There’s nothing better than working away in the kitchen all day and serving a meal to appreciative guests, right? In my book, there is actually something way better, whipping together something easy and fast and still getting all those compliments. I always keep a couple of my secret weapons on hand, those key ingredients that give my dishes a little bit of that secret something.
I’ve acquired some favorites over the years and pesto, in many forms and iterations is one of them. Basically pesto is a simple trio of ingredients blended together with olive oil. Traditionally the base is basil, coupled with parmesan cheese and pine nuts. There are dozens of variations; mushroom, olive, sundried tomato, radicchio, to name a few. Here I’m sharing my recipe for Arugula Pesto, which is a fabulous way to get a little taste of summer on your table during the winter. Big boxes of Baby Arugula are available at almost every grocery store year round, and if you splurge a little on some good quality parmesan, this can actually make quite an inexpensive meal.
Ingredients
1 large box Baby Arugula (450gr)
1 cup shelled walnuts
½ cup parmesan cheese
½ cup olive oil
2 cloves fresh garlic
juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp honey
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
Directions
Toast walnuts over medium heat until lightly browned and toasted.
Combine all ingredients (including walnuts) in a food processor or blender. Blend until all ingredients combined.
Can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.
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