California Garlic Festival Pasta
This cult favourite pasta dish from the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival in California brings a slightly different approach to your usual pesto pasta.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival has been held in California every year since 1979, celebrating the enormous Californian garlic harvest that provides the vast majority of garlic in the US. The festival produces all sorts of garlic-themed dishes, including a signature garlic ice cream! The most popular dish, eagerly awaited each year, is the festival pesto pasta. Unlike the regular green pesto (Ligurian style), this pesto uses a big handful of garlic greens, with just a hint of basil. These garlic greens can be the greens from garlic bulbs, or a mixture of chives, spring onion tops, wild garlic, garlic chives - any allium family greens you can get hold of. If you grow garlic or onions in your garden this is a great way to use up the greens. The base of this pesto isn’t the usual pine nuts either, but lightly toasted almonds. Some of the festival vendors have started to make this with pumpkin seeds to make it nut-free - feel free to do the same. Expect some other typical pesto features too, like parmesan cheese and olive oil. The real deviation however is the inclusion of lime juice instead of lemon, and melted butter. The combination of olive oil and butter makes a pesto that’s superbly silky, and the butter buffers the harshness of the raw garlic. It’s the best pesto pasta yet. Let’s go!
INGREDIENTS (serves 2x)
2 tablespoons whole almonds, skin-on (skinless/blanched is fine too) or pumpkin seeds
1x clove garlic, peeled
2 stalks basil, plucked
1 big handful of allium greens (any mix of garlic/onion greens, spring onion tops, chives, garlic chives, wild garlic)
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated - or to taste
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
30g butter, melted
juice of 1/2 lime, or to taste
pinch of sugar, or to taste
300g pasta, cooked and rinsed (spaghetti or fusilli is recommended)
WALKTHROUGH
First let’s toast the nuts/seeds. Place a frying pan onto a medium heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of whole almonds and gently toast until fragrant. Once toasted, remove the nuts and place them into a pestle & mortar or food processor.
Pound/process the nuts until you have fine crumbs. Add the 1 clove of garlic and pound/process until the garlic is blended into the nuts.
Now we’ll start to add the greens. Add a small handful of basil leaves and pound/process it into the nut mixture. If using a food processor, it’s best to do this in pulses.
Add the handful of allium greens (any of garlic/onion greens, spring onion tops, chives, garlic chives, wild garlic) along with the 1/2 tsp salt and pepper. Pound/process the greens until they are combined with the nuts, with some texture remaining. It will seem like a huge amount of greens, but you’ll be surprised how much they compact once pounded!
Once combined, add the 1-2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese and mix until incorporated. The mixture may feel quite stiff and dry at this stage.
Add the juice of 1/2 lime, then gradually add the 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 30g melted butter, mixing/processing it as you add it. The mixture should emulsify, turning creamy as you mix it.
Taste the pesto for seasoning, making adjustments with salt, sugar, lime juice or olive oil. The pesto should be thick and spoonable. You can store it in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze it.
To serve, boil your 300g pasta to the packet instructions. Drain the pasta and rinse it well, before combining it with the pesto. The best way to dress the pasta is with your hands! Serve and enjoy it, sunshine or not!
