Meatless Monday gets fresh with Rachael’s dark leafy green take on pesto.
Our favorite quick-eats maven shows us a simple kale pesto that you can have ready to eat in 30 minutes.
Sure, it’s easy to buy pre-made pesto from the grocery store. But have you ever tried making fresh pesto at home? It’s surprisingly easy.
In Rachael Ray’s version, she substitutes kale for the traditional basil leaves for a richer, more vitamin-packed pesto sauce. The rest of the ingredients are the same, and so is the method.
For special equipment, you’ll need a food processor. A food processor is a great multi-use tool in your kitchen that can handle anything from quick chopping to pureed sauces to baking help. So if you don’t have one already, I suggest you consider purchasing one!
First, get your pasta water boiling and drop the linguini in. While that’s cooking, you can prepare the kale pesto. Place the pinenuts, garlic, lemon juice and zest, kale and salt & pepper into the food processor and pulse.
Once the kale is a nice consistency, take it out of the processor and toss it with some olive oil. Now that the pasta is done, strain the noodles BUT don’t forget to set aside about a cup of the starchy pasta water. That’s Rachael’s secret trick to getting the pesto sauce to stick!
Now mix everything together and serve up this green delicious goodness. Don’t forget to top it off with some Pecorino Romano cheese!
Note: If you need to add some protein to this vegetarian dish, shrimp or fried diced pancetta makes a wonderful addition to this meal.
Fresh Kale Pesto Linguini Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup toasted pinenuts
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 lemon, zester and juiced
- 1 bunch Tuscan kale, stemmed
- Salt and pepper
- 1/3 to ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup Pecorino Romano, plus more for garnish
- 1 pound linguini
