I have been blessed with wild rocket plants that grow massive leaves. I am not sure why this happened all of a sudden, as the plants in the previous seasons did not yield this much. But either way, these plants have been giving me too much wild rocket. I have been eating from it almost every day, and it still produces too much for just myself.
Wild rocket is an acquired taste as its peppery taste is too strong for many people.
But this is ideal for pesto! What is better than strong garlic, wild rocket, pepper, and too much olive oil? To say the least, this pesto is not for the faint hearted.
Either way, please follow along as I show you how I make this delicious pasta!
Recipe/Ingredients List
For this dish, I made three smallish or medium sized portions. I think this is the perfect size, as it is just enough to make you ask for for, but not enough to make you feel full. I think most pasta portion sizes are out of control, with people giving you so much that you feel sick afterwards. But here is my ingredient list and amounts:
- 120 grams of dried pasta;
- 2 garlic cloves;
- handful of sundried tomato;
- handful of walnuts (or any nuts/seeds);
- as much wild rocket as your mortar and pestle can take;
- as much olive oil as you like;
- salt;
- pepper; and
- pasta water.
As I noted above, this was enough to give me three small/medium sized portions. My mortar and pestle can only handle so much. Interestingly, I left out the cheese, and this makes the pasta actually a lot lighter (obviously) but it was more akin to a pasta aglio e olio than full on pesto.
Method/Process
The Dance of Pesto Making
Making pesto is a strange dance between you and the ingredients. You need to really know your ingredients, and you need to engage with it on an intimate level.
I always begin with salt and pepper to create friction in the mortar and pestle. I then add the garlic to create a garlic paste.
After this, I "tear" and "rip" the wild rocket with my hands, I do not cut them with a knife. The act of cutting does not "wound" the leaves enough. By using your fingers to rip the leaves, you create more "wounds" on the leaves, resulting in a better pesto. This is also why mortar and pestle pestos will always be better than blender pestos.
I then add the sundried tomatoes which I cut into small slivers, then I add "too much" olive oil. The raw garlic and loads of olive oil, in my opinion, makes this dish super healthy.
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Make Some Pasta
I only had some linguine pasta, so I choose that. You want this just shy of al dente, as the sauce will come together in the pan with some heat, so it might cook the paste a little bit.
The less water you boil your pasta in, the "creamier" your sauce will be, as the starchy pasta water will bind with the olive oil to make a delicious sauce.
In a pan with some of the pasta water, I add my pesto and I begin to vigorously move everything in the pan. This action of moving everything around in the pan creates the sauce.
Plate Up
There you have it, it is that easy to make a delicious pasta. If you understand the technique and why you do what, pasta making will become a blank canvas on which you can draw anything.
Pasta in this form becomes a blank canvas for many different recipes and flavours. You will have the world in the palm of your hands. You can get so much raw garlic and olive oil into your body without feeling like it is "forced" down your throat. This is really delicious.
Either way, I hope that you will give this a try.
For now, happy cooking and stay healthy.
All of the musings and writings are my own, and the recipe is based on the random ingredients that were in the fridge. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.