Baby Arugula Pesto

As winter gives way to spring, I develop an early hankering for genovese pesto. But genovese basil is such a staple of summer it seems a crime to have it any other time of year, even if sweet basil is available from an indoor herb pot or the southern hemisphere. Thankfully, while the most famous, basil is not pesto's only base.

Arugula—also known as roquette, rocket, and rucola—is a cool-weather crop, producing fresh greens as early as the winter depending on your climate, with even colder locales yielding baby arugula come spring. Thus, my goal with this recipe is to create a pre-summer pesto for those warmer late winter or early spring nights, with the sweet herbaceousness of basil supplanted by the pepperiness of arugula.

Baby Arugula

Arugula, Eruca sativa, is a flowering, leafy-green plant in the Brassicaceae (cabbage and mustard) family. The flavor is quite strong for a leafy-green, with a unique black pepper taste. Arugula is popular in salads (as my favorite green), wilted into pastas or soups, garnished raw onto pizza, or blended into pesto.

Selection: Choose leaves that are bright green, delicate, and crisp, with intact, dry stems. Either whole bunches or pre-cut are fine. Both baby and mature arugula are excellent, although I prefer baby for its subtler taste and because mature arugula, when not exceedingly fresh, can develop some bitterness.

Storage: Remove the arugula from its packaging and loosely wrap in slightly-damp paper towels. Place in a plastic bag or its original plastic carton. Store in the crisper in your refrigerator. Will keep crisp 3-4 days.

Baby Arugula Pesto on Fusilli

This recipe produces a pesto not unlike pesto alla genovese and may be used as its replacement in any dish. The most noticeable difference, aside from the arugula, is the removal of pine nuts and the addition of capers, which pair rather well. Some recipes keep the pine nuts, or swap them for walnuts, but the nuttiness and slight bitterness of nuts do not marry as well with arugula as sweet basil.

Makes enough for 1 pound of pasta.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound (about 4 cups lightly packed) baby arugula
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 teaspoon gray salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons salt-packed capers, rinsed and dried
5 cloves garlic
1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, preferably stravecchio
1/4 to 1/2 cup your favorite peppery olive oil

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the baby arugula, lemon juice, gray salt, black pepper, and ground cayenne pepper. Pulse several times, until the baby arugula is chopped.

While the food processor is running, add the capers, garlic, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Process until incorporated.

Again with the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto is a creamy paste. Taste and adjust salt and black pepper.

To use as a pasta condimento: Cook pasta until 30 seconds short of al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of cooking liquid. Return the pasta to the warm pot, now removed from heat. Add any other desired ingredients. Add the pesto until the desired consistency. Add the cooking liquid, only a table spoon at a time, to help the pesto stick to the pasta. Stir well. Plate, garnish, and serve.