Inspiration: Brandon and I love arugula. It’s Brandon’s favorite salad green, and even though we’re not huge salad eaters (mainly because we both prefer our side dishes at supper to be warm), we can both get behind a good arugula salad. So when I was at the grocery store and needed a tiny bit of arugula for one recipe, of course it only made sense to buy the largest package available even though I had no plans for using the rest of it. Hey, it was on sale. We could just have some salads with dinner throughout the week, right? Nope.

What We Loved: This pesto has an earthy, rich flavor that is really different and unique. It’s very much characterized by that defining peppery taste of arugula, and without knowing the ingredients, Brandon noted right away that he could taste the flavor of pistachios. So far, we’ve eaten this stuffed into chicken breasts, mixed into scrambled eggs, and dolloped atop a cheese pizza, and I imagine that it’d be good in any number of applications. I always love a sauce that is so versatile.

Tips; This one is pretty simple, but I do want to caution that it is very different in taste from regular basil pesto. If you’re like me, your mind hears the word pesto and automatically associates it with that rich basil flavor that is so prominent in pesto, but this one is a completely different story in flavor. It sounds silly to even mention it, since the taste will obviously be different as the basil and pine nuts have been completely replaced with arugula and pistachios, but I thought it was worth a quick caution. If you love arugula, though, I’m pretty sure that you’ll love this, too.

Arugula Pistachio Pesto
Source: Inspired from Love and Olive Oil

4 cups packed baby arugula
1/3 cup shelled pistachios
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/3 – 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper

1. Combine the arugula, pistachios, Parmesan, and garlic in a food processor. Process until finely minced.

2. With the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto reaches the desired consistency.

3. Season to taste with salt and pepper.