08.16.11_Avocado and Arugula Pesto

As many of you know I finally caved and joined Twitter earlier this year after avoiding it for years. I just did not feel a need to constantly be telling people via multiple platforms what I was doing at this very second. Then Britney Spears started releasing information about her unreleased album via her Twitter account so I gave in and joined so I could get the newest info the minute it happened like a true fan. After realizing its potential I have come to really enjoy Twitter as a means to connect with people you would otherwise never be able to communicate with (aka celebrities). At the beginning of the month when I was scouring the internet for vegetarian recipes, Giada DeLaurentiis, one of the people I follow on Twitter, tweeted a recipe for Avocado and Arugula Pesto with Linguine. Since avocado is in my top 5 favorite foods and I love Giada this instantly intrigued me and I added it to the recipe list.

I loved that all this recipe required was a pot for boiling the water, a food processor, and an oven (for toasting almonds). There was no chopping or prep so it took minutes to prepare. After getting a pot on the stove for the pasta I preheated my toaster oven to 350 degrees. Since the recipe only calls for toasting 1/2 cup of almonds (personally I would have like a few more almonds) I did this in the toaster oven because it preheats so much faster than my oven. Once I put the pasta in I started the pesto. If you have a normal sized Cuisinart this will be much easier for you than it was for me using my baby Cuisinart. I had to put things in in batches to make it all fit: first the avocado, lime juice, garlic, and S&P. After that was all smooth I was able to add the arugula in small batches. In the end it somehow all fit!
I really liked this pasta. It was something different rather than the typical marinara or pesto like we made for our Eastern Market pasta nights. I thought the avocado taste was much more subtle than the arugula, though Phillip disagrees, so maybe it just depends on your palate. I think this pesto sauce would also be great for cold pasta salads or even just as a spread onto of crostinis. I ended up serving the pasta with a baguette we got from Panera (so good!) and mixed olive oil, red pepper flakes, cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese for dipping. Too bad I don't have any left over pesto sauce so I could try that crostini idea out with the leftover baguette.