Arugula Pesto Takes Over The Kitchen: Searching For The Best Arugula Pesto Recipe& My Discovery Of Arugula Pesto Pizza

Homegrown Arugula, Homemade Pesto

If you thought it took me a long time to get around to posting this article, 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 (pun intended), or in the kitchen trying yet another variation. I know I'm glad. Talk about overwhelming.

So what did I discover from the 30,000+ 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 (also known as 'rocket'). I started working my way through the list (stopping after several dozen) 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.

The top hit was in fact from fellow food blogger Elise at Simply Recipes, who puts toasted walnuts in her arugula pesto and 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.** 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 is high in Vitamins A & 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 my post, How to Go from Seed to Salad Bowl 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 favorite basil pesto: olive oil, pecorino romano (or parmesan) cheese, garlic, and some fresh parsley to mellow out the peppery flavor of the arugula. No nuts because I am not a nut fan.

I also decided I would quickly saute the garlic in olive oil to get rid of some of that raw garlic kick. And when a foodie friend emailed me and said that she often just tossed fresh arugula with hot pasta, for some reason I had the brilliant idea to add the arugula to the olive oil and garlic and cook it down a bit, thinking it would mellow out the flavor as well.

Blanching never occurred to me until I read those other recipes, and I wonder if they did it for flavor, or as a way to get some of the liquid out of the leaves. I ended up basically trying to saute 14 ounces (which is a lot) of arugula at once. It wasn't pretty. It did cook down eventually, but then I had to drain off all the water in the pan, and I think a lot of my olive oil went down the drain with it. Now you can see why the blanching idea sounded good to me. But in the end, I decided that cooking the arugula in any way is not necessary. I did, however, still cook the garlic, but that step is purely 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 cooked 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 boost of fiber as well. On top of that, they're one of the World's Healthiest Foods. I adore garbanzo beans and often eat them right out of hand as a snack, just rinsed and sprinkled with a bit of nice salt. They're a staple in my pantry and are also a cook's bargain; I usually buy cans of organic garbanzo beans for about a dollar.

The only other thing I want to mention is that young arugula leaves will make the best pesto. As the leaves mature, they get increasingly stronger in flavor (how strong will depend on the variety you're growing). My first batch was sublime: smooth but with just enough of that peppery kick to know that you were eating arugula. A very picky eater, who won't even eat basil pesto unless it is buried in pizza sauce, even thought my arugula pesto was delicious.

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. Feel free to 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 all-time favorite foods. I wasn't kidding when I said arugula pesto had taken over the kitchen.

Farmgirl Susan's Arugula Pesto

1/3 cup (or more) of your favorite olive oil
1/2 to 1 ounce garlic (about 3 to 6 smallish cloves), peeled and sliced
6 ounces dry arugula (about 3 cups), preferably very young leaves
3 ounces freshly grated pecorino romano or other hard cheese (about 1 cup)
1 cup canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (about 5-1/2 ounces)

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 2-3 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. 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 oil if desired.

Arugula pesto will last for at least a week in the refrigerator (if you can keep from eating it all). 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.

It may also be frozen in plastic containers or ice cube trays (then remove from trays and store 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 Non-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. 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:
(I haven't thought of a clever name for it yet)

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 (other other hard 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 homemade Farm Dressing (my version of Ranch: combine yogurt, sour cream, bit of mayo, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, good onion & garlic powder, salt & pepper, chopped freshly parsley if you have some) and dipped pretzels and cut up veggies into it. I also used this as a salad dressing.

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, 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 dough and 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.

**Many thanks to 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!