Seasonal Pestos

[feather]

It's too early for harvesting the basils I have planted. It's just the right season for the oregano that is taking over the asparagus garden. It's leafy and green and lots of it. So we tore off a couple quarts of it, washed it, drained it.

Oregano Pesto
In a food processor, grind until fairly smooth:
A couple handfuls of fresh oregano leaves and soft stems
1 T or more of lime juice, or lemon juice
garlic, fresh or dry powdered
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts (any type that you like)
salt and pepper

(cheese optional, parmesan or other white cheese)

We made this today for variety to put on spaghetti, instead of just a meat/sauce. This would be really good spread on french bread slices, topped with provolone or other white cheese.

Depending on what you have growing you can make spinach pesto, garlic basil pesto, cilantro pesto. Yum yum!

[susannah]

I'm just seeing this now. Is the flavor of oregano pesto a lot stronger than basil pesto - meaning would you use less of it? It never occurred to me to use oregano in pesto. Right now, my basil plants are growing like absolute weeds and I'm trimming constantly so I am freezing up plenty of basil pesto cubes. But last year I just had way more oregano than I could use, and this would be great to try if (and probably, WHEN)  that happens again. Thanks!

[feather]

I can't tell you if it is a stronger flavor (oregano to basil), we just put a few tablespoons on some pasta and then added more, it was different and delicious.

I've heard of using garlic scapes in pesto, spinach, parsley, seems like lots of green thing to try!