Let's arugula everything

Still Life of Pizza, Pre-Baked

If this summer is going to be remembered for anything at all, it should go down in the books as the Summer of Endless Cookery.  Even more than the Recovery of Mum or the Antics of my Overgrown Pet.  Once the weekend hits, my feet are planted squarely in the kitchen and budge only to make occasional quick trips to the store for more ingredients.  I've baked and broiled, stirred and simmered, sauteed and stir fried my cares and worries to a boiling point and watched them evaporate like steam.  Cooking for people (and caring for people) has always done that for me.

Critical to the kitchen, and particularly to my parents' kitchen where I concoct pan after pan of  weekend meals, are leftovers.  Nothing is wasted and everything is either eaten or frozen.  Only if there is visible evidence of spoilage is something tossed, and reluctantly at that.  Which is why, when I whipped up a large jar of arugula pesto to slather on some sandwiches, the remainder was kept and has been used as some component of every meal I prepared this past weekend.  I've added it as globs of bright green on to a homemade spinach artichoke white pizza, and when melted amidst the mozzarella, it created bubbly green swirls of nutty garlicly flavour.  Even odder yet, I added it to my quinoa fried rice, right after dumping in the soy sauce.  You wouldn't think the fusion of Asian and Italian palettes would complement each other so well, but surprisingly, it works rather well together.

The neon green sauce has been marinating in its own juices and the flavours have become more intense the longer I've let it sit in the fridge.  Sure, we could freeze it in ice cube trays and bring it out on a more "normal" basis but then what would be the fun or challenge in that?  I'm having fun throwing it into random dishes and seeing what it adds.  Who knew arugula pesto could be the jack of all trades in the kitchen?