New Potatoes with a Lettuce Pesto Dressing

Following on my from my Chickpea, Cherry Tomato & Rocket Salad on Tuesday and next up in my trio of Higgidy side dishes I give you New Potatoes with a Lettuce Pesto Dressing today. Yep you read it right, Lettuce Pesto. A whizzed up selection of lettuce leaves with olive oil, Parmesan, pine kernals, lemon juice and a little garlic. I actually used a combination of all my Sarah Raven leaves that I was kindly given as seedlings to grow: Mustard ‘Red Giant’, ‘Green Salad Bowl’ and ‘Solix’ lettuces, Rocket and Mizuna. And most delicious it was too smothered on organic and local new potatoes (from my local veg box delivery service, Skylark Organics). And delicious as a side dish to all the Higgidy quiches I was lucky enough to sample.

As most of you well know I’m a bit of homemade pesto fiend making it out of pretty much anything green and vaguely leafy. There’s a useful list of potential pesto ingredients in my Stilton, Walnut & Parsley Pesto Spaghetti with Roasted Mushrooms Pesto post. The latter still being one of my favourite dinners and favourite pesto combinations, if you’ve not tried it you really should!. My other pestoey posts include Double Rocket Pizza (with Rocket Pesto), Parsley & Almond Pesto, Griddled Courgettes, Feta & Homemade Pesto Crostini and more recently my uber-healthy Kale Pesto. Fortunately fifty percent of my offspring share my love for pesto with me, and that be Jacques. He adores his ‘green sauce’ always insisting on helping me make it and being chief taster throughout. Though as I’ve learnt can never be trusted alone with a bowl!. Strong stuff for little tums.

As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been back growing my own this summer, albeit on a much reduced scale than I’ve accomplished in the past. Here’s a snap of my back garden patio and most of my pots and troughs. I can’t even begin to tell you how good it feels to be back on it and I’m already looking forward to next year and digging out a proper patch in the garden for some more serious growing.

I’m entering my post to a few bloggie challenges, which I’ve been sorely neglecting to do of late:

1) To Family Foodies which I co-host with Vanesther. This month it’s my turn to host and we have an Al Fresco theme.

2) To Elizabeths Kitchen Diary‘s Shop Local as the spuds came from my local organic veg box scheme and the lettuce and leaves from my garden, about as local as you can get.

3) Finally to Ren Behan’s Simple and in Season event, together with my enormous congrats on the birth of her latest gorgeous addition.