From the creator of the grilling glaze, the caramelized onions, and the soy syrup, comes
this new versatile sauce -- the kale and spinach pesto!
If you watch this channel, you know that my cooking is all about components. If you need
to learn how to make a new condiment, I believe that it should have at least 5 uses, but if
possible I prefer that number to be infinite. This twist on pesto is that kind of sauce.
You can make it with kale, spinach, Swiss chard, or a mixture of all 3. You can put
it on toast, on pasta, on fish, on chicken, on beans, or anything your heart desires.
First we need to choose the greens. I’ve tested this sauce with baby greens that come
pre-washed in boxes and with mature greens that are sold in bunches. Both worked, but
the baby greens produced a more delicate texture. If you are using mature greens, not only will
you need to wash them, but also remove the kale and chard stems. With spinach stems you
can use your judgement. Some of them are tender enough to use.
Unlike the basil pesto, which uses raw basil, this sauce uses wilted greens. Let’s set
a big pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. When the pan is hot,
add your greens. I find that this sauce tastes best when you combine a hearty green like
kale with a more delicate green like chard or spinach. Some stores sell a mix of all
three, but I couldn’t find it this week, so I bought 1 box of kale and one box of spinach.
If you want the garlic flavor in your sauce to be mild, throw in a sliced garlic clove
to cook with the greens. If you want it to be sharper, add the garlic later when pureeing
the sauce.
Cover for a minute or two, just to start the wilting process and then cook stirring constantly
until the greens wilt.
Season the greens with a little salt, get them out of the pan and spread on a plate
to cool. I like to use all the juice the greens release. Unlike the traditional pesto which
is very heavy on oil, this one has a lighter feel since a lot of oil is replaced with the
moisture from the leaves.
Once the leaves get to lukewarm, they are ready to use. Put them into the food processor.
Add some pine nuts (whether you toast them or not doesn’t make any difference here),
a little sliced parmesan cheese, zest of 1 lemon and a couple teaspoons of lemon juice.
And if you have it, some pomegranate molasses. Every cook has their secret ingredient and
this one is mine. A good pinch of salt and give it all a buzz.
Scrape the bowl as needed to get a coarse puree. Then add a quarter cup of olive oil
through a feed tube. Sorry I filmed it so badly. You’ll just have to take my word
for it that the oil is going in right now.
Once your sauce looks like this, taste and adjust for salt and acidity.
You can eat this sauce as a dip, but today I’ll show you a pasta dish that my kid and
I have been making an awful lot for a weekday lunch during the pandemic.
Boil some boxed pasta and green beans in generously salted water. Since I am using the hearty
Kentucky wonder beans today, I added them right along with my pasta, but if I was using
more slender green beans, I’d add them for the last 3-4 minutes when the pasta is almost
done. While the pasta is cooking, I use the same pan that was used for cooking the kale
and spinach to toast some pine nuts over medium heat. Watch them closely so that they don’t
burn. Although I don’t toast them for the sauce, I feel like they are worth toasting
when left whole. Take the pan off heat and cool a little. Then add a handful of golden
raisins. When your pasta is ready, drain it in a colander and add to the pan with the
pine nuts and the raisins. Add a few chunks of butter and about half of the pesto. The
leftover pesto will keep well for a few days in the fridge. My husband and I like anchovies
in this dish, but we haven’t converted out kids into anchovy lovers yet. So I’ll separate
a little pasta for them and then add the anchovies.
2 fillets per portion seems like a good amount. If you got your anchovies packed in oil, dry
them off and chop into little pieces. As always taste and correct for salt and acidity. Mine
needed a bit more lemon juice.
Now you know what our weekday lunches look like. By the way, I never thought I’d say
this, but I like whole wheat pasta. For years I thought it tasted like cardboard. But lately
I found the Sfoglini brand at Whole Foods, and fell in love with it. Nope, Sfoglini is
not sponsoring this video. They didn’t send me any free samples. I just like their products.
Next week, I’ll show you how you can use this green sauce in a fish dish, so don’t
forget to subscribe and hit the bell button for notifications.
Here are more culinary tutorials for you to check out and a link to my online classes
is in the description below.