Soft crunchy kale with pasta, lemon, a hint of chili, olive oil, minced garlic and served with toasted nuts. A simple flavorful pasta dish!
How To Make This Pasta With Kale Recipe
Ingredients
- pasta
- onion
- kale
- oil
- garlic
- chili spice and seasoning
- nuts
Use your favorite pasta type and cook it in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions.
Onion
Fry the onion and in this recipe I've used spring onion but the regular green onion will work. Although red onion has a beautiful robust color and a slightly sweeter taste I chose to not add it into this pasta kale recipe. I love red onion a lot but was going for something different here.
Would you believe me if I told you that there are only 2 or 3 key ingredients in this recipe? The beauty of easy and less ingredients in a recipe holds it's own beauty of simplicity.
Kale
Kale recipes were such a huge internet sensation at one time but have since slowed down a little 🙂 However we are here still loving and eating kale! There are so many health benefits to kale and it offers a range of nutritional value. Also known to manage blood pressure there is no way I will stop buying and cooking kale.
How To Clean Kale
As always it depends on the cook and the recipe at hand. For this recipe we need to cut the kale leaf off the stem so that we can use just the soft parts. Are there times when you might want to use the stems, maybe but not for this recipe.
Place the kale leaf (which is normally quite large) on a chopping board and hold it down with one hand while cutting with the other hand. What you want to do is hold the stem part steady so that you can cut the leaf off the stem. Done. Easy.
Washing/Rinsing
- Give it a good rinse in a bowl of water.
- Use the my 'squeeze and release' method (at least that's what I do with kale to soften it up)
- Repeat the squeeze and release method a few times while you're giving it a good wash/rinse
- Place on a clean kitchen cloth give it a good rub
- Back in the dry bowl with a drizzle of oil and a few more 'squeeze & release hand moves' to get it even more tender.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
I'd like to receive tips & recipes from Anosmic Kitchen.
This method works because without the stems you halfway there to soft kale leaves! Washing, squeezing releasing a few times and again after it's been dried in a little oil to help the process you are sure to get tender kale by the time it hits the hot pan!
Nuts
I cannot explain without still falling short of the perfect description of how exceptionally delicious this pasta kale recipe is. I would definitely suggest toasting the walnuts before adding them to benefit from the flavor released when roasting.
Variations
I've only ever used almonds and walnuts in this recipe but am sure most nuts will work well so experiment with what you have. You may even want to combine a mix of nuts.
Tip!
If there is anything that you can take with you from this post its my tip to be generous with the the salt, pepper and lemon. They certainly do level up the taste.
I'm sure this will work well with spinach too, no doubt but it's also refreshing using something other than baby spinach. In fact, the theme of this recipe - my own theme:) was to try and get a rustic, nutty flavor and texture!
Never Miss A Recipe!
Do follow along on my Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for updates.
More Creative Recipes
Don't forget that by rating and commenting on your favorite recipe/food blog you are helping support the content that we share?
If you enjoyed this Pasta and Kale Recipe please click the stars below to rate and comment!
Pasta With Kale
Ingredients
- 400 grams pasta
- salt for the pasta
- 300 grams kale
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ⅓ cup toasted walnuts chopped
- 1 garlic clove minced (1 tsp)
- ¼ teaspoon chili spice or flakes depending on the level of heat
- 1 fresh lemon juice and zest.
- ½ cup Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Once boiling salt and cook the pasta for 2 minutes less than the packet instructions. It will finish cooking in the pan with the sautéed kale.
- Cut the kale leaves off the stems,Rinse and with your hands use the squash and release method while rinsing. Just a few times to soften the leaves.
- Toss into a large bowl, drizzle a tablespoon of oil over the kale and again repeat the squash and release method a few times with the oil in it!
- Heat a large skillet or non stick pan on medium heat, and cook the onion in a tablespoon of oil. till soft.
- Add the kale and let it cook for about 5 minutes before adding the minced garlic, chili, and lemon juice and zest. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
- Add the pasta, increase the heat a little and a little pasta water to help it along. Please don't add lots of pasta water we're not making a soup we want to maintain the crunch!
- Remove from the heat and once toss with the toasted chopped walnuts and a drizzle of the remaining olive oil.
Comments
No Comments