An image of Kale pesto pasta

Kale pesto pasta


Here is a delicious recipe for a simple kale pesto pasta. This works great with kale or with any green leafy cabbage also,  such as york, savoy or also kavalo nero or dinosaur kale. We like to use wholemeal spaghetti for this. To make it lower in fat just use 75ml of water and 75ml of oil instead of the 150ml of oil in the recipe below

Takes 15 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients
 

  • 300 g dried Spaghetti
  • 1 large/2 small cloves of garlic
  • 100 g cashew nuts or pine nuts
  • 150 ml olive oil or sunflower oil
  • 100 g kale/green leafy cabbage
  • Juice 1 lime
  • Chilli flakes to serve optional

Instructions
 

  • Using a knife or your hands remove the tough centre stalk of the kale/cabbage and roughly chop the leaves.
  • Put a large pan of salted water onto a boil, once it is boiling, add the pasta and cook as per the instructions on the back of the packet, put the kale in a steamer of just on top and cook until the pasta is cooked. Then remove the kale and set aside and drain the pasta ensuring to keep a little of the starchy pasta water. Rinse the pasta and put it back in the pan (off the heat).
  • While the pasta is cooking Put a frying pan on a medium heat (ensure it is dry) and add the cashew nuts, toast them for about 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally until they start to golden and their delicious smell starts to permeate your kitchen! Remove and set aside
  • Peel the garlic and add to the food processor along with the toasted cashew nuts, the oil, 3/4 tsp of salt, juice of 1 lime, 50g of the steamed kale and blend in the food processor until smooth. Taste and season with more salt or lemon juice if you think it needs it.
  • Put the pan with the pasta back on the heat, add the pesto and mix it through, if you want to make your sauce looser just add a few tablespoons of the pasta water and mix it through. Heat everything up to temperature.
  • Serve topped with some chilli flakes if you like a bit of spice! Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 741kcalCarbohydrates: 65gProtein: 16gFat: 50gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 33gSodium: 23mgPotassium: 417mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 2498IUVitamin C: 24mgCalcium: 104mgIron: 5mg

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Kale recipes and cabbage recipes

Here are 3 easy to make kale recipes and cabbage recipes to show the versatility and ease of cooking with kale and cabbage can be. We make a kale pesto pasta, an asian style charred teriyaki cabbage and delicious kale crips. These are all so tasty and easy to make.

Prep time : 10 mins | Cook time : 45 mins | Total time 55 mins Makes: 10 Servings | Difficulty: Medium

Kale is one of our favourite veg and is the no 1 food on the nutrient density aggregate index as its so packed full of nutrients. Both kale and cabbage are from the brassica family and can have a sulphur like note to them that can mask as bitterness. In these kale recipe and cabbage recipe we really focus on elevate these veg so that they taste fantastic and that everyone wants to eat more of these nutritious power houses!

The kale pesto is so easy to make, use wholemeal pasta as it will be higher in fibre and better for you and to make it lower in fat just substitute half the oil with water so that you use 75ml of water and 75ml of oil thus reducing the added oil by 50%. All our kids love this dish as its super tasty, simple and no one knows that they are eating kale! The Asian style charred cabbage dish is Steves favourite way to eat cabbage – its quick so tasty and really shows how delicious cabbage can be. Lastly the kale crisps might sounds a little far fetched but they work wonderfully and really make kale taste so good!

 

Some serving suggestions for these Kale recipes

An image of Kale Crisps

Kale Crisps


Tasty, crunchy and nutritious and crisp like yet they are made of kale! Worth trying!

Takes 20 minutes

Serves 2

Ingredients
 

  • 1 head of kale approx 100g stalks removed
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp tamari / soy sauce
  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  • generous sprinkle of salt

Instructions
 

  • Method:
  • Preheat the oven to 100C
  • Remove the kale leaves from the thick central stalks. Give them a thorough wash and dry.
  • Add the olive oil and massage it right through all of the kale, ensuring to coat each leaf. Add the spices and tamari and mix right the way through ensuring to be evenly spread.
  • Lay out the leaves on a baking tray and put them in the oven.
  • Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes,  until nice and crispy.
  • Half way through cooking time, take out the kale and give it a good mix around to ensure your chips are all crisping up evenly.
  • Leave chips to cool for 3 minutes. These are best eaten when they are fresh out of the oven but they can be stored in an air-tight container for 2-3 days.
  • Beat the bloat: These are easy on your digestion.

Nutrition

Calories: 134kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 1gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gSodium: 506mgPotassium: 60mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 1004IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 18mgIron: 1mg
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2 Comments

  1. Alison says:

    Hi. I’d like to try these, can I make them in a dehydrator instead of the oven?

  2. Mars O’Reilly says:

    Tried the Kale Pesto recipe – where does the other 50g of Kale after you make the pesto? There’s 100g of kale listed in the recipe then 50g into the pesto then no mention of the other 50g. I put the whole lot into the pesto- it tasted very nice tho the texture a little craggy which I felt might have been the cashews- will try pine nuts next time.

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2 Comments

  1. Alison says:

    Hi. I’d like to try these, can I make them in a dehydrator instead of the oven?

  2. Mars O'Reilly says:

    Tried the Kale Pesto recipe – where does the other 50g of Kale after you make the pesto? There’s 100g of kale listed in the recipe then 50g into the pesto then no mention of the other 50g. I put the whole lot into the pesto- it tasted very nice tho the texture a little craggy which I felt might have been the cashews- will try pine nuts next time.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




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