Linguine With Arugula (and basil!) Pesto
A while back I told you about this awesome cookbook, Two In The Kitchen, that I’ve been rather enamored with. I’ve found a lot of inspiration in the pages of this one, and I have a long list of recipes I still want to try. Recently, I wan’t sure what to do with a large bunch of arugula I had hanging out in the fridge. I had bout it with good intentions, intending to eat a lot of salad for lunch throughout the week. Unfortunately, you all know what they say about good intentions, and the road where it leads. Needless to say I didn’t eat much salad. However, I hate wasting food, and really didn’t want to let the arugula spoil.
Cue Two In The Kitchen, which happens to have a recipe for, you guessed it, arugula pesto! Now, Two’s recipe called for completely omitting the traditional basil found in pesto. I adore basil, and the wonderful flavor it adds to pesto. Which means it was adaptation time. I’m really pleased with how the adaptation turned out, and I think you will be too. This pesto gives you that wonderful basil flavor, but also has a subtle peppery flavor from the arugula that’s really nice.
I added this to plain and simple linguine, but it would also be great on any type of pasta, make a nice sandwich spread, a sauce for chicken, crostini, or as Two In The Kitchen suggests, fish.
Plus, don’t you think this has to be monster healthy with all that arugula?
Michelle’s Arugula Pesto
- 2 cups baby arugula
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 cup toasted walnuts (toasting is optional)
- 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan
- 1/3-3/4 cup good olive oil
- 1lb. Pasta for serving.
1. In a large food processor, blend together arugula, basil, garlic, parmesan and olive oil. I recommend starting with a 1/3 cup of olive oil and adding more until your desired consistency is reached. (The photos show the full 3/4 cup of olive oil, though I made a point to make sure some of that oil was drizzled around the plate for artistic effect.)
2. Prepare the pasta according to the package’s al dente directions. Add the pesto to the pasta pot, string well. Allow the pesto to heat through before serving.