Kale, once beloved by livestock is now top of my list of go to veg at this rather bleak time of year. I’ve been using it with abandon over the last 6 weeks and have come up with some really rather lovely recipe combinations. It ticks the healthy box in spades and is cheap, readily available and very satisfyingly green! I’ve sneaked it into all sorts of dishes, from soups to salads, smoothies to sauces. I prefer it to spinach as it goes a lot further, and though I like chard, I find it more versatile and a little less earthy. The ‘little people have been eating it disguised in pasta, and positively lap it up – oh where would we be without the magic vehicle of pasta? Mr.P has been subjected to my absolute favorite, kale pesto on several occasions, ‘It’s very green darling’ he says nervously. And green it is, but with the subtle addition of garlic, chilli and anchovy and the magic ingredient of walnuts it’s a refreshing change from the normal pesto and a seasonal winner stacked with countless vitamins and other goodies.
Kale and Walnut Pesto
180g of organic kale (woody stems removed)
2 cloves of garlic peeled
3 anchovy fillets
1 cm of red chilli finely chopped
200ml of good quality olive oil
30g of walnuts
- Put the kale in a bowl and pour a kettle of boiling hot water over the kale – leave for 4 minutes and then drain.
- Meanwhile splash a tablespoon of oil into a pan and cook the garlic, chilli and anchovy very slowly so the flavours are released but the garlic does not burn.
- Drain the kale and put in the sauce pan with the garlic, chilli and anchovy. Stir several times and remove from the heat.
- Put all the ingredients in a liquidizer or a nutribullet with the remaining olive oil and walnuts and whizz until you have a very smooth, velvety sauce. Serve with pasta and lashingsj of Parmesan.
lardersaga 