You know what vegetable is super-underated? Radishes. They’re super quick and easy to grow and extremely photogenic. They’ve someone how aquired a reputation as something you use for garnishes or pasta salad but don’t let that fool you. There’s tons of great recipes to use up a bountiful radish harvest especially since the entire plant is edible!

The tops though a bit prickly are perfect for pesto. The texture isn’t noticable once they’ve been proccessed and their kick adds a really nice flavor. Plus you’re using what for most people is garden waste! This recipe is also thrifty because it uses sunflower seeds in place of pine nuts.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1/2 cup or more of olive oil (other veg. oil will work)

1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds

2 cups packed radish leaves (any variety)

2 cloves of garlic (scapes make an excellent spring stand-in)

1 tsp lemon juice

Start by washing and roughly chopping your radish leaves. You can use the entire stem. Toss them into a food proccessor with all of the other ingredients.

While proccessing you may need to add more oil if your pesto is too thick. Slowly add more oil to reach a desired consistency.

If you’re using unsalted sunflower seeds, add salt to taste.

Then you get magic. It’s excellent when paired with pasta, crackers, or my personal favorite baked on bread or pizza.