Mustard Greens Pesto

A young rabbit got into the greens patch. At first it ate the carrot tops. I sprinkled some dried hot peppers around them and it looks like they will recover. Now the cute little beast moved on to kale, collards and other cruciferous vegetables. I must do something about it. I grew enough to share but the rabbit doesn’t know any better and will take bites from multiple plants without finishing a particular leaf.

I must remove all the weeds that are providing cover, in the garlic patch and the greens patch. Then, I’ll replace the 2 x 4 welded wire protecting the greens patch with chicken wire. (Why do they call this mesh “chicken wire?”). There is enough season remaining to make the effort worth the time. In fact, kale I planted in February won’t finish until well after the first frost in October. I MUST do these things…

Winterbor kale is as good as kale gets and the rabbit appears to prefer the Blue Dazzling kale and collards. I picked the biggest leaves from our six Winterbor plants, washed, and froze them for winter. No, I don’t blanch them. Just because I grew something doesn’t mean I should preserve everything beyond the season. Winterbor is the best kale, though. I’ll freeze everything I don’t use fresh.

That brings me to mustard greens. I plant them because there are seeds left from previous seasons. There is not much use for them in our kitchen because it is so spicy. One of my recent traditions is to make pesto with them to spread on toast. This year’s batch included a generous amount of mustard greens, Pecorino Romano cheese, pine nuts, garlic scapes, salt and extra virgin olive oil. There are now two small jars ready for use. It is a tasty if somewhat expensive addition to the pantry.

Today, the auto auction company arrives to pick up our used Subaru. With the repairs needed they will likely sell it for parts. I donated it to Iowa Public Radio as I did our last one. I don’t understand how their financial settlement works, although I’m glad they have it. The dealer wouldn’t give us much in trade against the new purchase. We feel we are helping a good cause.