The Easiest Dairy Free Kale Pesto Recipe
Until last week I was sitting very firmly in the basil pesto camp, every pesto recipe out of my blender shouted basil! loud and clear. Until that is, I ended up with a rotten virus and was consciously doing my bit to get as many different greens into my diet as I could possibly muster.
We've all heard enough about it to know that kale packs an almighty nutritional punch haven't we. My kale is usually massaged with olive oil into a salad, sauteed with coconut oil into a frying pan or steamed and blended into a veggie mash with it's cousins. But kale pesto they say? I'd seen kale pesto recipes floating around cyberspace but I wasn't sure they'd be my 'thing'. I mistakenly decided it might be a bit too 'kale-like' or 'green', if you get my drift.
How wrong I was! So wrong in fact that I made this very recipe and devoured it within 24 hours straight (well garlic is good for a virus, yes?!).
So folks, before you snub your nose at this kale pesto recipe, please, just give it a shot. By all means come back and air your grievances if you feel I'm barking up the wrong green plant (after you've made it of course), though I've a feeling you'll only be singing my praises.
Oh and if you prefer your pesto cheesy feel free to add in some parmesaan.
Makes approximately 1.5 cups pesto
3 cups kale, stems removed, firmly packed
1/2 cup Italian parsley
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra if necessary
1 dessert spoon nutritional yeast
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
Into your food processor, throw the kale, parsley, cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Process until it's combined into a smooth paste, stopping to push the sides down if you need to. Then, drizzle the oil in as the motor is still running, blend until creamy.
Taste and add more lemon, salt or olive oil as required. Store in a glass jar in the fridge, drizzled with olive oil to keep it fresh. It should last for about a week.
I have been adding this pesto to any and all savoury recipes as an extra nutritional punch; dolloped on homemade soups, veggie mash, toast, or better yet through these pesto scrambled eggs or dolloped on our pizza! Consider too doubling the recipe and freezing small portions for another day, it freezes well.
If you're a kale pesto recipe newbie please report back and let me know what you think. Actually, just say hello full stop. And don't forget, if you want to save this for 'Ron, pin it to your favourite healthy food Pinterest board or bookmark it for later.
Oh and tell me, aside from basil, what other pesto combos must I try next?
