Spaghetti with Arugula & Potato Pesto

Arugula, one of my favorite bitter greens. I love simple arugula salads with sweet tomatoes, a few oil cured olives, a little ricotta cheese, topped with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh ground pepper. I even like it with my turkey burger. But there are times that arugulas' strong bite can be overwhelming and I want a more of a mellowed out arugula flavor and that's where this arugula and potato "pesto" comes in. This is great to use up any arugula that you may have lingering in that rectangular plastic container. The potato takes the arugulas' edge off and gives the pasta a nice creaminess, without heavy cream. This is a quick meal to make on a hurried night. This makes 3 servings.

• 1/2 pound spaghetti cooked al dente
• 1 medium size potato, peeled, quartered and cooked until fork tender
• 1 cup tightly packed baby arugula, trimmed of stems
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 heaping teaspoon raw walnuts plus more for garnish
• 1 heaping tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• fresh ground pepper
• sea salt

In a deep bowl, combine the arugula, parsley, garlic, walnuts, cheese and olive oil with a hand blender. Season with fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste. Add more garlic if you like. Once your potato is cooked though, break it up with a fork until the potato is about pea size. I let it cool a little before I broke it up. Lightly toss the spaghetti, pesto and potato together until well combined. The potato, once tossed with the spaghetti and pesto will break down a little. I didn't toss it too much because I kinda enjoy the little bits of potato swirled around with the spaghetti especially when combined with the walnuts pieces and grated cheese. Enjoy!