This week I thought I would post a fun, easy pesto recipe using seasonal arugula. Keeping with the theme of late spring veggies, arugula is everywhere and delicious. The spicy green is beautiful on a salad, in a sandwich, or thrown onto of your eggs. Using this potent green as the base of pesto makes for a wonderful condiment.

Ingredients

1-2 Cloves Garlic
3 cups Arugula
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (can always make it without cheese)
1/2 cup Walnuts ( pine nuts are a more traditional option)
1 cup + more if needed Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Recipe

For this recipe I am going to suggest a Cuisinart food processor or a blender, but if you are feeling fancy, go for the mortar and pestle. Start with peeling your three gloves of garlic and drop them in the food processor, allowing the blade to dice the gloves into small bits. Next add three cups of arugula, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, 1/2 cup Walnuts, 1/2 teaspoon of peppers, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Blend until all mixed well, about 1 minute. Lastly, slowly incorporate 1 cup of good olive oil. If you are using the Cuisinart you can pulse as you pour the oil in slowly, then once the full cup is empty, give all the ingredients a blend for about 30 seconds. Done! Your magic green sauce is ready to be put on any summer dish.

All summer, I try to have some flavor of pesto in the fridge. I make a batch each week. You can mix this with pasta or rice and throw a protein onto and have a meal, or again spice up your morning eggs with pesto toast. Its a great healthy way to add flavor and nutrients to most dishes.