Arugula Pesto Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower

By hefk -
I think pesto is magically delicious. I posted a marjoram-parsley pesto recipe here not long ago and now I'm posting an arugula pesto recipe inspired by simplyrecipes.com. Of course, basil pesto is where the obsession started back in my 120 South Park kitchen in 2000.
For the pesto recipe, I took the fat down a notch this time and let the leaves and water do a lot of the work. The roasted cauliflower just sounded like a nice way to make it a more hearty dinner than a bowl of pasta. They worked well together.


Roasted Cauliflower

Preheat oven to 400

Ingredients

One head of cauliflower
olive oil
S&P

Wash head of cauliflower and pull apart lovingly into florets of varying sizes. (Cutting makes too much of a mess, pulling apart leaves you with nice big pieces)
Arrange on a baking sheet
Brush each floret with olive oil and sprinkle with S&P
Roast for about 25 minutes (I turned it up to 425 for the last 5 or so minutes)


Arugula Pesto Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups of packed arugula leaves, (I used baby arugula that was on sale. I washed the leaves and left them pretty wet.)
1/2 cup of walnuts
4 Tablespoon fresh Parmesan cheese
scant 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of chopped garlic

1 lb pasta shapes that have lots of grooves

Method

Food processor method (the fast way): Combine the arugula, walnuts, garlic, Parmesan cheese and olive oil into a food processor. Pulse until texture is what you want.

Prepare pasta according to package directions.

Combine in a cool bowl or pot.


Makes enough pesto sauce for an ample serving of pasta for four people.

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