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| We have three different varieties of kale growing in our garden, Cavolo Nero or tuscan kale, the curly and green-gray type and one that is a redish purple color with ruffled leaves, I love them all! Quite honestly I never thought of turning kale into a pesto, I’m such a basil person, until I saw the new Donna Hay magazine and then I got instantly inspired! What a great way to use up all my kale! |
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| What I loved was her addition of red chillies and toasted almonds, the chillies give a slight touch of heat and the toasted almonds add so much flavor to the pesto. |
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| Blanching the kale for a few minutes and then placing it right into a bowl of ice water, helps to retain it’s vivid green color. I made mine about a week ago and it’s still bright green. |
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| If you’re a kale lover and you know just how good kale is for you, then you have to make this! Dare I say I’m liking this better than basil pesto right now, that’s how good it is. The first time I made it I quadrupled the recipe. |
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| I’ve been tossing and slathering it all over everything. Here I tossed it with roasted zucchini coins and orecchiette pasta. |
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| Slathered over our weekend frittata, man was that good! |
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| And my absolute favorite, ( thanks to Donna Hay) slathered over a warm, right from the oven, roasted chicken. AMAZING! |
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| I will be making many more batches of this before all my kale is gone… My family is thanking me! Here is my adapted version, slightly different from Donna Hay’s because she used Manchego cheese and I used romano, she also added 1 cup of parsley in addition to the kale, I just used straight up kale. 2 cups of kale leaves stems removed, blanched and squeezed of moisture 1/3 cup of toasted almonds 2 red chillies 3 cloves of garlic 1/3 cup of grated romano 1/2 cup of olive oil salt and pepper Heat oven to 375F. On a small baking sheet place almonds, chillies, and garlic drizzle with olive oil and roast for 8-10 minutes or until almonds are golden brown. Deseed chillies. Place the almonds, chillies and garlic in a food processor then add the kale and cheese, process until roughly chopped then drizzle in your olive oil. Taste it for salt or more cheese or even more oil, the pesto should have a nice movement to it when stired. Enjoy! |
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
