Photo taken from Love & Lemons
I am a big fan of pesto, as it is wonderfully versatile. It can be used in all kinds of dishes: toss it with your favorite shape of pasta, swirl it in a risotto, spoon it on top of pizzas or serve it as a sauce or condiment
I've always favoured basil pesto, but not so keen on kale pesto, especially after trying a really mediocre store-bought brand from a local kale producer a while back. But, I'm glad that I took the chance by trying to make my own kale pesto recently. The recipes from Love & Lemons and Bon Appetit as well as Bountiful kale totally changed my mind! While it doesn't taste exactly like basil pesto (which is more aromatic), the kale pesto is still delicious (slightly more peppery and earthy).
Ingredients
A combination of the two recipes from Love & Lemons and Bon Appetit
- ½ cup toasted nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, almonds)
- 1 small garlic clove
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese (or 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast for a vegan-friendly version)
- Heaping ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 packed cups chopped curly kale
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- A few sprigs of parsley (optional)
Preparation
- Cook kale leaves in a large pot of boiling salted water until bright green and wilted, about 15 seconds. Put the kale in a bowl of ice cold water for 2 minutes. Wring out excess water with your hands.
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In a food processor, pulse the nuts and garlic until ground up. Add the cheese or nutritional yeast, salt, and several grinds of pepper and pulse again.
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Add the kale (and parsley, if using) and lemon juice. With the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil, and process until combined. Season to taste.
Homemade pesto on my homemade pizza* with burrato cheese. Simply divine!
*I used this recipe for the pizza dough.