Savory Muffins (Greens & Pesto)

savory muffins with greens and pesto (photo by jhy)

You will need:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c. oil
• 1/2 c. yogurt (at least)
• 1 c. milk
• 10 oz cooked greens (spinach, nettles, others) See Nettles
• 1/2- 1 c. pesto See Garlic Mustard Pesto
• 1 c. shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, etc)

mixing spoon or fork
spatula
2 medium bowls
measuring cups & spoons
muffin pans for regular size (2 1/2 inch) muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare 12 muffin cups. You can insert liners, but for less bread loss on the paper, try How to Bake Muffins that Won't Stick to the Pan (link coming soon).

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, add oil, milk and yogurt and mix well. Add the squeezed out cooked greens (save the juice). If the liquid seems thick add in a little of the juice from the greens. This is where you have to do some guessing in this recipe because the amount of liquid in the greens, and the thickness of the pesto may require the addition of more liquid.

savory muffins ready to bake (photo by jhy)

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid all at once. Stir until thoroughly moistened, but the batter will still be lumpy. Over-mixing muffins will make them tough and dry. If the batter is really too stiff to stir, you can add more greens juice or yogurt, but don't stir excessively.

Finally, fold in the cheese and pesto until distributed.

Fill the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes until tester or toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans.

Garlic Mustard Pesto

garlic mustard pesto (photo by jhy)

You will need:

One packed cup of clean garlic mustard leaves
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pine nuts
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 cup common chickweed (Stellaria media) or fresh parsley leaves or 1 T dried parsley
1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmezan or romano cheese
salt to taste

garlic mustard leaves, harvested (photo by jhy)

Pick garlic mustard leaves, Alliaria petiolata. I filled a medium bowl with them, which packed nicely to just over a cup. Wash thoroughly.

Chop the nuts and garlic together. There is lots of leeway in this recipe. A food processor would be nice, but I don't have one. So I chopped these two things by hand to get them started. You will need some kind of processor or blender or even an immersion blender.

Then I used my immersion blender stick and just stopped it to clear the blade every few seconds. It worked fine. Put in a few leaves at a time until everything is coarsely chopped.

one packed cup of garlic mustard leaves (photo by jhy)

Then I started adding the olive oil, and that made the blender stick happier. Blend until you like the consistency. I didn't even measure the oil, but just added some until I liked the texture.

the immersion blender chopped the leaves (photo by jhy)