Low fat arugula pesto recipe made with homegrown arugula and canned garbanzo beans
Update: Wondering what else to do with arugula? You might also enjoy my easy Arugula Cottage Cheese Dip/Spread/Sauce Recipe or this Roasted Leek and Potato Soup with Arugula.
If you thought it took me a long time to get around to writing this post on how to make arugula pesto, you should be glad I started researching arugula pesto recipes after I'd already come up with mine. Otherwise I would most likely either still be sitting at the computer, dazed and Google-eyed, or in the kitchen trying yet another variation. Talk about overwhelming.
So what did I discover from 30,000+ Google search hits for 'arugula pesto?' That there are practically as many recipes for arugula pesto as there are cooks in the kitchen—and that the only thing they appear to have in common is that they all include arugula, which is also known as rocket.
I started working my way through the list and found arugula pesto recipes that called for the following ingredients: walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, roasted red peppers, toasted pepitas, chopped olives, aged gouda, parmesan, raw garlic, pan roasted garlic (where the garlic is cooked in a pan on the stove for 10 minutes—I've never heard of this but it sounds intriguing), chives, parsley, ricotta, olive oil, honey, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, miso, Splenda, lemon juice, and one small potato boiled, peeled, and chopped. My goodness.
Recipe below. . .
The top search hit was from my friend Elise at
, who puts toasted walnuts in
her arugula pestoand often makes it using a mortar and pestle. One recipe I found didn't even include garlic, and one was made with nothing but arugula and olive oil.
A few of the recipes called for blanching the arugula in boiling water, plunging it into an ice water bath, and then squeezing the leaves dry, but none of them said why they did this* (see note explaining why at the end of this post).
Serving suggestions included everything from simply tossing it with hot pasta or boiled potatoes, to offering it alongside steak, to putting a dollop on delicata squash soup.
I also learned various little arugula tidbits, including that it's high in Vitamins A and C, has only two calories in a one cup serving, and is thought to be a skin clarifier. (Learn how easy it is to grow your own arugula in this post: Lettuce and Arugula in the Garden, with Step-by-Step Photos Showing How To Grow Arugula from Seed in Less than a Month.)
Now let's back up to my own, pre-Google arugula pesto adventures. I went into the kitchen figuring I would make the pesto using the same ingredients that are in my
: olive oil, Pecorino Romano cheese (or Parmesan), garlic, and some fresh parsley to mellow out the peppery flavor of the arugula. No nuts.
I also decided I would quickly sauté the garlic in olive oil to take away some of that raw garlic kick, but this step is optional.
When I went searching for parsley in the fridge, I came up empty. So I grabbed the only other thing I thought might work—and that I haven't seen in any other arugula pesto recipe: some canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas). Score! They worked perfectly. They not only mellowed out the flavor of the arugula, but they added a pleasant nutty taste and a healthy boost of fiber as well.
Organic garbanzo beans are a staple in my farmhouse pantry and are also a cook's bargain; I buy them
by the case.
Keep in mind that young arugula leaves will make the best pesto. As the leaves mature they get increasingly stronger in flavor, especially in warmer weather. How strong will depend on the variety you're growing.
My first batch of arugula pesto was sublime: smooth but with just enough of that peppery kick to know that you were eating arugula. The last batch was made with mature leaves that were stemmy and already beginning to bolt, and the resulting pesto was too strong and bitter for my taste, even when mixed with yogurt or sour cream.
So here's the final recipe that I came up with. You can personalize it by adding more or less of any ingredient—or adding some of the ones listed above. Most pesto recipes call for more olive oil than this—some as much as an entire cup.
Following the recipe are all kinds of things I did with this yummy stuff, including a second recipe I created for Arugula Pesto Cream Cheese Spread, as well as one of my new favorite foods—arugula pesto pizza.
I wasn't kidding when I said arugula pesto had taken over the kitchen.
Update: Thanks to those of you who let me know how good this arugula pesto tastes with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice added. I've included it in the recipe as an optional ingredient.
