Sunday, March 20, 2011

Opening Day and Arugula Pesto

It's like a holiday. We mark it on the calendar and count down the weeks and days. We muse about what treasures it will bring this year. And when it finally comes, we forgo an extra hour or two of sleep and rush over. I'm talking about the first day of the farmers market, which just happened to be yesterday.

We stocked up on arugula, Tuscan kale, rainbow chard, carrots, French breakfast radishes, leeks, farm-fresh butter, Dungeness crabmeat, and saucisson sec. We also picked up a baguette, a couple of pastries for breakfast, a fragrant strawberry mint start to put in the garden, and more than a little inspiration.

The first thing I made with our glorious produce was a huge batch of Arugula Pesto.


Arugula Pesto
Printable Recipe

6 ounces baby arugula
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth.

Makes nearly 2 cups. Toss with pasta, stir into soup, spread on sandwiches, or spoon over grilled steak. Keeps for a couple of days tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

8 comments:

katerina said...

I just LOVE arugula. I am jealous it is at your farmers markets already. I actually just planted mine two weeks ago. I love it on pizza, I bet the pesto on the pizza would be great!

Maggie Williams said...

AHHH, I missed opening day- DRAT.
I will be heading down hopefully this coming weekend. Make sure you do not buy your tomatoes from anyone but RON- I am pretty sure his first weekend this year is first of April- He is about half way down and has the very best. If you get there early enough he sometimes has butter lettuce, big bunches of basil, or some experimental extra hot peppers.

Emma said...

It's hard not to be a fan of a plant that goes by the name of rocket!

Do you find that a certain type (or size) of arugula makes for a tastier/zestier pesto, or do you think it wouldn't make much of a difference?

Lucy Vaserfirer said...

Emma,
I think arugula that's tender and not too sharp makes for the best pesto.

kellypea said...

We have farmer's markets all year here, so I guess that's a good thing. I don't take advantage of them as much as I should, though. I love arugula pesto better than the traditional basil. Great recipe!

Trina said...

yum! i just made some spinach basil pesto last week and oh was it delightful. :)

red clay said...

The photos are so gorgeous, I'll have to try the recipe.

avaserfi said...

We had left over arugula after dinner so I turned it into pesto it with your recipe. Delicious!

Thanks!

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