Every food and wine seems to have its day. This food blogger sure can't keep up with them all. But once in awhile I see one that piques my interest. When I heard that October 1 is National Kale Day, I had to get involved! Kale is such a nutritional powerhouse, I had to share one of my tasty recipes so that people who haven't come around to enjoying kale might give it a try. There are a lot of ways to enjoy kale, but my kale pesto seemed like perhaps the best way to sway folks to the merits of kale. So to mark #KaleDay2014, I'm sharing my recipe for Linguine with Kale Pesto.
I have to admit, the first time I heard of kale pesto I was a bit skeptical about how it would taste. But I decided to give it a whirl because of the nutritional benefits. Low and behold, the kale combined with a bit of peppery arugula, garlic and cheese compared pretty favorably with my traditional basil pesto. And it's not just me--I've test this out on others now. I featured this kale pesto as part of a 5 course healthy tasting menu and got rave reviews, including some big fans of my classic pesto.
A few notes on the recipe. The arugula adds nice flavor for the dish, but I've also skipped the arugula and just used an extra cup of kale with good results. And you can make it nut free with toasted pumpkin seeds for a "nutty" flavor. This basic kale recipe can be used for other tasty dishes like the Orzo Salad with Kale Pesto.
So go ahead, enjoy your kale! There are a lot of good soups, salads, and pasta dishes that feature the healthy green. Keep your eyes on this blog for more tasty kale recipes, but this is a good place to start!
Ingredients
1 cup arugula
3 garlic cloves
1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted*
1 tbsp pine nuts*
generous pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup (or a tad more) grated pecorino romano cheese
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
12 ozs linguine
chopped fresh tomatoes for topping (optional)
*substitute 2 to 3 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds for a nut free recipe.
Begin cooking some pasta before you start making the pesto. Add the kale, arugula and garlic to a food processor, coarsely chopping to create enough room for the other ingredients.
Add the remaining ingredients, from the nuts through the olive oil, and puree until it comes to a nice smooth consistency.
Drain the pasta when it is cooked to your liking. Toss the pasta with the pesto with the hot pasta.
As with other pestos, I gradually stir the pesto into the pasta until fairly well coated, but not too heavy. I then let people serve extra pesto according to taste. Pass extra cheese at the table.
Wine Pairing: Wines that go with classic pesto, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Picpoul-de-Pinet can work with kale pesto too. But this recipe does pack a kick that you might try offsetting with a Riesling with a touch of sweetness or a Gewürztraminer.
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