Arugula Pesto

With just a food processor, a few common ingredients, and a few minutes, you can make this fabulous Arugula Pesto!

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup walnut halves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 -2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 small organic lemon (optional)
2 cups tightly packed baby arugula (5 ounces)
1/2 – 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS Place all ingredients into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until finely chopped.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

A FEW OF THE MANY WAYS YOU CAN USE THIS PESTO…

• SALAD DRESSING - Bitter arugula pairs well with sweet balsamic vinegar and buttery extra virgin olive oil to make a great salad dressing!

• STUFFED MUSHROOMS 

Mushroom Caps stuffed with Arugula Pesto mixed with extra Parmesan Cheese and garnished with Parmesan Cheese

• APPETIZER SALAD – Just spoon Arugula Pesto over sliced tomatoes and avocados! Who knew healthy food could be this amazingly delicious!

• SOUP – To 1 cup of a chicken, beef, or vegetable broth/stock, add 1/4 cup Arugula Pesto. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan, if desired. Note: The soup will have tiny walnut pieces in it, and that’s a bit unusual for a soup, though quite nice, at least to my taste.  If you prefer, you can omit the walnuts in the pesto.

Baby Romaine and Arugula with Tomatoes, Blueberries and Mango

Did you know that…

• Baby romaine lettuce comes in absolutely gorgeous deep red and green leaves?
• Arugula is a cruciferous vegetable and therefore has the same anti-cancer properties as broccoli and cabbage?

This salad of Baby Romaine and Arugula with Tomatoes, Blueberries and Mango is stunningly pretty, absolutely delicious, and wonderfully HEALTHY — a great way to enjoy summer’s bounty.

BABY ROMAINE and ARUGULA with Tomatoes, Blueberries and Mango

For each serving of salad

1. Fill a dinner plate with a couple handfuls of Olivia’s Organics Baby Romaine (absolutely gorgeous green and red leaves) and one handful of Olivia’s Organics Baby Arugula.
2. Scatter 1/2 cup of each of the following over the salad greens on the plate:

• bite-size chunks of tomato
• bite-size chunks of peeled mango (I used a champagne mango.)
• fresh blueberries

3. Scatter 1 tablespoon of chopped walnuts over the salad greens.

4. Scatter 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves over the salad greens. (See tips about fresh thyme leaves below.)

5. If desired, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of Fresh Lime Salad Dressing (see recipe below) over each serving.

Ingredients – Fresh Lime Salad Dressing

To make 1 serving (about 2 tablespoons):

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon Dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To make 4 servings (about 2 tablespoons per serving):

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions – Fresh Lime Salad Dressing

Place the salad dressing ingredients into a little bowl and mix with a fork or a little whisk until fully mixed.

TIPs: Fresh thyme leaves

1. If the thyme  is very tender and you are using the tips of the plant, then you really do not need to take the leaves off the stems. Just use a pair of kitchen scissors and cut the stems and the leaves into small pieces.
2. If the thyme is not that tender, then you will want to take the leaves off the woody stems. Here’s a nice trick for doing that easily!

• Wash the fresh thyme and spin dry it.
• Place the spun-dry thyme into a quart-size plastic bag for the freezer and freeze.
• When the thyme has frozen, remove the bag with the thyme from the freezer, and without opening the bag, take hold of the sprigs of thyme and rub them vigorously against each other. Very soon, almost all of the leaves of thyme will fall off the stems and end up in the bottom of the freezer bag!
• Now when you need a teaspoon of fresh thyme, just spoon it out of the freezer bag!
• Note: To be kind to the environment, re-use the plastic bag — without washing it. When you’ve used up all the thyme leaves and only the stems remain in the bag, keep the stems for your next pot of soup. Also keep the empty plastic bag, as is, in the freezer until you have some more fresh thyme to put into it.

Enjoy and be healthy!

~Leni