Arugula Pesto Con Noci Recipes

Steps:

• Prepare an ice water bath in a large bowl, and bring a large pot of water to a boil. Put the arugula in a large sieve and plunge it into the boiling water. Immediately immerse all the arugula and stir so that it blanches evenly. Blanch for about 15 seconds. Remove, shake off the excess water, then plunge the arugula into the ice water bath and stir again so it cools as fast as possible. Drain well.
• Squeeze the water out of the arugula with your hands until very dry. Roughly chop the arugula and put in a blender. Add the garlic, salt and pepper to taste, olive oil, 2 tablespoons of the pine nuts, and the vitamin C, if using. Blend for at least 30 seconds. In this way the green of the arugula will thoroughly color the oil. Add the cheese and pulse to combine. The pesto will keep several days in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.
• Pull out before dinner to get to room temperature. Before serving, add the remaining 1 tablespoon toasted pinenuts.

Steps:

• Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade, and drop in the garlic cloves. When they are chopped and adhering to the sides, stop the machine, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the walnuts. Turn on the machine, and process until they are finely ground. Scrape down the bowl again, and add the arugula and the salt. Pulse until the arugula is finely chopped, then turn on the machine and run while you slowly drizzle in the olive oil. When the mixture is smooth, stop the machine, scrape down the sides and process for another 30 seconds or so. Scrape out into the bowl of a mortar and pestle. Grind the mixture with the pestle for a smoother texture. Work in the cheese and combine well.

Steps:

• 1. In a food processor, combine the walnuts, garlic, arugula, Parmesan, and 1 tsp salt and pulse to blend. With the machine running, pour in the olive oil through the food tube in a slow, steady stream and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Steps:

• To measure, push the roughly chopped arugula into your measuring cup -- not too hard, but don't measure loosely.
• Put this in your processor.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, and whizz.
• I prefer a pesto which is not too smooth, but slightly "granular" still.
• NOTES: If you're using ready-washed arugula and parsley which are dry, you might want to add a tiny bit more oil. Mine usually has water on the leaves, which adds to the liquid available.
• You can toast the walnuts lightly. I prefer walnuts because they contain more oil than other nuts.
• The arugula should definitely be young -- the moment they start going to seed the leaves become very bitter.
• The pesto should stand, covered, in the fridge for a few hours or more, as the flavours then meld better. Delicious forked into hot al dente spaghetti, with extra, fresh parmesan shavings on top. Can be dropped into a mixed greens salad by teaspoonsful.
• I eat this on hot toast as well. (Ah well, takes all kinds to make a world -- !).