Pasta with herbs and walnut pesto

I don't know if anyone else gets as excited as I do when it comes to fresh herbs. I can never get enough. Usually at this time of year they are popping up everywhere. I always make pesto when I have herbs available to me. Over the winter it would cost me a fortune to buy little packs at the supermarket if they were even available.

Fortunately I have one of my favorites in abundance which is chives. I dug them up from a ditch by a school that's closed. They were hidden with other weeds so I felt that it was my duty to give them a proper bed to grow in. Our garden has the worst soil but these chives were growing in sand so they were easy to pull out.

I also got a clump of marjoram from the neighbor that is not doing well and some basil that I bought and planted which is a little week. I have basil that I grew from seed but they refuse to grow more than a centimetre high.

I also swiped some lovage from my next door neighbor when she wasn't looking. I guess that sounds bad but I consider it a complimentary pruning for her. She won't even miss it.

For me pesto doesn't have to end at basil and pine nuts. You can put many things in a blender and make a delicious paste to toss with pasta or potatoes or spread on toast. I even use it as a veggie dip sometimes.

Today I went all out and had some pasta smothered in my herb pesto which was primarily chives and lovage. I just didn't have enough basil and marjoram to use much.

Herb pesto

1 cup chopped chives
1 cup chopped lovage
1 sprig of basil
1 sprig of marjoram
1 cup walnuts (I am using walnuts because I bought a huge bag for a decent price)
juice of 2 lemons
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon pepper

Blend everything together and if it's too thick you can add more oil or lemon or water. Taste as you go.

When I coat the noodles with the pesto I don't put it all at once. Sometimes it gets to be too much and you feel like you are just eating the pesto. I learned the hard way.