Pesto Alla Rucola

Ricola pesto with mushrooms…

Not every green pesto from Italy is with basil. A pleasant change is this pesto with rucola. 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 rucola pesto and unfortunately it tasted a bit bitter.

The first time I cooked it in Italy I took fresh rucola from the market. It was not bitter at all and you could eat it just like that. With my friends we took rucola 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 rucola in boiling water which took the bitter taste away. So it tasted again like the first time.

Ingredients (2 servings):

200 g pasta
60 g mushrooms (champignons)
1 garlic clove
65 g rucola salad
50 g almonds
50 ml olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

If the rucola is very bitter, it should first be blanched briefly. Otherwise it can only be washed well with cold water and then pureed with a mixer.
Crush the almonds as well and mix together with the rucola, the oil and some salt until it gets a creamy consistency.
Put on the water for the pasta (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). When the water starts boiling again after salting, the pasta can be put in.
Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the clove of garlic in it until it is slightly brown. 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.