Big beautiful bunches of Kale...Red Russian with its purplish-red stems & lacy tips, Lacinato Kale very sturdy with the deepest dark green color, and our old, familiar favorite, Curly Kale rather fluffy with white stems & veins all piled high and dewy fresh at the Nashville Farmer’s Market.
Like the “it girl”, Kale, is the “it green”…the green “of the moment”…the “if you own a restaurant in this century Kale is a must for your menu” green…unless you have been living under a rock or off-the-grid completely you know this…right? Right.
To celebrate the “it-ness” of Kale, it’s bounty, beauty and health benefits I came up with this oh-so-easy recipe for “Kale, Beautiful Kale, Pesto“.
Here is all you will need:
1 bunch of Kale, rinsed & patted dry, middle stem trimmed out, leaves broken into bite-size pieces.
2 garlic cloves, 1 cup toasted walnuts, 1 cup shredded Gruyère Cheese, good olive oil, 1 lemon, sea salt & freshly ground black pepper, plus a chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano to grate over servings.
Here is all you need to do:
1. Place garlic cloves & walnuts in a food processor fitted with the cutting blade. Pulse until nuts & garlic are chopped, but not too finely.
2. Add Kale pieces, fresh lemon juice & sea salt to processor bowl. Pulse while adding about 1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil to mixture. Stop & scrape down bowl if you need to. Add Gruyère to the mix and pulse a few times to make a nice paste. Add more or less oil depending on how you like your pesto. I prefer a chunkier, less oily pesto.
3. Top a bowl of hot pasta with a dollop of Kale Pesto, grind some black pepper on top, add some freshly grated Parmesan..and a glass of a crispy chilled wine. So far, so good October!
Get your “green” on….Eat more Kale, y’all.
I will tell you all it was delicious
Yes it was a very nice dinner and a good way to eat our Kale!
looks great…as a kid we had it just boiled or something…this sounds better.
Yuck! that is why we never liked Kale until we grew up and figured out how to really use it!
…I love kale…
Me too, me too. Thanks JEF for stopping by.
Teresa, one thing I’ve not done with kale is Pesto. I feel like I’ve almost done everything else. It IS the IT green of this time isn’t it. I wonder how that happened. I know it’s true for us too. We always have kale in fridge (the lacinato). I will make this soon.
Angela, you will love it. “It” has such as nice rounded out flavor as a pesto.
What a great idea! I’ve never thought of that, but I do love kale so I will be trying it!
Kale is good for you my dear. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
I am going to make this tonight! Or maybe this afternoon.
I think it is one of my favorite ways to use Kale. I might make it again soon. Let me know how your batch turned out.
It was great! I love the touch of lemon. I used in on eggs, with melted mozzarella on brioche, on sweet pea ravioli. It’s better than basil pesto, or even arugula pesto, because you can eat itnot just use it sparingly as a sauce. I still don’t like the curly kind of kaleit’s too bitter and tough for my taste, even when sauted, but it’s nice to have so many other varieties available!
From: food on fifth Reply-To: food on fifth Date: Sunday, October 13, 2013 10:02 PM To: Nancy Davidson Subject: [New comment] “Kale, Kale, Beautiful Kale, Pesto”
WordPress.com Teresa Blackburn commented: “I think it is one of my favorite ways to use Kale. I might make it again soon. Let me know how your batch turned out.”
Oh Mercy Nancy, that sounds the best. I will try it it on eggs. Never thought of that. I agree the curly kale is sometimes too bitter, but this particular batch was just picked and the leaves were not so big so not so bitter.
a beautiful and delicious idea
I would love this pesto!
It takes eating Kale to a new place. I had been noodling this recipe around in my head for weeks before giving it a try. The bounty at the Market was all the encouragement I needed.
Reblogged this on White Lies and commented:
Finally, a clever way to eat kale!
This looks great. I just bought kale yesterday but my children wanted kale chips which I posted on my blog. I am going to get another bunch and try this!! Can’t wait!!