Basil Sorrel Pesto Potato Salad

So many of my recipes, especially during summer, start with “…on Saturday I went to the farmer’s market.” Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but this one is also inspired by you-know-what. This weekend at the Morningside Market, there was a brand new, teeny tiny stand with a handsome newbie farmer so we had to go say hello. By the way, we always try to spread our love with buying our veggies. You know there are those popular stands with crates and crates of vegetables and fruit, and then there are the little guys with just a few baskets of handpicked leafy greens and herbs. This one belonged in the latter camp and the farmer was so enthusiastic about the sorrel, we decided to get some.

I came home with 1 big bag each of basil and sorrel (basically 1/2 of what was on that stand) not knowing how to use this new leafy green. Sorrel is coming back big time but kale, it is not. It looks similar to spinach, but with a brighter, lighter shade of grass green. It has a very distinctive lemon-y taste, so I wanted to use that to its advantage by making this bright, lovely basil sorrel pesto. There is just that hint of citrus that puts a brighter spin on the traditional basil pesto. This is wonderful at room temperature or chilled.

Basil Sorrel Pesto Potato Salad

4 servings

2 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced into 3/4″ pieces

1 1/2 cups loosely packed basil, cleaned, de-stemmed and chopped

3 cups loosely packed sorrel, cleaned, de-stemmed and chopped

1/3 cup raw walnut halves

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (if you want less oil, you can also do 2 tbsp oil with 1/3 ripe avocado)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast, plus more to taste

plenty of sea salt to taste

fresh black pepper

1. Boil water in a medium pot with steamer. Add potatoes to the steamer and steam for about 8 minutes, or until just cooked through but not falling apart. Take off the heat, rinse with cold water for a minute, and drain. Place in a bowl and put in the fridge to cool.

2. In a blender or food processor, blend on high the sorrel, basil, garlic, oil, walnuts, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, occasionally stopping and scraping the sides to get an even texture.

3. Add pesto to the bowl of potatoes and toss gently to coat. Cover and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.