Cultivated in Italy’s cooler northern regions kale, more widely recognised in Italian cuisine as the Tuscan ‘cavolo nero’, otherwise known as ‘black kale’. Cavelo nero is more often preferred over ‘curly kale’, though on British soil, the latter is more widely available. Both, however, boast an earthy, green flavour, that shines in our kale pesto recipe. We’ve tried and tested this recipe and it works particularly well in our delicious vegan lasagne!
Prep Time: 20 mins
Makes around 190g
Calories: 180kcal per 100g
Tools
Pestle & mortar or food processor
Large pot
Ingredients
o 60 g packed fresh basil (large stems removed and roughly chopped)
o 90 g packed fresh parsley (large stems removed and roughly chopped)
o 200 g packed kale
o 40 g sunflower seeds, hazelnuts or walnuts (or a mix!)
o 13 cloves garlic (peeled and chopped in half)
o 30-45 ml lemon juice
o 13.5-18 g nutritional yeast
o 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt (plus more to taste)
o 50-60 ml extra virgin olive oil
Method
- Blanch the kale in boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the water into a bowl and set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, either using the food processor or a pestle and mortar, begin to blitz the garlic and nuts/seeds together until mashed and crumbly – don’t worry if it’s not smooth, we like a bit of texture!
- Next add in your parsley and basil. Do this bit by bit if using a pestle and mortar otherwise it will be too difficult to blend.
- Add a pinch of flaky sea salt and a small drizzle of olive oil to loosen the mixture a touch– the texture should still be quite firm and paste-like.
- If using the pestle and mortar, remove the paste from the mortar into a separate bowl and set aside. Squeeze the remaining water from the kale and mash with some olive oil until a creamy paste forms. *Chef’s tip: this can be quite difficult as the kale will undoubtedly have some leftover stems attached, if you have a food processor use it here for the kale (plus a drizzle of olive oil) to get a nice smooth consistency.
- Add the blitzed kale and other blended/mashed ingredients together, mixing until fully combined. Add the lemon juice and more olive oil as needed until you get a nice thick and creamy consistency with a little texture! Buon Appetito!
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