Rocket and goat's cheese pesto

Rocket is one of the few green leafy things that I actually love. I really like spinach. I can tolerate lettuce. I love rocket. It's so peppery and full of flavour. Plus it's got a name like a spaceship, which is surely the best thing ever?

(unless you're American and call it 'arugula', which is far less exciting)

One way to turn awesomely-delicious-rocket into even-more-awesomely-delicious-rocket is to add goat's cheese and walnuts, and make your own pesto. I love pesto, but sometimes I can get a bit sick of the plain old basil stuff, so this was a welcome change.

Plus... unghh. So good.

Don't be tempted to up the garlic in this recipe, even if you're a garlic lover like me. Since the garlic in this pesto is raw, you can really taste it - just stick to one small clove unless you want to be tasting it for the rest of the week (though actually... I can think of worse things).

In my next post, I'll show you what I made with this pesto - it's a seriously good one, you're going to want to make sure you check it out. In the meantime, you should go and make a batch of this pesto. It makes about a cup, which should be enough for at least two or three meals - unless you're so excited about it that you slap the whole lot on one bowl of pasta. This sound like exactly the sort of thing I would usually do, buuut I'm trying my hardest to make it last so I can enjoy it for a bit longer.

ETA: See my pear and goat's cheese panini with rocket pesto here!

Rocket and goat's cheese pesto

Makes around 1 cup

Note: all quantities are approximate - feel free to adjust based on your own taste

1 small clove garlic, peeled
3tbsp raw walnuts
70g hard goat's cheese, cut into small chunks
50g rocket (arugula)
~5tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper
Salt
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Place the peeled garlic in a food processor, and pulse several times. Add the walnuts and goat's cheese, and pulse again until a coarse paste is formed (around 20-30 seconds).

Add a handful of rocket and a slosh of olive oil, and blend until nearly smooth, before adding more rocket and oil. Continue until you've added all the rocket (you may not need to keep adding oil, a few tablespoons should be enough). Season to taste, add a squeeze of lemon juice, and mix well.