Ingredients
- 1 pound bow-tie pasta
- 1/2 cup pine nuts, divided
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 cups baby arugula
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
Preparation
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt, and then your pasta and cook for 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
While pasta is cooking, make your pesto. Begin by toasting your pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until they begin to brown, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Remove from heat and let cool. Tip: Pine nuts can be expensive. To save some money, try almonds instead.
Once cooled, add 1/4 cup of the pine nuts (reserving the other half), garlic and Parmesan to a food processor or blender. Pulse until everything is finely processed. Add arugula and process, slowly drizzling in the olive oil until your desired consistency is reached. Taste, and then season with salt (arugula is peppery so I usually omit the pepper).
Place drained pasta back in pot. Add the pesto and sun-dried tomatoes and stir. Serve in bowls and top with remaining pine nuts and Parmesan cheese.
Tip: You can make the pesto the day before and keep refrigerated. I like to double the batch, and freeze half of it!