Arugula Pesto
Sometimes you just want to try something a little different for dinner. Summer is a good time for that especially if you are lucky enough to have a garden for inspiration. The star of the produce right now is arugula.
It is so easy to grow. Scratch up a little dirt – in a garden or a backyard pot and sprinkle in seeds. In about 3 weeks you have beautiful arugula.
Eat all of that and then grow some more or, if that doesn’t strike your fancy, go to the grocery and buy a bag. I used the arugula to make a beautiful pesto.
The dish only had five other ingredients – all household staples and it just seemed like kind of a fun idea. There is basil in the garden, and I could have used it for a more traditional pesto – but I’m so glad I didn’t. The arugula pesto was surprisingly a little spicy and tasted so fresh. Unlike basil pesto it stayed a vibrant green even as a leftover. In my house this has become a summertime favorite!
Although we all love pasta or at least everyone I know does, it’s not a bad thing to lighten it up a little and use zoodles – zucchini noodles. At this point in the story only fair to mention that my husband would die of starvation before he would eat zucchini, so he got pasta. Either way this is a fabulous dish. It took me about 1 minute to blend this up and another to use my spiralizer to make zoodles. Of course, then it took 10 minutes to make the pasta ruining my plan for a 2-minute dish – but all is well that ends well and this ended very well indeed. Get your hands on some yummy fresh arugula and give this a “spin”. You’ll be glad you did. Enjoy!
2 cups firmly packed arugula
3 Tbsp toasted walnuts (in microwave for a minute)
2 cloves garlic
Juice of ½ of a lemon
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
¼ cup parmesan cheese (I just cut a chunk from a larger piece in the fridge – adjust according to taste.)
Put all of the ingredients in the food processor and let it run for about a minute. Taste and add extra cheese and/or olive oil. Salt optional.
Serve mixed into hot pasta or zoodles. Leftovers are fabulous! Also great on fish or chicken.
