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If you’re tired of kale salad and kale chips this recipe offers a new way to enjoy this healthy green. Made with basil, lemon and walnuts, kale pesto takes traditional pesto in a whole new direction.
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Yeas ago my friend Laura introduced me to kale pesto. I had never heard of it before and she had tasted it but never made it before so one day we played around with the idea. Based on what Laura could remember this is what we came up with it.
Kale pesto is great as a dip, tossed with pasta or served alongside fish or roasted vegetables.
Turning kale into pesto makes the vegetable more versatile than you could imagine.
Quickly blanching the kale before blending it with the other ingredients helps to keep your pesto a lovely bright green. To blanch the kale, dip the leaves into a pot of boiling water for a few seconds and then immediately place the leaves in a ice bath. Dry before adding to the processor.
Kale Pesto Recipe
Ingredients:
- 5 stalks of kale, leaves only
- 1 handful of fresh basil
- 1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- ¼ to ½ cup olive oil
- Juice of ½ a lemon (more if you prefer)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ to ½ cup grated Parmesan
Directions:
- In a food processor whirl the first four ingredients. Add the lemon and ¼ cup of the olive oil. Whir again.
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From here you can decide: do you want some texture to your pesto or do you want it silky?
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Play with the on/off button and the remaining oil until you have the texture you prefer.
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Season with salt and a little pepper and stir in the parmesan.
Tip: use a kale-basil ratio of about 5:1
