic, nuts, and herbs in thirds and blend to that lovely pesto loose paste-like consistency.
Add salt.
Notes
Classic pesto contains basil and pine nuts and a half-cup of Parmesan in the above recipe. Use your imagination and what you have on hand. Variations are endless!Remember, when it comes to wild food and botanical medicines – safety first!
Just completed the first draft of a book proposal for easeful whole-food eating. YEAH! So, I’ve been reading the amazing food meisters around the net to hear the consensus for quick & easy weeknight dinners. I agree with what I found; two pans max, about 40 minutes of active work max (which does not include the time your sauce simmers away or time in the oven). Leftovers are good. Happy times, because that’s how I cook and I have a great Coconut Peanut Chicken with Sweet Potato recipe for you that fits the bill.
Here is a skillet chicken recipe that is just that: easy, one pan, really flavorful, and great leftovers. The sauce will be lovely over veggies and the chicken will be wonderful tomorrow if you can resist eating it all tonight.
This recipe serves 2, with leftover sauce
Here is a skillet chicken recipe that is just that: easy, one pan, really flavorful, and great leftovers. The sauce will be lovely over veggies and the chicken will be wonderful tomorrow if you can resist eating it all tonight.
This recipe serves 2, with leftover sauce
3Tbspfresh cilantro – stalksfor sauce plus a few whole sprigs for garnish
1/4cpeanut butter
1tsphot chili sauce
1sweet potato – peeled and cubed
Instructions
In a large skillet turned to high, add onions and sear the chicken thighs, skin-down first (to get some fat in the pan). About 10 minutes.
Turn down to medium-low, add sweet potato, cover and simmer 15 minutes.
In a blender, pour coconut milk, ginger, cilantro, and blend until smooth. Run through a sieve (to remove some of the ginger woody pulp) into a medium bowl, add peanut butter and chili sauce, and whisk until smooth.
Add sauce to skillet mixture and simmer another 15-20 minutes.
Top with springs of cilantro and enjoy.
Notes
My Coconut Peanut Chicken with Sweet Potato recipe is easy to expand; you can easily toss in 2 more chicken thighs, or another sweet potato, depending on what you want for leftovers and how many mouths you are feeding tonight. Or, just double the whole recipe. You’ll be getting into 2-pan territory if you do that unless you have a really large skillet.
For all my recipes, I suggest using the cleanest ingredients you can find and afford. So, grass-fed organic chicken (and other meats and eggs) is always best, and organic or bio-dynamic herbs and vegetables are best, though consulting the Environmental Working Group’s Clean 15/Dirty dozen list can be helpful if buying all organic will send you to the poor house (or make your house the poor house). Across the board, using ingredients in their whole form will usually give you the most nutrition. So, if you can grind your own peanut butter from organic peanuts, excellent. If you grow your own herbs, lovely. If not, just do the best you can and worry not about it. Every single ingredient has a whole-to-refined story (unfortunately), so it is hard to keep up. I do find that if you invest time and energy into eating a little cleaner and a little simpler, you will begin to see changes. Keep going!
Enjoy!
Annie
