It seems a long time ago now since lockdown number one. Every cloud has a silver lining, at that time there were grave concerns about the food supply chain (remember the loo paper shortage?) and incipient food shortages.

We decided to start a kitchen garden, and Tried & Supplied founder, Domini Hogg, headed up the project. If you are new to having a kitchen garden every new harvest is an occasion for wonder and excitement. Producing your own food is psychologically very rewarding; eating something that minutes before was still flourishing in the ground, the bracing freshness of it, is almost shocking; and the creativity required to cook with it, often as a glut, is constructively challenging.

The radishes have claimed a particular place in our hearts because they were our first-born, so to speak. Committed already to sustainability, but also with a vivid memory of the work involved in their nurturing, we determined to use the whole plant, not just the rudely red, gobstopper root; but also the leaves.

We made pesto from the radish leaves. This is how we did it.

Radish leaf pesto

This made enough to fill a small bowl.

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Ingredients

• 80g/3 oz radish leaves (minus any tough stem)
• 30g/⅓ cup grated Parmesan or pecorino
• 30g/1 oz mixed pistachios and almonds (or other nuts)
• 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and crushed with ½ tsp smoked salt
• 2 tbsps minimum olive oil
• Pinch of Urfa pepper
• Lemon zest from half a lemon – or half a slice of preserved lemon

Instructions

1. Put everything except half the lemon zest into the blender, and blend until the whole lot is smooth. If it’s a bit thick, add a bit more oil.
2. Put into a sterilised glass jar, and cover with a film of oil.
3. Kept in the fridge with the film of oil this will keep for about a week. Or it also freezes well.

For more about pesto and lots of ideas for things to do with it, follow this link.