Arugula Pesto
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We have a 3 ft by 6 ft patch of arugula growing in our garden and for the last two months I've been looking for ways to make use of it. By the way, arugula (a.k.a. rocket) grows like a weed and re-seeds itself every year. The bugs and snails don't seem to touch it (they go for the lettuce instead). Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini is always a great source of inspiration and I remembered her intriguing recipe for Pesto de Roquette. I had heard that walnuts are good in pesto so I tried making the arugula pesto both ways - one with pine nuts and one with walnuts. I think the arugula pesto with walnuts is better. The strong, meaty flavor of the walnuts balances out the astringency of the arugula, a good blend of flavors. I've made pesto both with mortar and pestle and with a food processor. The food processor method is definitely easier but the mortar method produces larger pieces of the arugula (it could be that my mortar is too small for this task).
I prefer a mild garlic flavor that you can achieve by using roasted garlic. The 1/2 raw garlic clove is added for a little kicker. The first time I made this pesto it was with only raw garlic and it was a little overwhelmingly garlicy. Using roasted garlic is a great way to still have the garlic flavor but without the intensity.
Arugula Pesto Recipe
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Ingredients
- 2 cups of packed arugula leaves, stems removed
- 1/2 cup of walnuts
- 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced
Method
1 Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium high heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins.
2 Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly brown, or heat in a microwave on high heat for a minute or two until you get that roasted flavor. In our microwave it takes 2 minutes.
3a Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the arugula, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.
3b Mortar and pestle method (photo pictures pesto produced this way): Combine the nuts and garlic in a mortar. With the pestle, grind until smooth. Add the cheese and olive oil, grind again until smooth. Finely chop the arugula and add it to the mortar. Grind up with the other ingredients until smooth.
Because the pesto is so dependent on the individual ingredients, and the strength of the ingredients depends on the season or variety, test it and add more of the ingredients to taste.
4 Mix with freshly prepared pasta of your choice*. You may need to add a little bit of water or more olive oil to mix the pesto more evenly with the pasta.
Makes enough pesto sauce for an ample serving of pasta for four people.
*Use gluten-free pasta if you are cooking gluten-free.
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I discovered arugula pesto on a Rachael Ray TV show and I agree with you it really is wonderful with walnuts. I also discovered that adding a little water really helps the texture. I'm a little more liberal with the olive oil than you are, but I admire your restraint!