Danielle and Jason are foodies... they subscribe to all the good food and wine magazines. Whenever I am visiting them in Connecticut, I go through their recent issues and try to snag some good recipes. Last night I made basil and arugula pesto. Jeff was a little skeptical of the combination, but I knew we would love it because we are big fans of both. Last night we had it mixed pasta, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, topped with garlic sauteed shrimp. The photo is our lunch today, we slightly warmed the leftover pasta (no shrimp - we ate it all last night) and shared a tuna sandwich, served up on our new Tom White plates that we acquired at the League of NH Craftsmen's show. The rerun was just as tasty!
Here is the recipe:
1/3 cup pine nut, or almonds (I used almonds, the pine nuts were too expensive where I was shopping)
Toast the nuts in dry skillet, until lightly browned, let cool. Pulse in a food processor until finely ground.
Add approximately 1 1/2 cups fresh basil, and 1 1/2 cups fresh arugula to the processor, along with 2-4 cloves of fresh, chopped, garlic. Add about 1/4 tsp. of kosher salt (I use Himalayan, that's just our preference).
Grate 1/2 cup of good parmesan cheese, add to the food processor and pulse to combine.
Slowly pour in 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, pulsing to incorporate. Transfer the pesto to a bowl.
The recipe said to incorporate a 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese to the pesto. I forgot to buy the ricotta but had fresh mozzarella. I mixed the mozzarella in with pasta and fresh tomatoes before serving.
The recipe makes about a cup of pesto, use about a 1/2 cup for one pound of pasta... but if you are like me... extra pesto is always a good idea!
Bon Appetit!
