At some point in the 1990s, pesto became an essential summer recipe in my family. My mom has always grown a bountiful garden. When she started growing basil, there was simply no way to use it all up except by making batch after batch of pesto.
Growing up (and to this day) we ate pesto as an appetizer served with a crusty loaf of bread. I still mostly eat it this way, but occasionally I’ll coat pasta with pesto. My kids have not inherited a love for pesto (not yet, anyway) so if I do serve pesto with pasta it’s usually on the side.
Authentic Italian pesto is made from pine nuts, basil (ideally, the Genovese variety), Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino, a small garlic clove and olive oil with a light, fruity flavor.
My recipe for arugula lemon pesto is not authentic Italian pesto. Nonetheless, it’s delicious. The flavor is rich (from walnuts) and peppery (from arugula) with a hint of basil and as much lemon zest as you want to add.
You can put this pesto into your summer (or winter) rotation with any type of seafood pasta. It’s also great with a loaf of bread and smoked salmon.
A few recipe tips
My recipe serves arugula lemon pesto with shrimp pasta, but you can choose to leave out the shrimp and just serve plain pasta.
The pesto is made with walnuts, but pine nuts can be used instead.
When pesto is cold, it doesn’t coat pasta very well. It clumps together and won’t cling to the noodles. To help the pesto and pasta blend together, reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water and whisk it into 1 cup of pesto. The warm, starchy water will make the pesto creamier and starchier and more likely to coat the pasta evenly.
Dinner Last Week
I’m always curious about what other families are eating. Aren’t you? Here’s what my crew ate last week.
Monday: It was a cool, cloudy day and Ophelia was home sick with a cold so I made her favorite comfort food, Instant Pot chicken and dumplings.
Tuesday: I’m still working on an Instant Pot macaroni and cheese recipe and I finally nailed it (thank god, I’m really tired of eating mac n’ cheese). The recipe will be up on Kitchen Skip soon. So, we had mac n’ cheese for dinner with Instant Pot black-eyed peas (another recipe I’m working on) plus chicken sausage and salad.
Wednesday: Josie came down with the same cold Ophelia had, so it was pretty much canned soup for the kids and the adults ate leftovers from the night before.
Thursday: One-Pot spaghetti with tomatoes and kale with sautéed zucchini on the side.
Friday: Last day of school! We took the kids out for burgers and ice cream.
one-pot spaghetti with tomatoes and kale
Reading
Ripe Figs by Yasmin Khan is equally focused on food and stories of migration. This cookbook travels through the Eastern Mediterranean (Turkey, Greece and Cyprus) and explores the culinary history of the region and the influence of more recent refugee communities.
I have my eye on the spinach, herb and feta pie recipe, which looks easy and very doable for a summer dinner. There are also recipes for Cypriot potato salad, Turkish shepherd’s salad and Greek tomato meatballs that seem perfect for an outdoor summer dinner party.
For some of the recipes you’ll need to shop for Mediterranean ingredients (pomegranate molasses, sumac, bulgur, dried mint, etc) but for many others the ingredients are simple and easy to find.
My birthday was on Tuesday and I was able to mingle lovely birthday treats into an otherwise regular day of parenting and carpooling to kid activities.
Lightly scented peonies, strawberry shortcake, delicious take-out Cuban food, homemade gifts from the kids and thoughtful gifts from the hubby made for a really nice birthday.
I’ve reached an age where I feel grateful to still be as young as I am (48!) because I’m keenly aware of how quickly the years are flying by. As I told my husband last night, I will never be as young as I am right now again, so I intend to make the most of it.
xo
Jenny
P.S. Happy Father’s Day weekend to all you Dad’s out there!