Arugula Pesto: Recipe + Video

Actually, you can pesto anything

I can remember the first time I made pesto at home. I had no idea what I was doing and only knew that basil was the main ingredient. I turned to Evan Kleiman’s Pasta Fresca and found a perfect, and easy, pesto recipe. This was WAY pre-internet (1988) and her recipe was the one I turned to for years and years. I always checked her quantities and did it exactly as she advised.

This was before Evan became one of my best friends (and way before we were leading tours ). Back then I was simply one of the many people who had a much loved and stained copy of Pasta Fresca. Years later I told Evan about using her pesto recipe as my standard and her first response was : I don’t even remember there was a pesto recipe in there. And then ‘you can pretty much make up any kind of pesto you want, you don’t really need a recipe.’

And so today I am here to tell you that you can pesto just about anything. Pesto is pretty much a state of mind, and if you can think it you can pesto it. While basil still remains a classic, I’ve since go on to use greens like sage or mixed herbs like parsley and mint. I’ve added in things like lemon or orange zest or even capers or olives and once even made a pesto using celery leaves.