Rocket pesto

My day really is packed today. And on the way back from a meeting I ate that wretched hamburger, at McDonald’s of all places. My only excuse is that I barely had any breakfast. So for my late lunch or early dinner, I decided I needed something reasonably light and, above all, quick.

I took up a suggestion from Piotr and decided to make pasta with pesto. I didn’t go to the shop to buy pesto as Piotr had suggested, but I had to go anyway. I had neither Parmesan nor any nuts apart from peanuts (and decided I wasn’t going to risk it after all). I’d made rocket pesto with almonds a few times before, so I thought that was an option.

Actually, red pesto is my favourite, but this green one is pretty good. Though I think I blended it a touch too much today. My advice is to go easy with the blender.

It doesn’t look its best, either, but that doesn’t make much difference to the taste 🙂

At a glance:

Prep time: 7 minutes

Serves: enough for a few people

How many calories? I’m still working on the assumption that since Italians are slim, it can’t have many. It’s certainly healthy (look at the ingredients).

Ingredients for rocket pesto:

• Half a punnet of rocket
• 7 decagrams of Grana Padano
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil)
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• two cloves of garlic
• 8 decagrams of skinned almonds
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of ground black pepper

The recipe (blending):

I put the washed rocket in a tall container. On top go the almonds, the chopped cheese (I bought Grana Padano), the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and the garlic, which I’ve smashed with my fist and chopped finely. A pinch of salt and 3 tablespoons of olive oil go in too. Then I grab my hand blender and blend until smooth. Done. Nothing to it. I check the taste and add more oil if it’s too dry.

I used some of the pesto straight away in this very simple pasta recipe. I added a little oil to the rest, covered it with cling film and there it sits quietly in the fridge (I just don’t know how long pesto like this will keep in the fridge. If you know, please leave a comment. Mine always gets eaten within 3–4 days). Enjoy!