LVL's Pesto Recipe and Remembering Jekka!

Well, you knew I had to give a recipe of mine since The Herbal Husband gave up his guacamole recipe.  So I was just thinking that it has been a year since Jekka made it across the pond to visit us for the Herb Society Conference.   I loved having her at my home and the adventures we had together were fun.   Here is a link to a post I did for The Herb Companion called The Herb Channeler's Adventures with Jekka McVicar.  I made her arugula pesto recipe from her cookbook last year.  This year I toned it down just a bit.  So here is my version and maybe you're thinking a bit of lemon verbena in it!  I actually did think about it and maybe will try in later in the season.  This is a link to my post in 2009 with my very favorite Pesto recipe from the Washington Post.  We are at 94 degrees today, but luckily we are going back down from here and may even be in the 70's next week!

Lemon Verbena Lady's Pesto

1 c. of arugula (stems removed)
1 c. of parsley (stems removed)
1 c. of mixed basil (leaves from removing flowers)
1 T. lemon juice
1 t. lemon zest
1 clove of garlic
2 T. pine nuts (or other nuts you may have on hand)
3 T. Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Using a food processor or blender, add clove of garlic while machine is running.  Then add arugula, parsley and basil, lemon juice, zest and pine nuts.  Pulse to chop.  Then add olive oil while machine is running until mixture is paste consistency.  Add the cheese, salt and pepper and give it one or two final pulses and a final taste.

The parsley and basil cut the peppery flavor of the arugula.  I loved Jekka's original version and since I had some parsley in the freezer I needed to use and the extra basil leaves, I thought I would try something different.  BTW, I forgot to mention I tried a bit of pesto on some boiled potatoes and it was delish!  Hope you like it.  It is just terribly hot here.  The sunflower seeds I just planted are already coming up!  I'm going to have at least 11 giant sunflowers!  So stay cool if you are in this heat wave and hope you are having a great day as well.  Talk to you later.