♣

Why throw those stems away, when they’re perfectly edible and packed with nutrition?

♣

Kale Stem Pesto

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

Stems from a bunch of kale
Parsley, cilantro, or basil
½ cup grated Parmesan
½ cup toasted almonds
1 large clove of garlic
1 Tbs lemon juice
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Chop the kale. Pack it into a measuring cup. Add parsley, cilantro, and/or basil to the measuring cup until you have two packed cups of greens. Place greens, cheese, nuts, and garlic a food processor and pulse them to as fine a chop as the machine will give you. Add lemon juice.
2. With the processor running full-on, add oil in a slow, steady stream until it causes the contents of the processor to turn into a thick, green paste. You may have to, on occasion, scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all the greens are getting processed. Continue processing for about 30 seconds, to get the paste to be as smooth as you can. I prefer my pesto to be a thick, spreadable paste. Some people add more oil, until it becomes more of a sauce. Do what you want.
3. Transfer the kale stem pesto to a small bowl and add salt and pepper, to taste.

Like traditional pesto, Kale-Stem Pesto keeps well and freezes very well. Unlike its traditional counterpart, this particular Kale-Stem Pesto is hearty and has a tiny-but-pleasant nut crunch. Some incredible perks come along with Kale-Stem Pesto. First of all, kale. But perhaps more importantly, when some snooty sonofabitch says, “Oh, j’adore the kale” (this is how snooty sonsofbitches talk), you can say, “Oh really? What do you do with the stems?” And unless the answer is “compost them,” you can nail their ass right to the wall. Even if the answer is composting, you’re pretty damn superior. Enjoy that.

How to Use Your Delicious Kale-Stem Pesto

There are a seemingly enldess number of uses for pesto. Here’s one of my favorites:

Makes about 1 moderate serving

2 oz. dried pasta
2 Tbs pesto
1 Tbs sour cream^[1]
1 Tbs milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
Red pepper flakes, optionally, to taste
Shredded Asiago, to taste

1. Boil up the pasta.
2. Once the pasta is about 3 minutes from done, place pesto in a measuring cup along with sour cream and milk, and nuke it on 50% power until it’s quite warm, but not outright hot. Check it every 15 seconds until you reach that point.
3. Once the pasta’s drained, immediately toss it with the pesto mixture. Check for salt. Add plenty of fresh, coarsely ground black pepper (and red pepper flakes). Garnish generously with shredded Asiago.

Look at you! You’re eating kale! The mellowness of the pasta and pesto is the perfect backdrop for the boldness of the Asiago. The moderate crunch of the almond is non-traditional, but in a declious way – especially when combined with coarsely ground pepper. Overall, it’s a mild-flavored comfort food, to which the garlic adds a bit of an aromatic touch.

Notes:

♠

Credits for all images on this page: hover over image and/or green caption text. Click to jump to source.

♠