CSA Pesto part 1

This is another submission from CSA member Jet Doye. Jet is an expert at turning her CSA into pesto, and as we will continue to share her amazing recipes here!

1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons walnuts
1 small broccoli plant (everything, flower, stalk, leaves)
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of red pepper flakes, plus extra for garnish
1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
zest of one organic lemon
1 T Walnut Oil
3/4 pound linguine di Farro (any linguine shaped pasta will work well!)

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spread the walnuts in a pie plate and toast for 10 minutes until fragrant and starting to brown; let cool. Chop two tablespoons of the walnut and reserve for garnish.

2. Using a knife, separate the various pieces of the broccoli plant (stems, leaves, stalks) and cut into similar sized pieces. If you do not have a farmer growing vegetables for your family, you could use broccoli rabe or the stems and stalks from broccoli bought in the store, from which you may need to remove the tough outer layer of skin from the stalks with a vegetable peeler. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the broccoli flowers and stalks for 2 minutes, then add the leaves for one remaining minute. Using a skimmer, transfer the broccoli from the hot water to a bowl filled with salted ice water to stop them from cooking and retain the vibrant green color. Squeeze out the excess water and roughly chop the broccoli.

3. In a food processor, mince the garlic. Add 1/3 cup of walnuts; pulse until coarsely choppoed. Add the broccoli, olive oil, crushed red pepper and lemon zest and process until the broccoli is very finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper and scrape into a large bowl.

4. In the same water you used to cook the broccoli, cook the linguine al dente. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. Add the linguine to the pesto sauce, then stir in the reserved cooking water and toss until the pasta is well coated with the pesto sauce. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts, piment d'espellete, andwalnut oil and serve immediately, passing more cheese at the table. This will serve four, but since Mom and I were on our own last night, I made half of the pasta and reserved half of the pesto for another meal this weekend.