ARUGULA SALAD WITH ALMOND BASIL PESTO AND AVOCADO 🥑🥑🥑

amy-goodrich (70)in #food • 6 years ago

Looking for an easy lunch salad that can be taken to work? This one is by far my favorite. I just love arugula and avocados, combined with an Italian-style pesto... Just yum. If you have pine nuts available you can use them too but we cannot find them here in Cambodia. Actually, any nut or seed will do the trick. Though I used almonds, cashews or sunflower seeds might be another option.

If you are planning to take this salad to work, add the arugula greens on top to avoid a soggy mess.

What are your favorite lunch options to take along?

ARUGULA SALAD WITH ALMOND BASIL PESTO AND AVOCADO 🥑🥑🥑

INGREDIENTS (serves 2)

For the pesto

1 head roasted garlic (optional, but highly recommended)
2 cups Italian basil leaves
1/2 cup roasted unsalted almonds
Sea salt to taste
Pepper to taste
¼ cup olive oil
3 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, but highly recommended)

FYI: makes more than you need for the salad. Leftovers can be used for another salad, pasta, toast, sandwich, etc.

For the arugula salad

2 cups tomatoes, chopped
1 avocado, cubed
4 cups arugula or rocket lettuce

DIRECTIONS

To make the pesto, preheat oven to 200C (400F). Roasted garlic until soft and browned. No need to peel first! You can roast the whole head or slightly crushed cloves. When roasted, squeeze the garlic out of the skin and add to a blender with all other pesto ingredients. Blend until smooth.
Add tomatoes and avocado to a bowl. Combine with pesto and gently mix to coat.
Add arugula to a plate or bowl and top with avocado-tomato mixture.