Updated: Until a comment on my post about my CSA share – and the things I disliked in it – I had no idea that arugula could be made into pesto.
I’m getting pretty good at whipping things into some form of pesto – cilantro, basil and whatever other herbs I can toss in, plus cheese, nuts or no nuts, whatever I have in the pantry.
But I’d never even considered the pungent arugula, which I can barely stand, even mixed in with baby greens and drenched in my favorite dressing.
Still, after last year’s season of CSA waste, I pledged to try my hardest not to trash much of anything from my share this year. That’s been tough, especially because the half share we’ve been getting (a full share split with another family) is about twice as much as we got with our half share last year.
So when a commenter told me I could make pesto (something I love) out of arugula (something I don’t), I was game.
Loosely following a Simply Recipes ingredients list, I stuffed about two cups of washed and rough chopped arugula into a food processor with walnuts, garlic, olive oil and a little salt.
It’s not half bad, though still a little more arugulaish for my palette. That was until the next night when I tossed it with some pasta and a few crumbles of feta cheese.
Wow. What a meal. Adding the cheese was exactly what this pesto with a strong aftertaste needed to mellow out. I actually enjoyed the strong flavor of the green alongside the creamy feta.
Adding something sweet (like grapes or apples) or tossing in some tomatoes would have also been great. Think I might try that over the next few days.
Virtual Farmgirl 