Arugula Pesto

This past Thursday marked our first CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) delivery of the season and we were very excited to put together our vegetable-heavy menu for the week.  After determining what we would do with the collards, swiss chard, bok choy, broccoli, lettuce, & radishes, I was left with a bag of arugula and no ideas.  While I've made quite a few different arugula salads of late, I wanted to try something different this time and came upon a number of recipes for a pesto using arugula rather than basil.  The below is the one I tried:

Arugula Pesto Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of packed arugula leaves, stems removed
• 1/2 cup of shelled walnuts
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1/2 garlic clove peeled and minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD

1 Brown 6 garlic cloves with their peels on in a skillet over medium high heat until the garlic is lightly browned in places, about 10 minutes. Remove the garlic from the pan, cool, and remove the skins.

2 Toast the nuts in a pan over medium heat until lightly brown, or heat in a microwave on high heat for a minute or two until you get that roasted flavor. In our microwave it takes 2 minutes.

3 Combine the arugula, salt, walnuts, roasted and raw garlic into a food processor. Pulse while drizzling the olive oil into the processor. Remove the mixture from the processor and put it into a bowl. Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

Aside from the beautiful bright green color, my first impression after tasting the pesto was the immediate strong peppery flavor.  However, the taste it left in your mouth was absolutely fantastic.  As I'm typing this, my 1 1/2 yr. old is downing a bowl of pasta with arugula pesto & meatball!  We plan on using the leftovers later this week on a baked potato.  I believe you can make this ahead and freeze the pesto but you will need to do so before you add the cheese.  I will definitely be making this one again.