Kale Pesto

Kale Pesto

As an alternative to the Classic Basil Pesto sauce have you tried Kale Pesto yet?

My kids love the classic pesto sauce and would eat it every week if I let them – and sometimes I do – when I’ve no Meat Free Monday inspiration flowing!   They also love spinach, in the right context, like in this Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni dish.  I came across rather a fine looking bunch of kale and so figured I’d experiment and see if they’d notice!

Method:

• Lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry saucepan for a few minutes until golden brown.  I also lightly toasted the garlic cloves in a tiny bit of olive oil.
• Wash the kale and cut the leave off and discard the stems.
• Put the Kale, toasted pine nuts and toasted garlic into a food processor and start to pulse.

• After a couple of pulses start to pour the lemon juiced down the funnel followed by the olive oil.
• Blitz until you have a smooth paste then stir in the parmesan, pulse a couple of times more just to combine.

• Check the taste, if you would like to add salt & pepper you can at this stage.  I did not add anything further as the Parmesan makes it salty enough for our taste.
• Stir through hot pasta or spiralized courgette (courgetti) to serve, topping with extra Parmesan and olive oil, if you like.

• Store in a container or jar, cover the surface with a little more olive oil and keep in the fridge for a week, or freeze in ice cube trays and once frozen transfer to zip lock bags for easy access.  Good for up to a month.

Some ways you can use Kale Pesto Sauce:

• Kale Pesto Pasta for a Meat Free Monday dinner – Toss 5 or 6 defrosted cubes of  kale pesto with spaghetti, penne, or courgetti (spiralized courgette) for a quick, healthy, easy mid-week meal. Add grilled chicken for added protein.
• Salmon en-croute with pesto – A fillet of Salmon coated in 1-2 cubes of defrosted kale pesto then wrapped in puff pastry.
• Dress new potatoes in Kale Pesto.
• Dress Green beans in Kale Pesto.
• Drizzle kale pesto over a tomato & mozzarella salad.
• As a  dip.
• Add a spoon of kale pesto over your morning breakfast egg.
• Use as you would a regular Basil Pesto, check out this link for further ideas.

Fusilli with Kale pesto, courgetti and edamame

How do you use your pesto sauce?

Should you try this recipe, let me know what you think!

Kale Pesto

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Kale Pesto

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

2 mins

Total Time

12 mins

 

Quick and easy and super nutritious. Use as you would a regular basil pesto sauce

Course: sauce

Servings: 16

Author: Gillian Thompson

Ingredients

• 160 g kale stems removed
• 160 g pine nuts lightly toasted
• 160 g Parmesan reggiano freshly grated
• 4-5 clove garlic lightly roasted
• 360 ml olive oil
• 60 ml lemon juice from approx. 2 small lemons

Instructions

1. Cut the leave off the kale and discard the stems.
2. Lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry saucepan for a few minutes until golden brown.
3. Then lightly toasted my garlic cloves in a tiny bit of olive oil before adding to the food processor.
4. Put the Kale, toasted pine nuts and toasted garlic into a food processor and pulse a few times.
5. Start to pour the lemon juiced down the funnel followed by the olive oil whilst pulsing.
6. Blitz until you have a smooth paste, when you are happy with the consistency add the parmesan and pulse a couple of times just to combine.
7. Check the taste, and season to your taste. I did not add salt as the Parmesan makes it salty enough for our taste.

Recipe Notes

Stir through hot pasta or spiralized courgette (zucchini) to serve, top with extra Parmesan and olive oil, if you like.

Store in a container or jar, cover the surface with a little more olive oil and keep in the fridge for a week, or freeze in ice cube trays and once frozen transfer to zip lock bags for easy access. Good for up to a month.