Farmgirl Susan's Arugula Pesto
1/3 cup (or more) of your favorite olive oil
1/2 ounce garlic (about 3 smallish cloves), peeled and sliced
6 ounces dry arugula (about 3 cups), preferably very young leaves
3 ounces freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)
1 cup canned organic garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (about 5½ ounces)
Freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste (optional)
If desired, first cook the garlic:
Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic to the hot oil and cook for 1 to 3 minutes until barely golden, turning the slices once.
Combine the arugula, pecorino romano, garbanzo beans, and garlic (spoon it out of the olive oil if you cooked it) in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. (I love my 12-cup KitchenAid food processor, which comes with a handy mini bowl that fits inside).
Slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream with the motor running. This will help the pesto emulsify. Add salt to taste and more olive oil and/or freshly squeezed lemon juice if desired.
Arugula pesto will last for at least a week in the refrigerator. Cover it with a thin layer of olive oil if you're the type of person who gets upset when the top of your food turns a different color.
You can also freeze arugula pesto in plastic containers or ice cube trays. Once they're frozen, remove from trays and store the pesto cubes in a zipper freezer bag—keeping in mind this will make everything else in your freezer taste faintly of pesto if you aren't careful.
What I Did With My Arugula Pesto (besides eating it straight from the dish with a spoon):
—Tossed it with hot pasta, sprinkled with lots of freshly grated Pecorino Romano.
—Stirred it into yogurt cheese and dipped organic celery sticks in it.
—Stirred it into sour cream and dipped organic carrot sticks in it.
What Else I Would Do With It:
—Toss it with boiled new red potatoes.
—Make Arugula Pesto Creamy No Cream Pasta Sauce:
(I used to make this all the time using basil pesto. Try it on anything from fettuccine to tortellini.)
Place a heat proof bowl over pot of pasta water while it is coming to a boil (I use a large stainless steel bowl) and put several Tablespoons of butter in it (don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). Add the same number of tablespoons of flour once the butter has melted, whisk until thoroughly combined, then let cook (still whisking) for a minute or two.
Slowly pour in enough milk to make a sauce, whisking constantly. Whisk in arugula pesto to taste. Add hot, drained pasta to bowl and toss gently until combined.
I also made Arugula Pesto Cream Cheese Spread:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (or more if desired) arugula pesto
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Keeps several days in the refrigerator. Tastes even better after a day or two.
What I Did With This Spread:
—Put it on crackers.
—Licked it straight off the knife.
—Mixed it with equal parts
.
What Else I Would Do With It:
—Stir it into mashed potatoes.
—Use it in a sandwich.
—Spread it on thin baguette slices and pop them under the broiler for a minute or two for an instant, elegant appetizer.
Now this is all well and very good, but my arugula pesto did not truly come into its own until I found myself one evening with a little too much
homemade pizza doughand decided to make myself an 8-inch arugula pesto pizza to tide me over until the homegrown beef salami pizza was ready.
Oh. My. God. Let's just say I only had room for a very small slice of the salami pizza that night. I could probably eat one of these two times a week for the rest of my life. There are dozens of other combinations you could make (I read one recipe that suggested arugula pesto, cheddar cheese, and fresh tomato slices), but for me the simplest is often the best. All I did was spread a generous amount of pesto on the dough and then top it with thin slices of fresh mozzarella and a liberal sprinkling of Pecorino Romano.
If you ever get tired of devouring these pizzas on their own, I am sure they would be wonderful served alongside grilled steak and salad instead of French or garlic bread. Or you could make all of the guests at your next dinner party swoon by baking several small pizzas and passing around little appetizer-sized slices.
There. Now that ought to keep you fed for a while. But if you're still hungry, you'll find links to all of Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.
*Thanks to my food blogging friend (and awesome chef) Bruno for coming to my arugula blanching question rescue. He says, "As far as reasons for blanching arugula, I learned a couple of things in cooking school that may interest you. You already mentioned one... blanching reduces the intense flavor of certain things. We used to blanch garlic to make it less intense. "The other thing I learned was blanching maintains the color of things especially when you are going to process them. For example, when making basil or mint oil, blanching in oil or water would keep them from turning a brownish color when churned in a food processor." Very interesting!
