TL/DR – Kale Pesto. An easy and highly nutritious recipe for a vibrant green sauce that is great not only on hot pasta, but dolloped, slathered or served on the side of just about anything. –
Pesto: a terribly delicious sauce made with some kind of leaves, some kind of nuts, some kind of oil, seasoning, sometimes a salty, hard cheese and just about any other spice or flavor that works well.
I always overdo it with the kale in my garden. I plant way too much and then it’s there, taunting me, all summer long. It’s obnoxious, but I love, love, love not having to spend money on produce when I can just go snip some from my garden and then pick off the little green worms!
Enough about me. Here’s the deal: kale pesto is pretty much what you want it to be. This is my very basic, favorite version. The only time consuming part is the blanching and draining of the kale, but honestly it’s really not that big of a task and it’s totally worth it to mellow out the kale flavor.
Start by boiling about 6 cups of water with 1 T kosher salt. While it comes to a boil, remove the tough ribs from two, (possibly 3) large bunches of Lacinato kale and roughly tear the leaves. Also chop a few cloves of garlic very roughly. Blanch the kale for 4 minutes. If you want a more mellow garlic taste, then blanch the garlic along with the kale. Quickly drain the kale and shock it in ice water to preserve the bright green color. Squeeze as much moisture out as possible.
In a food processor, blend together the blanched and drained kale, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, lemon zest, ground black pepper and olive oil. Blend it a couple of times, stopping to scrape down the sides. Get it to a smooth point and add more oil if it’s too sticky. Then taste it and add up to a teaspoon of kosher salt.
As mentioned above, this is more like a template. Use different nuts if desired. Use avocado oil instead of olive oil. Use more lemon zest or even lemon juice. Or add a splash of vinegar. Omit the cheese or use a different kind like Romano or Gruyere. Play around with it.
Then use it for pretty much anything. Pasta is a no-brainer, but it also works on leftover pizza, with cheese and crackers, on a caprese salad, as a sandwich spread, as a dip for fries or grilled chicken tenders… The possibilities are endless.
Kale Pesto
An easy and highly nutritious recipe for a vibrant green sauce that is great not only on hot pasta, but dolloped, slathered or served on the side of just about anything.
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 large bunches of Lacinato Kale, about 10 c with ribs removed and roughly chopped or torn
- 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 T plus 1 t kosher salt
- Ice
- 1 c extra virgin olive oil
- 1 c grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 c pine nuts
- Zest of one lemon
- 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Step 1 Bring about 8 cups of water to a boil with 1 T kosher salt in the water.
- Step 2 Remove the ribs from the kale leaves and roughly chop or tear them to yield about 10 cups. Chop the garlic.
- Step 3 Once the water comes to a boil, place the kale and the roughly chopped garlic into the boiling water and stir well. Blanch for 4 minutes with the water still boiling. Prepare a large bowl of ice water as the kale blanches.
- Step 4 Drain the kale and the garlic in a strainer and immediately place the strainer into the ice water bowl and stir carefully until the kale and garlic are completely cool. This step will help to keep the vibrant green color.
- Step 5 Drain the kale and garlic chunks and squeeze as much of the excess moisture out as possible. Literally wring it with your hands.
- Step 6 Place the drained kale and garlic into a food processor with the olive oil, Parmesan, pine nuts, lemon zest and black pepper and process on high for a minute, pausing to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl.
- Step 7 Taste the pesto and add up to 1 additional teaspoon of kosher salt. Add more olive oil to loosen the pesto if it is too sticky. It should be thick, but smooth.
- Step 8 Serve immediately over hot pasta or refrigerate for later. This recipe can be frozen and thawed later.
