Sea Aster Pesto is a modern British recipe (from Alaska) for a classic vegetarian starter of coarse sea aster pesto served on halved unripe walnuts. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Sea Aster Pesto.
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Last summer I came across some green walnuts by the river Taf. An escapee from a Victorian garden, probably. I knew there were lots of things you could make with unripe walnuts, though I wanted to treat them with some respect to preserve the original flavour. Another journey to the beach and I sourced sea aster. They make a salty pesto that should go well with the walnuts I thought. The result was this foraged ingredient vegetarian starter.
Ingredients:
2 handfuls of sea aster shoots and leaves
1 handful of toasted pine nuts
10g butter
1 garlic clove
1kg unripe walnuts (green or black)
freshly-ground black pepper, taste
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 200°C.
Split the unripe walnuts in half lengthways.
Combine the sea aster greens, pine nuts, garlic, and butter in a food processor and chop finely, but don't render to a purée.
Arrange the halved unripe walnuts on a baking tray or baking dish, spoon over the sea aster pesto and garnish with plenty of freshly-ground black pepper.
Transfer to the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake for about 2 minutes (this will make the walnut meats easier to extract).
