Pistachio Pesto?

I made this recipe - Penne with Pistachio Pesto and Cannellini - for dinner tonight. Highly recommended.

As I've said here, we try to go meatless 2-3 nights a week. But I don't like pasta recipes that don't involve some kind of protein. The white beans in this one fit the bill nicely, adding body and taking the flavor of pesto without too much conflict.

If you think pistachio pesto sounds odd, price pine nuts these days and then reconsider. I bought an 8 oz pack of roasted shelled pistachios and an 8 oz bag of pignoles at Trader Joe's today. The pine nuts were literally twice the price of the pistachios, but the pesto I made with the latter tasted pretty much the same. And I didn't even have to roast them first. WIN.

Recipe notes:

- You can buy the pistachios whole and shell them if you really want to. But if you're familiar with them, you already know the nut meat is really small, and you'll need a quarter cup, so you're going to be at it for a while. You can get them shelled and roasted, salted or not, for $3.99/bag at T-Joes. It's a buck or two well spent. (I went with unsalted, but this dish could probably handle salted without being overwhelmed.)

- The recipe calls for 6 cloves of garlic. Even as a garlic lover, I thought that was a bit much. But keep in mind you're going to saute it for 2 minutes, which helps take the edge off the garlic. I did 5 good sized cloves, which turned out just about right for a garlic lover. You may want to go a little lower.

- You're going to need more EVOO than the 2 tbsp the recipe calls for. I know "light" food magazines do their best to cut calories and fat content, but sorry -- that's just not enough oil to keep the pesto from burning onto the bottom of the saute pan. Add a splash more and assuage your guilt by telling yourself it's "good fat," which it is.

- I served it with a parmesan-garlic baguette and a lightly-oaked chardonnay, which worked very nicely with the arugula.

Try it - it's good stuff.