Every morning I eat my breakfast cereal over a cooking magazine. My husband thinks I’m crazy to eat food and read about it at the same time, but it works for me. Heck, maybe I am crazy, only time will tell! I recently came across the idea to make zucchini into a pesto. I turned from the table, looked at my pile of garden zucchini on the counter, and immediately marked the page for later! My lemony zucchini arugula pesto is great as a dip or a spread!
Arugula pesto is possibly my favorite type of pesto. I like it more than basil pesto, which is only helping to prove my husbands point; I’m crazy. When I was dreaming up how to create my own zucchini pesto, I knew immediately that I wanted to use arugula! I sowed some arugula seeds into my garden recently for a fall harvest, and I can’t wait for it to be ready! We are going to eat loads of this zucchini arugula pesto!
Variations to the Lemony Zucchini Arugula Pesto recipe:
- If you are not a lover of arugula, try basil, spinach, or parsley instead.
- I’m certain this recipe would work with yellow summer squash as well, but the color won’t be as green.
- To make this recipe nut free, try toasted pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds).
- If you forget to squeeze out all the moisture from the zucchini, you can still cook it out on the stop top, but it will take a lot longer.
- ½ cup pecans
- 1½ lbs zucchini (1 large or 2 small)
- 2 TBS olive oil, divided
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 cup packed arugula
- ½ a lemon, juiced (about 2 TBS)
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- ¼ tsp salt and pepper, each
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Toast pecans in a large skillet until fragrant and lightly browned, 3-5 minutes. Remove from the skillet.
- Shred the zucchini using a box grater or food processor fitted with a shredding disk.
- Place zucchini in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.
- Combine the zucchini, and 1 TBS olive oil in the skillet. Cook uncovered over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let the zucchini brown, but not burn.
- Combine arugula, garlic and toasted pecans in a food processor fitted with a S-blade. Process until finely chopped.
- Add remaining oil, cooked zucchini, lemon juice and zest, and salt and pepper. Process until combined.
- Stir in Parmesan Cheese.
This recipe was inspired by Cooking Light.
4 responses to “Lemony Zucchini Arugula Pesto”