Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Arugula Walnut Pesto

I'm not sure if I've mentioned yet that I am (jointly, with my parents) a member of Victory Farms' CSA this year. Since the markets are open and Victory's CSA has begun, it's officially the season for...are you ready for it? Yes: solutions to your bulk produce problems!

This week?

On my first trip to the market, I picked up a massive bunch of arugula from Victory's table. I thought I'd just use it in my salads for the next few days, but it turned out to be WAY more arugula than I had anticipated. Even using a LOT on my salad every day at lunch, I realized most of the bunch would go bad before I could eat it. And, come on -- you can only eat so much arugula in one day.

Solution? Arugula Walnut Pesto!


Pesto doesn't have to be confined to basil -- you can use any fragrant green as a base. There are plenty of recipes online for pestos made from arugula, mint and cilantro. I found this recipe on RecipeZaar and doubled it; the result was wonderful, a spicy, garlicky spread with a variety of potential uses. One idea is to make toast and use the pesto as a spread; pesto pizza is an option, and then there's always pasta. Pesto is a great way of preserving greens that wilt and go bad quickly -- I highly recommend making arugula pesto if you have extra.

3 comments:

  1. Be careful with cilantro pesto.. cilantro overkill is not hard to achieve.

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  2. Mmmm! We made some of this and used it as a pizza topping instead of red sauce. Aside from the little crunchies leftover from a failed attempt at washing, it was excellent! Quite a change from the normal pie. Thanks for the recipe!

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  3. Hi Natalie! I am about to make a whole bunch of this for a "baked goods" gift exchange. Thanks!

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