as some loyal followers know, i don't DO cooking well. in fact, i rarely try to even pretend i cook for myself. but, once in a while, i get a little burst of energy, and i go and do something nutty - like bake brownies, or cook other savoury things.
so, when i read
this recipe for
kale pesto, i knew i had to try it. i love kale, and there are VERY FEW things i love more than pesto. if i could eat pesto on everything, i would. and trust me - i have made several valiant efforts at doing so.
i pulled out my trusty food processor, that was packed in the trailer for the drive across the country, and the kale that was in the first grocery shop in vancouver, and i got down to business.
the recipe itself, is easy. jeanine does a great job of making all of her recipes so easy to follow, and so so so delicious looking. the hardest part is where you think, '
that looks BEAUTIFUL, and if i make it, it will be JUST AS BEAUTIFUL'. sorry friends. it won't be. but it'll still taste as wonderful - that i promise you.
a pesto is essentially a base of a green (usually basil), an oil (usually olive), an herb (usually garlic), pine nuts and parmesan. this recipe calls for kale instead of basil, walnuts instead of pine nuts, and then some other goodies like lemon and salt and pepper for taste.
as we know, i've never been a strong follower of directions.
so, i take my kale, and i buy some walnuts. but damn it... i can't skip pine nuts! there's something about those creamy yummy delicious little flavour bombs that i can't keep away from. but, since they're expensive, and i'm currently unemployed, a little half and half action would have to do.
since i like the whole kale plant, and any recipe that slightly encourages me to use their stems i embrace, i boiled the stems for about 15-20 minutes... you'll know they're done when you can stick a fork in them (badum ching). if you have a steamer - BETTER. i don't. i barely got my food processor here from toronto - let's not get greedy. while the kale stems are doing their thing, i prepped other things (like a baws). i toasted my little walnuts and pine nuts (just throw those suckers in a frying pan - no oil - and shake it over medium heat until they get a little warm and toasty smelling), and i 'zested' my lemon. guess what else i don't have? a zester. tragedy - i know. so, you can get a zester, OR, be like me, and use a very sharp knife to simply cut all the chunks of skin off that lemon. totally class-less. then, beause i got bored, i gave those guys (the pine nuts, walnuts, lemon skins and juice) a little whirl in the food processor. i'd like to think that this gave them some time to really get to know one another before the kale came to town.
then i added my oil and garlic, and then got back to my kale business. i added the leaves, and literally watched the stopwatch on my phone for 30 seconds - i didn't want to lose any nutrients i didn't have to! and then forgot i needed a way to get the kale out of the pot. so, it probably was actually more like 50 seconds. preferably have something ready. take the kale stems and leaves out, toss them into the ice bath (literally a bowl - or giant pot - filled with water and ice) to stop them from cooking more. then, toss them into the food processory, and blend that sucker up.
i blended. if you pulse, it would likely be a bit more chunky. i like pesto to cover everything though - so i blended like crazy. it'll look a bit creamy because of the oil and all the other goodies, but that's ok - especially once you heat it up, it'll look a lot more like the pesto you know and love.
i'd also say this is the time to add salt and pepper. i'm a taste cooker - i cook, then taste, then cook more, then taste. so do some taste cooking of your own - add a bit of salt and pepper depending on your own preferences... i did tons of pepper, and a bit of salt, and blended and tasted a couple of times before i got it just right.
then, you get this. this wonderful, delicious pile of lovely goodness. good on anything. i ate some with a spoon (i'm super healthy too), and then had it on pasta that night. i stored a bunch more of it in a tupperware for future usage. i imagine it would last about a week in the fridge. but i'm not sure how you could look at it for a week without eating it. soooo.... let's go with 2 days. (again, eaten. with. a. spoon.)
Ingredients
bunch of kale (i used about 8 stalks - stems and all)
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 cloves of garlic (i just really like garlic - use more or less depending on your personal taste)
1/4 cup olive oil (or more for a smoother pesto)
juice & zest of one lemon
salt & pepper to taste (near the end of the process)
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
2. Blanch kale stems for about 15 minutes, then add the kale leaves for additional 30 seconds. remove all pieces and place in the ice bath to stop the cooking process. dry the kale on a towel for about 5 minutes (probably while you're nursing the burn from splashing boiling water on your hand)
3. Blend everything together in a food processor. Pulse to create a chunky pesto, blend longer to create a smoother one. Taste and adjust, adding more salt, pepper, lemon, olive oil, as necessary.
as an aside, i'd like to think that most people read my blog because of my transparancy. my self deprecating humour. my willingness to show the good, the bad, and the ugly. so, i'll end this post with exactly what happens when i cook. chaos. this is one of the disasterous things that happened to me (not the only) - the spatula slipped out of my hand, slammed against the counter, bounced off of the wall, hit the fridge, and landed in the middle of the floor (after a few flippy bounces). if you didn't think it was possible to get pesto on 5 surfaces with one spatula tumble, i am here to disagree. it took 17 minutes to clean up.
i wish i was joking.
