Not every green pesto from Italy is with basil. A pleasant change is this pesto from rocket that I am writing about today. I cooked it some time ago and found it very tasty.
Recently I was visiting some friends and we cooked together in the evening. My friends wanted to try this rocket pesto and unfortunately it tasted a bit bitter.
The first time I cooked it in Italy I took fresh rocket from the market. It was not bitter at all and you could eat it just like that. With my friends we took rocket from the supermarket and unfortunately it was a bit bitter. Because of Corona I am currently in Germany and I cooked the pesto again yesterday for my family here. This time I blanched the rocket in boiling water which took the bitter taste away. So it tasted again like the first time.
Ingredients for two servings:
- 200 g pasta
- 60 g mushrooms (champignons)
- 1 garlic clove
- 65 g rocket salad
- 50 g almonds
- 50 ml olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Cooking:
- If the rocket is too bitter, first blanch the lettuce leaves briefly in boiling water and then crush them with a mortar.
- Crush the almonds as well and mix together with the rocket, the oil and some salt until it gets a creamy consistency.
- Put on the water for the pasta and bring to the boil (1 litre per 100 g of pasta) and do not add salt until the water boils (10 g of salt per 100 g of pasta).
Then add the pasta to the water. - Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and fry the clove of garlic in it, then remove it.
- Cut the mushrooms into thin slices and then put them in the pan.
Add some salt and pepper and fry for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently.
- When the pasta is al dente, drain it, but most importantly put some of the water aside.
- Add the pasta to the mushrooms in the pan and stir for about a minute.
- Then add the pesto and stir well again, if necessary add some more water to make it creamier.
With the blanching it tastes the same as the first time. The blanching takes away the bitter but not the real taste of the rocket. Together with the mushrooms and the almonds it gives a very tasty and quickly prepared pesto without basil. And of course…don’t forget the Parmigiano!
