A Bright Spot

I don't want to jinx myself, but I think that I have almost fully recovered (hurray!!), minus a small cough that I was told would probably last another week or two (thanks?). But, nonetheless, featuring a bright dish seemed appropriate to complement my bright and happy mood at recovering.

Our outdoor farmer's markets are coming to a close in Columbus. This Saturday I believe is the last one before they move indoors (where it becomes more arts and crafts than produce, for obvious reasons). Although I'm very sad at that being removed from our weekly leisure stroll through downtown areas, it does mean we can instead trek to Columbus' North Market and enjoy some of the unique things they offer.But anyway, as the season is winding down, aside from a plethora of leftover peppers and butternut squash an pumpkins, what the market has been full with at least the last few weeks as been an assortment of winter greens including the kale and arugula we were able to pick up. The kale went into a soup while I was to sick to take photos, but the recipe was pretty close to this one. For the arugula, we came up with this lovely dish:

 Some fresh pasta with an arugula pesto, tossed with garlic roasted tomatoes. The pesto was quite tasty with the substitution of the peppery arugula for the herbacious basil. If you prefer, I see no reason why you couldn't include some basil in it.  The original recipe we used was almost the same as what was printed below, but we felt it needed some acidity to balance it out a little, so we added the lemon juice. The sweet garlic flavor of the roasted tomatoes was a nice complement to the sauce once balanced, and of course the pasta was delicious with that amazing texture you can achieve when using fresh pasta. Enjoy!

Arugula Pesto:

4 cups (packed) arugula leaves (about 6 ounces)

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/4 cup (packed) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1. Place washed arugula leaves (stems removed) in blender along with toasted pine nuts and Parmesan cheese. Blend until almost smooth. Gradually add olive oil and lemon juice and process until well blended. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Garlic Roasted Tomatoes

Approx 2  Cups Grape or Cherry Tomatoes

Salt & Pepper to Season

1 Clove Garlic

2 Tbsp Olive Oil + Additional for Pan

1. Preheat oven to 350. In blender, combine 2 tbsp olive oil and i clove garlic. Blend until smooth. Toss tomatoes with garlic-olive oil mixture. Place tomatoes on lightly oiled panned. Roast for 45 minutes or until tomatoes begin to brown.