pesto and mojo

tho' it's barely summer yet, we've already had some glorious weekend weather. the kind that makes you want grill and eat outdoors and only come inside when the dew is settling and a chill enters the air.  and barbeque means a couple of our favorite condiments - nettle pesto and mojo.

our nettles are young and tender and just perfect for big, garlicky batches of pesto. it's dead easy and i always make a big batch and hope that it lasts at least a few days into the week. you blanch the nettles to take away the sting. we actually think it's better than a basil-based pesto, but then we may be biased by our northern climes, where it's easy to grow nettles and not to easy to grow basil. but nettles are delicious and full of nutrients. plus, they're plentiful and free!

stinging nettle pesto

1 colander full of fresh nettle leaves (if they've started to bloom, don't use them, as they may give you a bad tummy)

generous handful of nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts - whatever you've got at hand - i've even used cashews)

2 fat cloves of garlic

1/4 C freshly-grated parmesan

good quality olive oil

salt & pepper

pinch of paprika

blanch the nettles in boiling water for a minute or so, drain them well and rinse with cold water. squeeze out all of the excess water and toss them into the food processor with the other ingredients and whizz it up. drizzle olive oil in until your pesto has the consistency you'd like. it's a perfect accompaniment to grilled meats and veggies, but is also delicious tossed with pasta for a quick dinner once the hectic week gets started.

another staple at our house is a peppery mojo. we had some couchsurfing guests from tenerife a few summers ago and they taught us to make it. it's a lovely combination of fresh, sweet red peppers, garlic, nuts, paprika and olive oil. i make it year-round and we use it as an accompaniment to omelettes , fresh bread, meat, pasta - anything, really. our couchsurfers served it with salt-roasted potatoes and that's the traditional way in tenerife. but like any adopters of food culture, we have suited it to our own purposes and we use it with just about everything. but we think of our couchsurfing friends from tenerife with a smile every time we make it.

mojo

3-4 fresh, long sweet red peppers

1 tsp. smoked paprika

2 fat cloves of garlic

handful of nuts - i like pistachios best, but have been known to use almonds, walnuts or pine nuts if i don't have any pistachios on hand.

salt & pepper

good olive oil

like the pesto, you just whizz up the ingredients in the food processor, drizzling in olive oil until it's the consistency you desire. i highly recommend it with virtually any meal. you can also change the flavor to a richer, deeper, darker taste by roasting the peppers and garlic in the oven instead of using them raw. delicious and versatile. often i make it in the food processor after i do the nettle pesto, leaving the last remains of the pesto there, so it becomes flecked with bits of green. 

but you can do your own experiments. if you add these two condiments to your summer grill table, i guarantee you won't be disappointed.

grilling season

it's that time of year at last! time for meals on the grill. time for laughter and a whimsical summer rosé and for lingering in the garden 'til dusk (which is how we learned we have a hedgehog).

because of the reality of our weather (evenings can be cool, even in summer), we had a grill table made by a blacksmith - then husband repurposed some old palettes as the actual table bits. it has a grill down the middle of it, which both means people can grill their own food and keep warm, as the metal boxes holding the charcoal warm under the table. even the cats have noticed and come and flop down under there as the evening starts to get chilly.

we find ourselves grilling most anything we have at hand and even learned that grilling mussels works very nicely!  you just pop them on the grill and they open right up when they're done (if they don't, throw them away!). i stirred up a homemade aïoli (garlic mayonnaise) to go with them.

aïoli (garlic mayonnaise)

2 cloves of garlic, crushed in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt

1 tsp. vinegar

1 egg yolk

1 T warm water
canola oil (at the beginning)
a good fragrant olive oil

whirr this all together in a food processor until it's frothy and bubbly, then, while the processor is running, begin to VERY slowly (i cannot stress the very enough) drizzle in oil - i almost always use a combination of a good quality rapeseed (canola) oil (i owe you all a post on how the danes have made canola oil posh) and a fruity extra virgin olive oil. i start with the lighter canola, as it helps the mayonnaise come together (it can be temperamental and i have had many failures) before adding the heavier olive oil, once it has begun to look like mayo. i'm not really sure how much oil i add, but somewhere around a 1/2 cup makes a good batch.

this pork tenderlion, i browned on the stove, then wrapped in ramsløg (those wild garlic you get in the spring) and bacon, then wrapped it in foil and we finished it off on the grill. once the wild garlic season is past, you could use any other herbs...sage would be lovely, as would spinach or even just coating it in a nice pesto before wrapping in bacon.

a standard part of virtually any grilled meal at our house includes sliced eggplant (aubergine), zucchini (corgette), sweet red peppers, onions (small ones, leave the skin on and slice them in half), asparagus - whatever is tasty and in season. we even grilled some small artichokes (cut in half). i make a bowl of olive oil filled with minced garlic, salt, pepper and chopped, fresh herbs to brush over them while they're on the grill. we eat them as soon as they're ready.  sometimes, i bake some small potatoes on the grill - scrubbing them well and wrapping them in foil.

but the very best thing we've been making on the grill is homemade tortillas. the recipe comes from the river cottage bread book and has me so convinced that i will never buy store-bought tortillas again. they are easy and outstandingly delicious.

tortillas

2 cups flour

1/3 cup of water (you may need a little more or a little less, so don't add it all once)

1 T salt

mix well, using the dough hook on your mixer. if it's too dry, add a bit more water (flour can behave differently depending on the grind and frankly, the weather). put it aside in a bowl and let it rest for at least half an hour. then form into golf ball size balls and roll them out with a rolling pin. then put them in a hot pan - i use a bit of olive oil, tho' the original recipe doesn't - we find it makes them a bit more pliable. we usually flip them and then put them directly on the grill at the end, where they puff up wonderfully. we also make quesadillas right on the grill, by filling with cheese and pesto and other yummy things and folding them over as they cook.

as an accompaniment, i nearly always make a big bowl of creamy tzaziki

tzaziki

1 C (250 grams) greek yogurt

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 a cucumber, grated

salt and pepper to taste

a few leaves of chopped, fresh mint if you have it

grate the cucumber, salt it and put it in a sieve to let some of the moisture drain out. squeeze it well and add it to the yogurt and garlic, stir it well.

now if the sun would just shine this weekend...because writing this made me quite hungry.