Good day everyone, I’m still in Lyon (figuratively speaking, of course) and cooking with Chef Villard and his lovely recipes. This is a condiment that he paired with lightly cooked snow peas and a little goats cheese and boy was it good. I particularly loved the colour, unfortunately when you add the goats cheese it lightens up quite a bit, but by then you’re starving for having enjoyed the aromas of the meal all afternoon long!
To be honest, JT wasn’t in love with the pesto which was originally Rocket (arugula), pine nuts and Parmesan cheese so I decided to be inspired by Chef Villard and not follow the recipe 100% (of course you did, says JT). The rocket tends to get a touch bitter when processed, although I do enjoy the peppery taste I wanted to temper the bitterness so I used the same amount of spinach as the rocket. Then I was thinking of the entire meal and wanted to repeat some flavours for consistency, so instead of pine nuts, I used roasted hazelnuts (the pumpkin soup has a drizzle of hazelnut oil to finish it). So in the essence of our meal in Lyon, here is the pesto recipe.
Rocket and Spinach Pesto with Hazelnuts (on Snow Peas with Goats Cheese — not shown)
Serves 6 (I had enough pesto left over for some hors d’œuvres the next day),
Ingredients:
- 35 g roasted hazelnuts
- 35 g combined baby rocket (arugula) and baby spinach
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 tbsp parmesan cheese
- 2-4 tbsp EVOO
- Salt to taste
- 60 g snow peas
- 20 g goats cheese
Directions:
- In a small food processor add the hazelnuts, rocket, spinach, finely minced garlic and Parmesan cheese and drizzle a small amount of EVOO to get the chopping going adding a little bit to allow the purée to happen with ease (you don’t want this too runny). Taste and salt as desired.
- When you have achieved the consistency desired set aside (this is actually quite good if you make it in advance and the flavours have time to really develop).
- Cook the snap peas and as soon as they are done, immerse them into ice cold water to stop the cooking quickly. Simmer water on the stove to reheat just prior to serving.
- To serve, add a few tablespoons of the pesto to the hot, drained snow peas and crumble the goats cheese into it, stir lightly to distribute evenly.
- Enjoy warm.
Eva that is the brilliant solution. I like a little arugula in a salad, but too much I agree is too bitter. This looks good to eat. 🙂
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Thank you kindly Zsuzsa. Hope everything goes well.
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That is genius Eva – adding spinach to the pesto to temper the bitterness. I am adding this to our rocket pesto recipe next time for sure. I bet that will help the kids to enjoy it more. Thank you!
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Thank you so much Kristy. I really enjoyed the variation on the pesto.
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What a great looking pesto! Thanks for explaining what “rocket” is, didn’t know that was another name for arugula!
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Thanks Amber, it was through blogging I found out too!
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Oh Eva this sounds so good. I have to agree with JT, I often find rocket pleasant for the first bite and then too bitter. I love the spinach addition. I’m going to try this.
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Thank you kindly Maureen, it will be a good alternative pesto in our repertoire!
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The spinach would add another whole dimension of healthiness as well. I’m always inspired by how readily you improvise and make a recipe your own!
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Thanks Smidge, I’m very flattered you think so!
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Of course you did……mais oui! This was a great combination Eva — and really went nicely with the snow peas. Now I’m dreaming of this meal again!
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Thank you so much Barbie, it was great fun to recreate our version for you.
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Damn you Eva….hazelnuts and pesto? I have to make this. 🙂
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It’s a winner, Jed. What can I say?
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I love all different kinds of pestos! Nice idea to use snow peas and goat cheese.
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Thanks Angie.
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Hi Eva, I’ve often wondered what rocket pesto is like and had suspected that it might get a bit bitter, although I’d like to give it a shot and see how it turns out. Aside from basil and carrot greens I haven’t made many pestos so it’s always lovely to see completely different versions to give a try!
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Thanks Charles, tempering the rocket with spinach really cut the bitterness without diminishing the peppery taste. Hope you enjoy it.
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What a lovely combination, Eva. This sounds like a lovely dish for fall.
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Hi Karen, thank you. Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful trip. I just finished my photo book and have decided that we need to go back sooner than later, the weather really put a damper on our vaycay.
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Actually, I’m still traveling but wanted to stop by for a quick visit.
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Wow, thanks Karen, hope the weather is a little better than it started out.
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I like how you changed it because as much as I love rocket, as you said, it can get bitter if there’s too much! 🙂
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Thanks Lorraine, it worked out quite well indeed.
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Ooh, I love the addition of hazelnuts here Eva with the peppery arugula! What a great combo and it looks silky delicious. I like your serving ideas too. I was working on a pesto as well this week! (great minds… ;-)).
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Thanks Kelly, it turned out very well, it’s a pesto I’ll make again.
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Eva, this pesto sounds exactly like something I would devour in minutes. Goat cheese, snow peas and rocket are one of my beloved food products and your idea to add spinach to make the taste less harsh is ingenious.
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Thank you so much Sissi, that is very kind of you to say. The flavours were indeed quite lovely and well received for our dinner.
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Pretty green pesto indeed. 🙂 Very innovative use of the pesto as a dressing to the snow peas. I’m still stuck in the rut of using pesto with noodles. It would have been great stirred into the linguine I cooked yesterday with the chicken parmesan cutlet on top.
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Thanks Maria, yes the pesto would have been very fresh flavour with your chicken Parmesan dish a real burst of colour too!
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I think your “solution” of replacing half of the rocket with spinach was a good one. You’d still get a bit of arugula’s peppery bite but not so much as to ruin the salad. Smart use of the hazelnuts, too. Chef Villard would have been proud! 🙂
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Thank you kindly John, I’m going to make this again as an alternative to the standard pesto.
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The green of that pesto is so bright and beautiful my friend 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU, aren’t you supposed to be studying?
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May be JT will love it if you use all spinach or may be reduce the rocket to 1/4 or less..
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Thanks Norma, he actually really liked my version, Chef’s version was 100% arugula.
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Yep! That really is green. But I do love the look of it. I have been growing rocket and we’ve had a few harvests and I’ve been thinking of using it to make pesto. It is a little bitter but that’s okay if you pair it with the right things. Great looking recipe, Eva xx
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Thanks Charlie, that’s why I mixed in half spinach; the creaminess of the spinach really balanced out the bitter rocket. I should try growing it too, we go through a box (142g of 5oz) every two days!
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I should make this — I still have hazelnuts and Parmesan and I love rocket.
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Thanks Sharyn, let me know how it turns out.
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